Dr. Teresa Liu Ambrose’s research was featured in an article in The Vancouver Sun on April 23, 2012.
“Exercise programs, especially those involving resistance (weight) training, help stave off progression to dementia in older people already showing signs of cognitive impairment, local researchers have shown in a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The randomized, controlled study compared the effects of three different types of exercise, done twice weekly over six months, in 86 women between the age of 70 and 80.
The study compared walking (aerobic exercise), with balance, tone and stretch classes and resistance training to build muscle strength. The latter method produced the best results for memory and other cognition measurements.
All forms of exercise generally produced positive changes in the study, the first of its kind looking at types of exercise and its effect on attention, memory, problem solving and decision making. But resistance training fared best, possibly because it gets progressively harder as people increase weight resistance, so it benefits “multiple domains [in the brain] in those at risk for dementia,” the study posits.
“We can’t say resistance training exercise eradicates Alzheimer’s disease but it does show promise in delaying the onset. It improves brain function in the processes that are associated with aging and the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease,” said lead author Teresa Liu-Ambrose, a researcher with the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility at Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver Coastal Health and the University of B.C. Brain Research Centre.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Weight+training+stave+dementia/6508095/story.html