Findings from the Study of Mental and Resistance Training (SMART) trial show, for the first time, a positive causal link between muscle adaptations to progressive resistance training and the functioning of the brain among those over 55 with Mild Cognitive Impairment. The findings were published in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society.
The SMART trial was a collaboration between UNSW’s Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) and the Universities of Sydney and Adelaide.
In the trial, participants did weightlifting sessions twice a week for 6 months, working to at least 80 percent of their peak strength. The weights were gradually increased as participants got stronger, all the while maintaining their peak strength at 80 percent.
Authors of this study pointed out that it remains unclear whether physical training in itself stops the degenerative effects of old age, or whether they boost some other mechanisms that support cognition.
