- Engaging in both aerobic exercise and strength training can improve cognitive performance in populations aged over 80 years, a new study suggests.
- Participants who performed only cardio/aerobic exercise fared no better than people who were sedentary at mental acuity tests.
- The study underscores the value of being physically active as long as possible as one reaches their later years.
A new study from the McKnight Brain Research Foundation, published in the journal GeroScience, finds that for people aged 80 years or older, a combination of cardio/aerobic exercise and strength training may improve cognition.
The study found that people who combined these two types of exercises exhibited higher cognitive performance than people who were sedentary and people who performed cardio exercise alone.
Individuals who engaged in cardio exercise along with strength training — regardless of duration and intensity — were more mentally agile, quicker at thinking, and also had a stronger ability to shift or adapt their thinking as necessary.
The study involved 184 cognitively healthy individuals who were 85 to 99 years old, with a mean age of 88.49 years. Of this group, 98 were women. Their exercise regimens were self-reported, with 68.5% participating in some form of exercise.
Individuals were divided into three groups: people who were sedentary, people who did cardio exercise alone, and people who did both cardio exercise and strength training.
The cognition performance of participants was assessed according to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment battery of tests, designed to measure mild cognitive decline and early dementia signs.
The cardio plus strength training group had the highest overall cognitive performance scores.
The cardio plus strength training group scored significantly better than the sedentary group on coding and symbol search tests.
The cardio plus strength training group also scored significantly better than the cardio-alone group on symbol search, letter fluency, and…
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