Resistance Training May Delay Dementia Onset

Train.

Six months of twice-weekly resistance training (RT) improved executive function, associative memory, and regional patterns of functional brain plasticity in a group of older women with probable mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

"We provide novel evidence that RT can benefit multiple domains in those at risk for dementia," the researchers report.

"We found improvement in both cognitive and brain function with resistance training — not just maintenance — over the 6 months. Thus, our results imply that resistance training can delay the onset of dementia in older adults," first author Teresa Liu-Ambrose, PhD, PT, from the Aging, Mobility, and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, told Medscape Medical News.

In a previous study reported by Medscape Medical News, she and her colleagues found that 12 months of twice-weekly RT significantly improved executive function in cognitively healthy older women. Their latest study found improvement after only 6 months and in women with MCI. Thus, the benefits of RT on executive function "may be more potent among those at greater risk for dementia," the researchers say.

Repeat.

Train.