By Nancy Alexander, PT, CSCS
The body of evidence linking strength training to brain health is growing. This is great news for young and old alike as studies are showing how this type of training can be used to enhance brain function both in the short-term and throughout the aging process. Furthermore, it has shown to help those individuals with and without brain disease. Let’s take a closer look on how it could help you.
Deborah Jeanne Sergeant, author of “Strength Training for Women,” (In Good Health) touched on this topic recently. She reported that Jessie Murray, a family nurse practitioner at Oswego (NY) Health’s Primary Care at Lakeview, listed “improved bone health, enhanced mental well-being, improved athletic performance and a reduced risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes,” as a benefit of strength training.
In addition, strength training can improve mood. Murray added that strength training releases endorphins, which can help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. “Some research even suggests that regular strength training and aerobic exercise may help improve thinking and learning skills for older adults,” Murray added.
The fact that strength training alone can improve brain health is a new development. There has been good evidence already that aerobic exercise improves cognitive ability. This includes any activity that uses oxygen continually to get work done – known as cardiovascular exercises like walking, biking, and running. The connection to strength training, on the other hand, has not been as strong and research was muted by other factors involved in the studies. Some recent studies have focused on strength training alone and the results are now shedding some light on this topic.
Isadora Ribeiro, PhD, a São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) doctoral fellowship recipient at the School of Medical Sciences (FCM) at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil, is the first author of a new study recently published in the well-respected journal GeroScience. According to this study, weight training may help protect the brains of older adults from dementia, including those already showing signs of mild cognitive impairment. (Medical News Today.)
For this study, researchers recruited 44 adults ages 55 or older with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment. Study participants were divided into two groups. The weight training group participated in a resistance exercise program with moderate to high intensity sessions twice a week, with progressive loads, meaning weight or sets were increased as participants’ muscles strengthened. The control group did not exercise for the duration of the study.
“We chose to study resistance training because its primary goal is to increase muscle strength, which is especially important in older adults,” Ribeiro explained.
At this study’s conclusion, Ribeiro and her team found that after six months, participants in the weight training group showed improvement in verbal episodic memory (ability to recall specific, personal events using words) and improved strength of neurons and areas of the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Conversely, the control group’s participants showed signs of worsening brain parameters.
“This is an interesting finding because it suggests that weight training may not only help to increase cognition, but also prevent the development of atrophy in regions related to Alzheimer’s disease — potentially delaying progression or even preventing the onset of dementia,” Ribeiro details.
This is so important as it helps those suffering from dementia to have a new tool in their toolbox to improve their brain health. “Since there is still no cure [for dementia],” Ribeiro said, “finding ways to delay or prevent its onset — especially through accessible, non-pharmacological strategies — is essential to improve quality of life in aging.”
Other studies also support this finding. The American Council on Exercise (ACE) offers these summaries of studies that support strength training as a tool to improve cognition:
- A study by Chang and colleagues found that both an acute bout of high-intensity resistance training and combined moderate-intensity resistance and aerobic training significantly improved the performance on cognitive tests of 36 female college students, with combined low-intensity resistance training and moderate-intensity aerobic training being most effective at improving cognitive function.
- Canadian researchers compared the effects of a once- or twice-a-week strength-training program to a twice-weekly balance and toning program among 155 females aged 65 to 75. The participants in both resistance-training groups demonstrated improved memory, enhanced selective attention, and improved conflict resolution, whereas those who performed the balance and toning group did not experience the same improvements.
- In another study, women between the ages of 60 and 70 participated in a 12-week exercise resistance-training program three days per week. While the control group showed no improvements, the resistance-training group exhibited a 19% improvement in cognitive capacity in addition to improvements in muscular strength.
- Researchers looked at the effects of progressive resistance training in 100 participants, age 55 and older with mild cognitive impairment. They found that six months of resistance training resulted in neuroprotective benefits to Alzheimer’s disease–vulnerable parts of the hippocampus.
- A study that focused specifically on older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) concluded that high-intensity resistance training helps improve cognitive function in these individuals.
- Over a 12-month study, women aged 65 to 75 years performed strength-training exercises once or twice per week. Those who trained twice per week showed improvements in both executive function and response inhibition processes, which is a measure of willpower, suggesting that consistency is a crucial element in maintaining cognitive function.
- Coehlo and colleagues found that just one month of detraining erased the cognitive function and mobility benefits of a six-month resistance-training program in older women.
The last two studies noted above speak to the consistency required to see continued benefits.
ACE adds that the physiology of working muscle during exercise presents an effective approach to promoting brain health. Abundant evidence from numerous randomized trials suggests that exercise improves memory, processing speed, and executive function in the short-term and aids in preventing cognitive decline in the long-term. A single workout quickly stimulates hippocampal function and connectivity. Physiologically, the neuroprotective benefits of exercise derive from, at least in part, the increased production of myokines.
Myokines are signaling molecules, or messenger proteins, released by skeletal muscles when they contract during exercise. These molecules act like hormones, traveling through the bloodstream to influence other organs, regulate metabolism, and contribute to the many health benefits of physical activity. (NIH)
In addition, exercise stresses muscles and they repair themselves by getting larger and stronger to adapt to the stresses placed on them. The brain responds in similar physical ways. Exercise increases the size of the hippocampus, the brain structure essential for memory and learning.
If you need more convincing, know that strength training can provide you with so many other benefits besides improving your mental capacity.
Luke Barnes, a doctor of physical therapy at St. Joseph’s Health, said that the benefits of strength training include “weight management, improvements in cardiovascular health and circulation, decrease risk for diabetes or cardiovascular events, improved mental wellbeing and decreased overall pain through release of endorphins in the brain.”
While these benefits are for both men and women, Barnes noted that women also have unique benefits from strength training, like combating the bone density related to declining estrogen levels in post-menopausal women.
Perhaps the biggest benefits come from improved mobility and function. Strengthening can help you feel better, move better and even live better. It can provide you with the independence to lead the life you want, travel more, and even stay in your own home longer.
As you get older, you need strength training just to stop what your body is programmed to do. “Strength declines from the third decade — to the 50s and 60s at a rate of 8%-10% per decade,” said Carol Sames, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Physical Therapy Education at the College of Health Professions at Upstate Medical University. “Then the loss increases to 30% per decade. By the 80s, muscle mass decreases by 50%.” (In Good Health).
The good news is that even with this innate programming, you can improve your strength at any age. And now you know you can improve your brain health, too. At any age. You just need to choose the right strengthening program that is safe for you and meets your needs.
There is more work to be done in terms of research and knowing what the optimal training program is to maximize these benefits. But you can start to incorporate more strength training into your fitness routine right now.
According to the ACE (American Council on Exercise),
- Strength training offers some unique benefits to brain health.
- To take advantage of those benefits, the resistance-training programs should include a mix of both low-load, high-repetition training and high-load, low-repetition training.
Some of the research suggests that you should strength-train twice a week with 10 to 30 repetitions with each exercise. This is a great place to start. Your equipment could include:
• Weight machines (may be found in the home, most likely found in gyms)
• Free weights (dumbbells of various weight, sold in sets)
• Resistance bands (varied colors have varied resistances)
• Body weight (such as push-ups, squats, and planks. No equipment needed except maybe a mat.)
During our Functional Strength Training classes here at the Living Well Academy, I encourage participants to focus on using lighter weights with increased reps as they start the program. As a general rule, 30 reps can be your ultimate goal in terms of repetitions. Once that becomes easy and you can perform all reps in perfect form, you can add weight (or resistance) to that exercise. How much weight to add is up to you, but in class we frequently discuss this together as other factors may come into play. This approach would be labeled low-load, high reps as noted above from ACE and is considered the most common for older adults as it typically fits best with their chosen lifestyle.
High-load, low repetition training is as it sounds. This is about lifting as much weight as you can but without many reps. This approach is more common with younger athletes and/or those who have been supervised in their own individualized fitness regimen. As an aside, this approach is not pursued in our classes here at the Living Well Academy.
Please know there is room in between these two approaches to strength training. Staying safe while strength training is vital, as becoming sidelined with injury can slow you down. Protect joints that may be compromised by such conditions as arthritis with lighter loads. Tie your exercise to your functional goals. Ultimately, make your program enjoyable.
Keep in mind:
- Do not compromise on proper form to make the right number of repetitions.
- Start with a dynamic warm-up and end with stretching as a cool down. This will help decrease your risk of injury and lower your risk of delayed onset muscle soreness.
- If your strengthening routine is rigorous, make sure you schedule rest days in between for your muscles to properly recover.
Always consult with your physician prior to starting any new exercise program to be sure it is right for your medical status. You can also consult with your movement specialist or physical therapist for guidance. Consult with me if you have any questions about the best way to start your program. That is the most important thing – just start.
Sources:
GeroScience: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11357-024-01483-8
Medical News Today: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/can-weight-training-protect-brain-dementia-cognitive-decline#Reversing-mild-cognitive-impairment
NIH, Exercise-Induced Myokines can Explain the Importance of Physical Activity in the Elderly: An Overview: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7712334/
Strength Training for Women by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant, In Good Health: https://www.cnyhealth.com/strength-training-for-women/
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