Another study has recently come out that touting the benefits of strength training, this time in older women.
Older women who did an hour or two of strength training exercises each week had improved cognitive function a year later, scoring higher on tests of the brain processes responsible for planning and executing tasks. The women who did strength training had improved their performance on tests of so-called executive function by 10.9 percent to 12.6 percent, while those assigned to balance and toning exercises experienced a slight deterioration — 0.5 percent. The improvements in the strength training group included an enhanced ability to make decisions, resolve conflicts and focus on subjects without being distracted by competing stimuli.
Here are some more benefits of lifting weights:
1. You Will Be Physically Stronger. (Duh, but strength helps with your daily activities too)
2. You Will Lose Body Fat.
3. You Will Gain Strength Without Bulk.
4. You Decrease Your Risk Of Osteoporosis.
5. You Will Improve Your Athletic Performance.
6. You Will Reduce Your Risk Of Injury, Back Pain and Arthritis.
7. You Will Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease
8. You Will Reduce Your Risk of Diabetes.
9. You Will Improve Your Attitude And Fight Depression.
10. You Will Increase Injury Prevention
11. you Will Feel Better and Look Better
And let's just be honest, when I follow a man on a weight machine and have to add weight, it just feels good too:)
2 comments:
A couple of things:
They don't mention a control group in the study and it was only 155 participants so I'd be curious to see further research on the issue.
Other than that, I don't have any gripe with more exercise. I don't think that anyone could rightly argue that a couple of hours of exercise a week is a bad thing, at any age. I'm just not sure if I'm keen to jump on the strength-training-directly-correlates-with-higher-cognitive-function band wagon. That's a pretty specific conclusion to draw with one study and a small sample size.
This finding is in conjunction with numerous studies that find that exercise in general, usually moderate aerobic exercise, decreases congitive impairments in older individuals such as this study that has a sample size of over 3,000: http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/170/2/186?home
This is one of the first studies that sepcifically sites weight training so obviously more research needs to be done, but with all of these other benefits, why not? I was also unable to access the entire article so I cannot get the specifics about their findings and conclusions, unfortunately.
If you are curious as to how exercise (in general) may help brain function consider this: Physical exercise may protect against mild cognitive impairment via the production of nerve-protecting compounds, greater blood flow to the brain, improved development and survival of neurons and the decreased risk of heart and blood vessel diseases. The cause and effect relationship though still needs to be studied. (via Archives of Neurology 2010;67[1]:71-79, 80-86)
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