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02/21/2020 | Pressemitteilung

Specific strength training improves brain functions

Memory, quick thinking, reaction time: combined strength and balance training noticeably improves brain functions in seniors. That is the result of a study by sports scientists in Kassel. Other strength training methods do not show the same effect.

Image: University of Kassel.
Strength training on shaky ground: Exercises similar to these also improved brain performance in test subjects.

For the study, the scientists at the University of Kassel divided the test subjects into three groups; one of the groups completed so-called instability strength training, i.e. combined strength and balance training in which weights were lifted on wobbly supports. The other two groups trained on different equipment under stable conditions. At the beginning and end of the study, participants completed cognitive tests.

While seniors in the latter two groups showed no significant improvement, participants in the instability strength training were significantly better at remembering numbers (+ 11% in a so-called digit memory test), matching symbols under time pressure (+ 19% in a digit symbol substitution test) and naming colors in a stressful situation (+ 8% in astroop-colour-word test).

"That exercise improves brain performance and can even prevent dementia is now recognized. Our study shows that this also applies to strength training, especially when training on unstable surfaces," explains Prof. Dr. Armin Kibele, head of the Training and Exercise Department at the University of Kassel. This could have to do with the demands placed on the brain to maintain balance when lifting weights. In addition, it's conceivable that exercises that challenge older people produce more dopamine, which could have contributed to better brain performance. "In our next studies, we will get to the bottom of these open questions," Kibele announces.

The study involved 82 healthy men and women aged 65 to 80, 68 of whom completed the program in full. They trained twice a week for ten weeks. 

The Kassel-based sports scientist Armin Kibele has been conducting nationally and internationally acclaimed training studies with older people for several years. The present study was largely designed by his colleague Nils Eckardt, and Claudia Braun was also involved. The results have now appeared in Nature Scientific Reports.

Link to the publication:

www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-59105-0

 

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Armin Kibele
University of Kassel

 

Press contact:

Sebastian Mense
University of Kassel
Communications, Press and Public Relations
Tel.: +49 561 804-1961
E-mail: presse[at]uni-kassel[dot]de
www.uni-kassel.de