Exercise also favors brain health via the well-known attenuating influences on atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease. Thus, primary vascular dementia is common and, moreover, cerebrovascular small vessel disease (eg, leukoaraiosis and lacunar disease) appears additive with neurodegenerative processes to cause dementia.6 These atherosclerotic cerebrovascular mechanisms are distinctive from neurodegeneration and age-related loss of neuropil and synapses. Because the benefit of exercise on atherosclerotic (cerebrovascular) risk seems well established, this contribution to the subject will not be a focus of this article.