For older women who seem to be experiencing more than their share of senior moments, a regimen of weight-lifting may ward off further cognitive decline. Until now, studies have focused on aerobic workouts, with disappointing results, but physical therapists at the University of British Columbia did a study that compared aerobics with strength training and found that the latter tended to help improve mental functioning.
HealthDay quotes study co-author Teresa Liu-Ambrose as saying that "among people who don't yet have dementia but are already at a high risk in terms of mild memory and executive function impairment, our study shows that strength training, but not aerobics training, does have benefits for cognition."
Ambrose and her colleagues released their findings in the April 23 issue of the "Archives of Internal Medicine." They noted that the strength-training group showed changes in the activity of the brain's cortex associated with cognitive behavior. The team did caution that their findings may not apply to women of a different age groups, or to men in general. Even so, here at ThirdAge we think you might as get involved in some strength training. Your brain may well thank you for it!
