Can pumping iron help lower risk of dementia?
We’ve all heard the doctors’ warnings and recommendations that exercising regularly is great for our health, but did you know it has also been proven to help your brain’s health?
Now, a new study has found that a specific type of exercise can help lower the risk of dementia. The study focused on weight training and studied its effects on the brains of older patients who were already showing signs of mild cognitive impairment. The new study was recently published in the journal GeroScience and found that weight training may help protect older adult brains from dementia. Not only does the protection work before symptoms start, the study shows weightlifting can also help those already showing mild cognitive impairment.
Researchers in the study chose to focus on nearly four dozen adults over age 55 who had a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and divided them into two groups. One group did weight training in moderate to high intensity twice per week and gradually increased their sets as they got stronger. The other group did no weight training at all.
“Previous animal model studies showed exertional exercise improved brain functioning and some showed an increase in neurogenesis,” said Dr. Stephen Samples, System Chairman of Neurology with Allegheny Health Network (AHN). “That has always been hopeful but not definitive because animal brains, like mice, are much more forgiving than human brains and believed to be more likely to regrow neurons. To my knowledge, this is the first paper that shows that resistance training delays worsening of mild cognitive impairment.”
What’s more is that some patients in the study actually saw symptoms lessen and improve with the weightlifting regimen.
“In several cases, the subjects had a reversal of symptoms to the point that they no longer could be categorized as mildly cognitively impaired (MCI),” Samples said. “Also, there seems to be an increase in hippocampal size – an area essential for memory formation and seen to shrink in Alzheimer’s. This is very exciting and if future studies generate similar results, quite important in the care of these patients.”
Aerobic exercise is known to improve heart function, decrease glucose intolerance and improve cerebral blood flow. The question was whether weight training would yield the same results. “While these factors are seen in resistance training, neurogenesis is something new,” said Samples. “That said, I saw something online in the last few days that stated that the authors believe that they have evidence of increased hippocampal size from aerobic exercise in humans as well.”
The authors of this study comment on the improvement in insulin sensitivity and increase in brain-derived neurotrophic factor with resistance training. “Also, the exertion caused skeletal muscle to release irisin which helps transform white fat cells to beige (improving glucose sensitivity), works as a neuroprotection agent and promotes brain plasticity reorganizing neuronal structure to learn new or relearn old tasks,” Samples said.
At the study’s end, researchers concluded that six months of weight training helped that group of patients show improvement in verbal memory and other areas of the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Meanwhile, the group that did no weight training showed signs of worsening brain function. While the study is the first to show these results, Samples says he is not surprised.
“I work with a different population of patients, but anecdotally, I hear regularly that resistance exercise improves cognitive function in my patients and friends,” he said.
Weight training is also something he has incorporated into his own personal health routine. “The recommendation of the paper is high-intensity resistance training twice a week to see results,” he said. “Personally, I try to do it four to five days a week and one day of aerobic exercise. I do think it helps me immensely.”
He does advise that anyone starting a weightlifting regimen should check with their doctor first to make sure they are healthy enough to exercise.