BOSTON: Lifting weights is better than brain training exercises for keeping dementia at bay, a study suggests.
University of Sydney researchers found that high intensity weight training improves the mental abilities of older people with mild cognitive impairment, a common precursor to dementia.
Professor Maria Fiatarone Singh, a geriatrician, said resistance training may significantly reduce the risk of dementia.
“We know weight training stimulates hormones that make muscles grow and it’s possible these hormones are also having similar benefits for brain function,” said Prof Fiatarone Singh.
Researchers divided 100 adults aged over 60 years with mild cognitive impairment into three groups.
For six months, the first group did weight training, while another did computer-based brain training, and a third undertook a combination of both.
The weight training group showed significant improvements on the Alzheimer’s disease assessment scale, Prof Fiatarone Singh said.
They improved their overall cognitive function, in particular their abilities related to planning, organizing and devising strategies and visual memory, she said.
These improvements were still present 12 months after the supervised training stopped…