There are several health benefits of physical activity, including positive effects on the heart, muscles, and bones. According to recent studies, a particular workout could now slow or even stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
The effects of regular physical activity, such as resistance training, on hormone levels that increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease were examined in a study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience. The goal was to determine whether resistance training and other comparable forms of exercise can act as an easy and inexpensive form of therapy for Alzheimer’s patients by preventing or at least delaying the onset of symptoms.
In order to conduct this experiment, scientists used mice that have a genetic abnormality that causes beta-amyloid plaques, a type of harmful protein, to accumulate in the brain. This accumulation harms brain tissue and is a crucial indicator of Alzheimer’s disease.
The mice were trained to climb a ladder with a sharp inclination while having burdens that were equal to 75%, 90%, and 100% of their body weight fastened to their tails. The experiment simulated the common resistance exercise that people engage in at the gym. After four weeks of training, blood samples were taken to determine the levels of corticosterone, a hormone that is similar to cortisol in humans and rises in mice in response to stress, increasing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
The exercise-trained mice’s hormone levels were normal, which means they were comparable to those of the animals in the control group, which included mice without the genetic abnormality. The development of beta-amyloid plaques was also lessened in their brain tissue, according to an analysis.
“This confirms that physical activity can reverse neuropathological alterations that cause clinical symptoms of the disease,” said Henrique Correia Campos, first author of the article, in a press release.