Generations ago we spent most of our time outdoors toiling beneath the hot sun. Adults worked and children played. I remember visiting Abraham Lincoln's birth-home. It was a small log cabin, perhaps ten feet by ten feet in diameter. I remember realizing at that moment that, in that era,  people used their homes as places to sleep. Once awake, staying inside a cramped little cabin was probably not something anyone did unless they were ill.

Fast forward to today's culture. We sit indoors beneath artificial light sources, stationary in front of a computer or TV. Few of us spend any time outdoors except to walk to our car from our home.

We've learned as part of the Framinham Study, older adults who exercised moderately to heavily have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia -

"The physical activity levels of the 1,200 participants were assessed in 1986-1987. Over two decades of follow-up, 242 of the participants developed dementia, including 193 cases of Alzheimer's. Those who did moderate to heavy amounts of exercise had about a 40 percent reduced risk of developing any type of dementia. People with the lowest levels of physical activity were 45 percent more likely to develop any type of dementia than those who did the most exercise. These trends were strongest in men."

Another recent study in the UK looked at older individuals levels of Vitamin D -

"The study found that the risk of cognitive impairment was 42 percent higher in people who were deficient in vitamin D, and 394 percent higher in those with severe vitamin D deficiency."

So what's the easy solution? Exercise out doors more often! On that note I think I'll go out in the hot Phoenix sun and do my kettle-bell routine!