ISLAMABAD: The results of recent research revealed that gradually increasing muscle strength through activities such as weightlifting improves cognitive function. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at the University of New South Wales and the University of Adelaide. The findings are particularly significant given the high incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease among the aging population. It has been suggested that exercise indirectly helps prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and lowers the risk of cognitive impairment. Exercise helps with physiological processes such as glucoregulation and cardiovascular health. When these are sub-optimal, they increase the risk of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Exercise also improves other cognitive processes, such as selective attention, planning, organizing, and multitasking. Some studies have also suggested a connection between an increase in the size of certain brain areas and exercise training. With age, the hippocampus is known to reduce in size, which leads to cognitive impairment. However, aerobic exercise has shown an increase in the size of the anterior hippocampus by 2 percent, which can improve spatial memory. Earlier this year, a team of researchers that included Dr. Mavros released a similar test where they noticed cognitive improvement after weightlifting. Using functional magnetic resonance (fMRI), they analyzed changes in the brain after 6 months of progressive resistance training and computerized cognitive training in older adults. They found that progressive resistance training such as weightlifting “significantly improved global cognition.” 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. Although muscle strength seems to be clearly connected with cognitive impairment, the mechanism behind it is still not entirely evident.