六十五歲以上的老年人即將是世界上人口比例成長最快速的年齡層，而此族群亦是罹患失智症的高風險群。截至目前為止，對於這種令人苦惱的失智疾病尚未開發出有效的治療及介入策略。由於身體活動不足會造成身體功能較差以及提高的心血管疾病的罹病率，而這些因子與失智症卻有間接的關係，因此，本文目的在於瞭解是否從事身體活動可以改善上述因子，進而達到預防失智症的效果。在回顧相關文獻後，會先從（一）身體功能好壞與失智症；（二）心血管危險因子與失智症等主題進行論述，再以身體活動介入對於失智症預防之健康行為促進做探討。根據文獻回顧發現：適當的身體活動應該能達到預防失智症的效益，而罹患該疾病的風險會受性別、基因型態、運動型態及社會因素而影響。綜合以上文獻，本研究提出以下幾點建議：1.目前國人對於藉由身體活動介入來預防疾病的觀念似乎不是很普及，因此，運動推廣人員應當將自身的專業知識大眾化，讓更多人瞭解運動對健康的益處及如何正當的運動。2.增加社區老人團康活動，以提高老年人的身體活動量及人際互動，從中獲得生理、心理及社會健康的益處，以降低罹患失智疾病的風險，進而達到健康老化社會之目的。

The fastest growing age segment in the world will soon be adults (65 years and older), a high risk group for developing dementia. However, to date, no effective treatments or intervention strategies are available to fully ameliorate this condition. Dementia and the morbidity of cardiovascular diseases have been indirectly correlated with low physical activity. Thus, the aim of this article is to review studies on dementia prevention and its relationship to physical activity and health behavior promotion. We first discuss the risk of dementia and dementia-related diseases and the factors affecting the development of cardiovascular diseases and dementia; we then discuss the benefits of participation in physical activity for dementia prevention. The results suggest that adequate physical activity can prevent dementia. However, factors including gender, genetic type, exercise type, and social factors affect this relationship. On the basis of the studies in our review, we conclude that: (1) Disease prevention through physical activity is not a popular concept in our country, and so we need to inform average people about the benefits of exercise and encourage them to engage in exercise; (2) the level of exercise by senior citizens in the community should be increased to improve its physiological, psychological, and social health benefits. Taken together, we conclude that exercise can lower the risk of dementia and improve the health of an aging population.

老人;身體活動;運動;失智症;健康促進

elderly, physical activity, exercise, dementia, health promotion