Credit


Australian researchers have for the first time shown that weights training can protect the parts of the brain vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease.

Key points:

  • The study showed a clear difference for the participants doing strength exercises
  • Senior author Michael Valenzuela said it was the first intervention that slowed or halted degeneration
  • He said it was clear that strength training needed to be part of dementia reduction strategies





The University of Sydney study, published in the Neuroimage: Clinical journal, showed that six months of strength training slowed, and even halted, the degeneration in the hippocampus and its subregions a year after the exercise.


The study consisted of 100 participants at high risk of Alzheimer's disease due to mild cognitive impairment (a decline in memory and other thinking skills despite intact daily skills).

Strength training can protect brain from degeneration in those at risk of Alzheimer's disease - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)