An hour of moderate exercise – such as walking – three times a week can help reduce memory loss among elderly people.

A study by the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada, suggests that regular exercise can help reduce vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), the second most common cause of dementia after Alzheimer's disease.

VCI has been attributed with problems with memory and thinking skills, resulting from damage to large and small blood vessels in the brain.

The disorder is not the same as Alzheimer's disease – which is a breakdown of the brain's neurons – but rather a disease within the brain's blood vessels.

The UBC study involved 70 people with an average age of 74, who were divided into two groups. One group took an exercise programme, involving physical activities three times a week for an hour, while the other undertook an education programme about the disease and committed to a healthy diet for six months.

The study found that those in the exercise group were able to improve their cognitive abilities.

"Studies have shown that exercise can help reduce the risk of developing memory problems, but few studies have looked at whether it can help people who already have these problems get better or keep from getting worse," said study author Teresa Liu-Ambrose from the UCB.

"This result, while modest, was similar to that seen in previous studies testing the use of drugs for people with vascular cognitive impairment.”

The results of the study were published in the 19 October 2016 issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.