Resistance training may prevent or delay symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, new research shows.
A study found that hormone levels associated with Alzheimer’s risk were lower in those who went through resistance training than those who did not.
A neurodegenerative disease expert explains the findings.
Physical activity benefits abound—exercising can be good for your heart, muscles, and bones. Now, research shows that a specific type of workout could delay, or even prevent the development, of Alzheimer’s disease.
A study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience looked at how regular physical exercise, like resistance training, can affect hormone levels that heighten the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The purpose was to see if resistance training, and similar ways of exercising, can prevent or at least delay the appearance of symptoms, and serve as a simple and affordable therapy for Alzheimer’s patients.
Researchers conducted this experiment by looking at mice with a genetic mutation responsible for a buildup of beta-amyloid plaques, a kind of toxic protein, in the brain. This buildup damages brain cells and is a key marker of Alzheimer’s disease.
The mice were trained to climb a steep-incline ladder while loads were attached to their tails corresponding to 75%, 90%, and 100% of their body weight. The experiment mimicked typical resistance training you can see humans performing in the gym. After a four-week period of training, blood samples were taken to measure levels of corticosterone, the hormone in mice equivalent to cortisol in humans; for which rising levels in response to stress heighten the risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
Levels of the hormone were normal in the exercise-trained mice, meaning their levels were equal to those found in the control group consisting of mice without the genetic mutation. Analysis of their brain tissue also showed a decrease in the formation of beta-amyloid plaques.
“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.