Regular exercise at any age may afford some measure of protection from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, a new study suggests.

A group of University of Kentucky researchers have demonstrated a positive correlation between fitness and blood flow to areas of the brain where plaques and tangles, the first hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease pathology are usually first detected.

The researcher put 30 men and women ages 59-69 through treadmill fitness assessments and ultrasounds of the heart. Then they received brain scans to look for blood flow to certain areas of the brain.