Exercise Your Brain

A recent article surfaced in the New York Times regarding exercise, strength, balance and brain health. Perhaps you read it? We all know the benefits of exercise as it relates to strength, flexibility, caloric expenditure and cardiovascular fitness, but what effect does it have on brain health and cognitive retention?
As with other organs in the body, our brains are dynamic organs which remodel and repair themselves by adding and shedding neurons and connections throughout our lifetime. The unfortunate consequence of aging results in loss of brain connections becomes more common than the addition. By late middle age, most of us begin developing age-related holes or lesions in our brains’ white matter, the material connecting different regions of the brain. Studies have shown that those with many lesions and shrinking brain matter tend to have worse cognitive ability and decreased memory.
Our muscles tend to atrophy, or decrease in size, as we age, which negatively affects gait, walking ability and balance. Scientists believe changes in our motor control skills contribute to a decline in white matter and brain health. Teresa Liu-Ambrose, a professor of physical therapy and director of the Aging, Mobility, and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver has been researching and studying the effects of varying types of exercise and it’s influence on white matter. Dr. Liu-Ambrose hypothesized that an increase in muscular strength through strength training may actually help us retain cognitive abilities. She tested a large group of healthy women between the ages of 65-75 with a history of brain scans and documented lesions. The group of woman was divided into three sub-groups. The first group began a light resistance training program once per week, the second group performed the same resistance training program two times per week, and the third control group started a stretching and balance routine two times per week.
The results were extremely interesting. Both the control group, who focused on balance and flexibility, and the group performing strength training only once per week showed increased number and size of the lesions in their white matter and deterioration in their gait. The group performing strength training twice per week showed significantly less deterioration in white matter and walked much more smoothly.
So what is the take away from this study? Research has indicated the importance of strength and resistance training as it relates to muscular strength and bone density for years, but new study’s are showing how it may help retain brain matter and assist with cognitive abilities. It is also important to recognize that frequency of resistance training is critical for retention of brain synapses. So remember, when you are just about to leave the gym and skip your weight machines, think twice. Your brain might depend on it.