A separate study published in the journal GeroScience looked more specifically at how strength training affects aging brains.
The researchers enlisted 44 older adults with mild cognitive impairment, "an intermediate clinical condition between normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease in which cognitive decline is greater than expected for age, indicating a higher risk of dementia," explains NeuroscienceNews.com.
Half of the participants completed resistance training exercises twice a week, and half did not exercise. They were all evaluated at the beginning and end of the six-month study using neuropsychological tests and magnetic resonance imaging. The researchers observed the following in the weight-training group:
- Improved memory: Better performance in verbal episodic memory, the ability to verbally recall personal experiences
- Protection against Alzheimer's: No reduction in gray matter volume in the right hippocampus and precuneus (gray matter enables proper function, but reductions in these parts of the brain are associated with Alzheimer’s disease) compared to the control group, which saw a decrease in gray matter volume
- Better cognitive function: Improvements in white matter, the parts of the brain responsible for neuronal signaling
"A characteristic of people with mild cognitive impairment is that they have volume loss in some brain regions associated with the development of Alzheimer’s. But in the group that did strength training, the right side of the hippocampus and precuneus were protected from atrophy," explained Isadora Ribeiro, a first author of the study and a doctoral fellow at the State University of Campinas' School of Medical Sciences in São Paulo, Brazil, per NeuroscienceNews.com.
Marcio Balthazar, the study supervisor and a researcher at the Brazilian Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, explained to the news outlet that they believe the results have to do with the reduced inflammation and neural growth associated with strength training.
"Any physical exercise, whether weight training or aerobic activity, is known to increase levels of a chemical involved in brain cell growth. It can also mobilize anti-inflammatory T-cells. This is key," he noted. "After all, the more pro-inflammatory protein that is released in the body, the greater the chance of developing dementia, accelerating the neurodegenerative process and forming dysfunctional proteins that eventually kill neurons."
The takeaway:
New research shows that older adults experience the same or less muscle damage than younger adults after strength training. This is welcome news since another study suggests that strength training can improve memory and protect against cognitive decline associated with dementia and Alzheimer's.