The benefits of bodybuilding are large: it promotes strength gain and muscle mass, decreases body fat, contributes to well-being and mental health.
And now a study at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) has proved another important effect: protects the brain from elderly against dementia. The results were released in the magazine Geroscience
THE search It involved 44 people with mild cognitive impairment – intermediate clinical condition between normal aging and Alzheimer's disease, in which there is a higher extent cognitive loss than expected to age, indicating greater risk of dementia. The results reveal that strength training was not only able to improve memory performance but also to alter brain anatomy.
After six months practicing bodybuilding twice a week, participants had protection against atrophy in the hippocampus and pre-barrel-brain areas associated with Alzheimer's disease-as well as improvements in parameters that reflect the health of neurons (integrity of the white matter).
“That there would be improvement of the physical part we already knew. Cognitive improvement was also imagined, but we wanted to see the effect of bodybuilding within the elderly brain with mild cognitive impairment. The study showed that, fortunately, bodybuilding is a strong ally against dementia, even for people who already have a high risk of developing them, ”says Isadora Ribeiro, FAPESP doctoral fellow at Unicamp's Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM) and the first author of the article.
The work was conducted within the Institute of Research on Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (Brainn) – a FAPESP Research, Innovation and Diffusion Center – and is the first to demonstrate what happens with the integrity of the white substance of individuals with mild cognitive impairment after bodybuilding practice.
“In addition to neuropsychological tests, we perform magnetic resonance imaging at the beginning and end of the study. They are very important results because they indicate the need, at the level of primary health care, to include more physical educators in the public system, as increased muscle strength is associated with decreased risk of dementia. It is a less complex and cheaper treatment capable of protecting people from serious illness, ”says Marcio Balthazar, Brainn researcher and study advisor.
“For example, new antiamylid drugs approved in the United States, indicated for dementia treatment and people with mild cognitive impairment, cost about $ 30,000 per year [cerca de R$ 173 mil]. It is a very high cost. These non -pharmacological measures, as we have shown to be the case of bodybuilding, are effective, acting not only on the prevention of dementia but in improving mild cognitive impairment frames, ”adds the researcher.
Protocol
Research participants were divided into two groups: half complied with a resistance training program with weight sessions twice a week, moderate to high intensity and load progression. The others did not perform the exercise during the study period and integrated the so-called control group.
In the analyzes at the end of the intervention, volunteers who practiced bodybuilding performed better in verbal episodic memory, improvement in neurons integrity and areas related to Alzheimer's disease protected against atrophy, while the control group showed worse in brain parameters.
“A characteristic of people with mild cognitive impairment is that they have a decrease in volume in some brain regions related to Alzheimer's development. However, the group submitted to strength training had the right side of the hippocampus and the pre-hire protected against atrophy. It is a result that justifies the importance of regular bodybuilding practice, especially for older people, ”says Ribeiro.
The researcher believes in the possibility that a longer period of training promotes even more positive results than those reported in the study. “All individuals in the group who practiced bodybuilding showed improvements of memory and brain anatomy. However, five of them reached the end of the study without the clinical diagnosis of light cognitive impairment, such was the improvement. This leads us to imagine that more prolonged training, three years old, for example, can reverse this diagnosis or delay any kind of dementia progression. No doubt it is something that brings hopes and needs to be investigated in the future, ”argues Ribeiro.
According to the researchers, bodybuilding can protect the brain against dementia from two fronts: stimulating the production of neural growth factor (important protein for the growth, maintenance and survival of neurons) and promoting the global misinflation of the body.
“It is known that any physical exercise, be it bodybuilding or aerobic activity, increases the levels of a chemical involved in brain cell growth. In addition, it can also mobilize anti-inflammatory T cells. This is central. After all, the more pro-inflammatory protein is released in the body, the greater the chance of developing dementia, accelerating the neurodegenerative process and forming dysfunctional proteins that end up killing neurons, ”explains Balthazar.
To evaluate these issues were measured in volunteers, among other factors, irisin and BDNF (brain -derived neurotrophic factor) – substances whose synthesis is stimulated by muscle contraction and which are related to neural protection and synaptic plasticity. The results are still under analysis.
“This is a continuation of this study, in which we will seek to better understand how these factors are related to brain anatomy changes. We believe it is a set of anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective factors that lead to these changes, ”says Ribeiro.
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This content was originally published in bodybuilding protects the brain from elderly against dementia, suggests a study on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil