Weight training helps ward off dementia: study

Exercise programs, especially those involving weight training, help stave off progression to dementia in older people already showing signs of cognitive impairment, researchers have found in a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The randomized, controlled study compared the effects of three different types of exercise, done twice weekly over six months, in 86 women between the age of 70 and 80.

The study compared walking (aerobic exercise), with balance, tone and stretch classes and resistance (weight) training to build muscle strength. The latter method produced the best results for memory and other cognition measurements.

All forms of exercise generally produced positive changes in the study, the first of its kind looking at the effect of exercise on attention, memory, problem solving and decision making. But resistance training fared best, possibly because it gets progressively harder as people increase weight resistance, so it benefits “multiple domains (in the brain) in those at risk for dementia,” the study posits.

“We can’t say resistance training exercise eradicates Alzheimer’s disease but it does show promise in delaying the onset. It improves brain function in the processes that are associated with aging and the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease,” said lead author Teresa Liu-ambrose, a researcher with the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility at Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver Coastal Health and the University of B.C. Brain Research Centre.

Most of the funding for the $100,000 study came from the Pacific Alzheimer’s Research Foundation.

Liu-ambrose said she hopes the research will convince community centres, gym operators and others that it is both safe and beneficial for seniors to weight train and to offer more programs to older adults. It is often difficult for seniors to find programs, she said, adding she has heard seniors complain they are often rejected by personal trainers who are reluctant to take on clients over 75.

“That’s a shame, really, because as we’ve shown through our research, seniors are very capable and dedicated.”

Liu-ambrose said since more than half of those with mild cognitive impairment are eventually diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, it is critically important to find interventions that may “alter the trajectory of cognitive decline in seniors.” Moreover, seniors with cognitive impairment fall twice as much as those without mental impairments, she said.

In 2010, another study led by Liu-Ambros showed a once-weekly, hour-long program of resistance training resulted in fewer doctors visits, less medication and a lower over-all health-care costs for women ages 65 to 75.