Exercising This Part of Your Body May Support Brain Health as You Age

If you want to age well, you don’t want to miss leg day. Research shows that lower muscle and leg strength in older adults can shorten lifespan and reduce cognitive function.

Muscle mass begins to decrease after the age of 30. Maintaining muscle strength, especially in the legs, is important for healthy aging and brain function. research is linked sarcopenia— Significant muscle loss — leading to decreased cognitive function.

“The most dynamic [and] “The most independent elderly patients I see are those who are active and remain active throughout their lives.” Amanda McKenna, PT, DPTis a board-certified geriatric clinical specialist and director of the geriatric physical therapy training program at the Rehabilitation Institute at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Staying active and building leg strength can help prevent falls. More than 14 million older adults fall each year, and lower body weakness is a major risk factor.

Falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths in older adults. Those who survive often have head injuries, broken bones, or fear of falling again, which prevents physical activity.

Why is leg strength related to cognitive health?

Muscle strength and physical activity also impact brain health. The brain, especially the hippocampus, shrinks with age. The hippocampus is important for memory and cognitive function, and Alzheimer’s disease shows significant hippocampal decline.

Although there is no proven way to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, regular physical activity can help reduce your risk. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a large amount. A 2011 study found that aerobic exercise, such as walking, improved memory and hippocampal size in older adults.

“Maintaining leg strength through exercise may help protect against diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, which are diseases associated with hippocampal shrinkage, and stronger leg muscles reduce hippocampal volume. There is a positive relationship with increase.” Megan Olivos PT, DPT, MPHa board-certified specialist in geriatric physical therapy at Denver Health.

A 2015 study of identical twins found a strong link between leg strength and improved cognitive aging. Researchers used MRI to study brain changes and found improvements not only in the hippocampus but throughout the brain.

“Maybe it’s not just affecting areas that may be involved in the Alzheimer’s disease process, but it’s affecting the brain more generally,” he said. Dr Claire StevesProfessor of Aging and Health at King’s College London and lead author of the 2015 study.

Researchers are getting closer to understanding the mechanisms linking exercise and brain health. According to Steves, there is more evidence that exercise improves the body’s communication systems and is likely to promote neurogenesis (or the formation of new neurons) in the brain.

Walking speed is also important

Leg strength also helps maintain walking speed. A 2016 study found that people with slow gait speed (walking speed) were three times more likely to have limited social participation than faster people.

Olivos says muscle weakness, pain, balance issues, neurological conditions, and poor heart health can all contribute to slow walking speed.

People who move slowly may have difficulty participating in social activities. Loneliness and social isolation can increase the risk of cognitive decline, depression, heart disease, and early death.

Is there one way to deal with slow walking? Make sure your leg muscles are ready. “Strengthening your leg muscles and applying force to those muscles will increase your walking speed,” Olivos says.

Easy exercises to improve leg strength

If you want to increase leg strength to age healthily, the first step is to talk to your health care provider to make sure it’s safe to do more activity. Once you get the green light, start slowly to reduce the risk of injury.

“You can actually do a lot of these exercises at home if you’re safely prepared and cleared to exercise,” Olivos says.

Heel raises while holding on to the kitchen counter or marching in place are simple exercises you can do at home. First, try standing up or sitting down from a chair. And, Olivos said, it will eventually be able to hold weights and moderately heavy objects around the house, such as a gallon jug with several cups of water in it.

Finding ways to make exercise more convenient for you will make it easier to stick to your new habits. “We just need to change what we think of as exercise in the first place and encourage activity throughout the day,” Olivos says.