Maintaining muscle helps the brain age better

A study by the Department of Neurology at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, carried out together with researchers from King’s College London and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and published in the journal Alzheimer’s Dementiahas demonstrated the benefits of maintaining good muscle function in old age to protect the brain against cognitive decline. Researchers have shown that people who start with more muscle strength and better performance physically maintain superior memory conditions and the ability to perform executive functions.

According to the doctor Miguel German Bordaneurogeriatrician at the Clinic, “the results suggest that muscle function has a protective effect and helps reduce brain damage.” “This reinforces the idea that there is a close relationship between the muscle and the brain, which is influenced by a decrease in general inflammation and better blood circulation in the brain,” he explained.

The study was carried out using data from the FINGER program, an international multicenter randomized clinical trial designed to test whether lifestyle interventions can prevent or delay dementia in older people at increased risk. For this, the cases of 583 people from among 60 and 77 years without cognitive deterioration, but with a greater risk of developing it due to cardiovascular factors or excessive sedentary lifestyle, among other circumstances.

At the beginning, physical condition was analyzed of the participants through simple tests, such as evaluating leg strength (getting up from a chair) or hand strength (with a dynamometer). Subsequently, and for two years, the researchers followed the evolution of the cognitive function of these patients by analyzing memory, executive functions, processing speed and global cognition with a battery of neuropsychological tests, the CUN reported.

The doctor Rail explained that, among the main findings, they detected that people who started with better muscle strength and better physical performance showed a more favorable cognitive evolution: “In particular, lower limb strength and handgrip strength showed a significant association with better cognitive performance at two years, especially in domains such as memory and executive functions, considered key brain functions for mental functioning in daily life.”

Exercise and nutrition, hand in hand

Dementia, the CUN has indicated, encompasses a set of diseases characterized by the progressive degeneration of the lobes of the brain, a region that has a key role in the modulation of personality and behavior, in decision making, in the processing of emotions and in language. According to the Spanish Society of Neurology, these pathologies already represent the 8% of the total number of deaths that occur each year in Spain and, in the case of Alzheimer’s, affects more than 800,000 people.

Prevention and risk reduction are essential in the face of this disease since, currently, there are no curative treatments or therapies capable of reversing brain damage. Therefore, the doctor Rail has highlighted the importance of physical and nutritional care: “We recommend the regular practice of adapted physical exercise that combines aerobic activity such as walking or going up and down stairs. Strength training through resistance exercises with dumbbells, elastic bands or machines is also important. Likewise, balanced nutrition with an adequate protein intake is key to preserve muscle mass and function. These are factors that are associated with a better functional and cognitive state.”