Six months of strength training has been shown to slow and even halt degeneration in brain areas particularly vulnerable to Alzheimer’s Disease up to one year later, according to new research from the University of Sydney.
The findings come from a clinical trial that the researchers conducted for older people at high risk of Alzheimer’s Disease due to mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
MCI results in a decline in memory and other thinking skills – despite daily living skills remaining intact – and is a strong risk factor for dementia. People with MCI are at a one-in-10 risk of developing dementia within a year.
The 100 participants were randomly allocated to do computerised brain training, strength training (90 minutes over to three sessions a week), and combined computer and strength training, which they did for six months before reverting to their usual activities for 12 months.
Strength training was found to benefit cognitive performance and protect from degeneration in the hippocampus – the part of the brain that controls learning and memory.
In the control group – where no weights were lifted – the hippocampus shrunk by 3-4% over the 18 months, while those doing the strength training saw only 1-2% reductions and in some areas, no shrinkage at all.
Professor Michael Valenzuela, leader of the Regenerative Neuroscience Group at the University’s Brain and Mind Centre and senior author of the study, says the message is clear: resistance exercise needs to become a standard part of reducing dementia risk.
Time to pump some iron then?
