In a very neat study done here at UBC,
researchers took 86 older women with mild cognitive impairment and divided them
into 3 groups for a 6-month trial.
One group did resistance training twice a
week, one group worked on aerobic fitness, and a third group did stretching and
flexibility exercises.
After 6 months, the resistance group was
the only one to show cognitive improvements, although the aerobics group was
more fit but it did not show improvement in cognitive scores.
A reminder that when it comes to exercise,
the mantra should be BARF: Balance, Aerobics, Resistance, and Flexibility, with
a growing emphasis on the non-aerobics threesomes as we push along in years.
