Greater muscle strength = better cognitive function

  • While handgrip strength has been linked to dementia risk in the elderly, a new study indicates that less impaired or fragile older adults need upper and lower body strength tests — but that these, too, are correlated with cognitive function.

A Finnish study involving 338 older adults (average age 66) has found that greater muscle strength is associated with better cognitive function.

Muscle strength was measured utilising handgrip strength, three lower body exercises such as leg extension, leg flexion and leg press and two upper body exercises such as chest press and seated row.

Handgrip strength, easy to measure, has been widely used as a measure of muscle strength, and has been associated with dementia risk among the very old. However, in this study, handgrip strength on its own showed no association with cognitive function. But both upper body strength and lower body strength were independently associated with cognitive function.

It may be that handgrip strength is only useful for older, more cognitively impaired adults.

These are gender-specific associations — muscle strength was significantly greater in men, but there was no difference in cognitive performance between men and women.

The finding is supported by previous research that found a link between walking speed and cognition in older adults, and by a 2015 study that found a striking correlation between leg power and cognition.

This 10-year British study involved 324 older female twins (average age 55). Both the degree of cognitive decline over the ten year period, and the amount of gray matter, was significantly correlated with high muscle fitness (measured by leg extension muscle power). The correlation was greater than for any other lifestyle factor tested

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-06/uoef-gms062617.php

Reference: 

Related News

A study involving over 180,000 older veterans (average age 68.8 at study start), of whom 29% had PTSD, has revealed that those with PTSD had a significantly greater risk of developing dementia.

Following on from previous research with mice that demonstrated that a diet rich in

A study involving over 1100 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease at 50 French clinics has revealed that receiving a comprehensive care plan involving regular 6-monthly assessments (with standardised guidelines for the management of problems) produced no benefits compared to receivi

A small study suggests that the apathy shown by many Alzheimer's patients may not simply be due to memory or language problems, but to a decreased ability to experience emotions.

Confirming previous research, a study involving 270 Alzheimer’s patients has found that larger head size was associated with better performance on memory and thinking tests, even when there was an equivalent degree of brain damage.

Anticholinergics are widely used for a variety of common medical conditions including insomnia, allergies, or incontinence, and many are sold over the counter.

While brain training programs can certainly improve your ability to do the task you’re practicing, there has been little evidence that this transfers to other tasks.

A review of the many recent studies into the effects of music training on the nervous system strongly suggests that the neural connections made during musical training also prime the brain for other aspects of human communication, including learning.

A rat study demonstrates how specialized brain training can reverse many aspects of normal age-related cognitive decline in targeted areas. The month-long study involved daily hour-long sessions of intense auditory training targeted at the primary auditory cortex.

Another study has come out showing that older adults with low levels of vitamin D are more likely to have cognitive problems. The six-year study followed 858 adults who were age 65 or older at the beginning of the study.

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news
Error | About memory

Error

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.