Introduction:

Cognitive impairment and dementia are important problems affecting mostly not only old patients but also their families and social environment.

Data sources:

To evaluate the influence of physical activity on cognitive impairment and dementia.

Data synthesis:

Systematic review in the databases Biblioteca Virtual de salud (BVS), Pubmed, Science Direct, Biomed, Ovid, by equation search with search keys (Medical Subject Headings -MESH-), where clinical trials, cohort studies, Case and control where taken into account. 265 articles were reviewed, and 19 articles were classified in category 1, according to the level of evidence and recommendation.

Results:

Physical activity can be a preventive method to slow down cognitive impairment during life. People who have practiced moderate to strenuous physical activity are very prone to present low levels of cognitive impairment in comparison with those who have been physically inactive. On the other hand, a combined program of occupational therapy with aerobic exercises had positive results in patients with Alzheimer, light to moderate dementia, and cognitive impairment cause by aging. Physical activity had also influence in life quality providing of benefits for patients balance and significant improvements in the decrease of the having a fall’s risk in elderly. All the results on physical functioning showed statistically significant differences among the studied groups.

Conclusions:

Physical activity contributes to stop cognitive impairment in elderly. It provides of physical, emotional, social and behavioral changes which are related with the wellbeing of the patient and also with a better life quality.

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