When I worked in the Aged Care industry promoting activity and fitness to the ‘oldies,’ I remember saying to people that if only we had proof that exercise prevented dementia then everybody would be motivated to exercise.
Given that getting Alzheimer’s or dementia was the greatest fear of most people about getting older it seemed like a reasonable assumption. Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, causes a progressive loss of memory and thinking ability. It is also known to be associated with symptoms such as an impaired gait, depression and a weakened grip.
Well, there is new evidence coming out every day linking poor fitness to increased risk of memory loss and cognitive impairment. In a recent study, researchers found that weak muscles are closely linked to Alzheimer’s disease in older adults.
Researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago studied 970 adults with an average age of around 80 who did not initially have Alzheimer’s. Each was rated for mental function and given a physical strength score derived from testing 11 muscle groups.
The US research showed a pattern of reduced Alzheimer’s risk with increasing muscle strength. The strongest patients had 61% less chance of developing the disease than the weakest.
Subjects underwent at least one further evaluation over an average follow-up period of 3.6 years. Of the total, 138 participants (14.2%) went on to develop Alzheimer’s.
Muscle strength scores ranged from minus 1.6 to 3.3 units. Every unit increase in initial muscle strength correlated with a 43% reduction in the risk of developing Alzheimer’s during the study period.
Participants in the top 10% of muscle strength scores were 61% less at risk of Alzheimer’s than those in the bottom 10%. Muscle strength was also associated with mild cognitive impairment that may be an early sign of Alzheimer’s.
While no reason for the association was determined in this study, the researchers believe it could involve energy production in the body.
Regardless of the actual mechanism linking muscle strength and cognitive abilities, this research should boost your motivation to add strength training to your exercise routine. Many people are disciplined about aerobic exercise (though unfortunately not enough), but strength is often forgotten because people think it has to involve lifting heavy weight is a gym.
While a gym might be an efficient way to do strength training, there are alternatives that can be done anywhere. It just takes some discipline and imagination.
