Just one session of weightlifting or resistance training boosts brain power, study finds

Hitting the gym can boost your memory, promising research has suggested.

US scientists say weight training for just over 40 minutes can enhance long-term memory in healthy adults.

Although the study used weight exercises as a form of resistance training, researchers said that resistance activities such as squats or knee bends should produce the same results. 

‘Results demonstrate that acute resistance training positively impacts executive functions, enhancing processing speed and working memory and improving neuroelectric function,’ the scientists from Purdue University in Indiana, added. 

In the study, they tracked 121 adults aged between 18 and 50 and split them into two groups. 

All underwent cardiovascular fitness tests and were quizzed about their lifestyle.  

Two days later, all participants then gave blood samples and had an electroencephalographic (EEG) scan to record the electrical activity of the brain. 

The first group then did sets of weight exercises of moderate difficulty, while the other was asked to watch a video of adults performing resistance exercises. 

The resistance exercises lasted for 42 minutes. 

They began with a 2-minute warm-up followed by two sets of 10 repetitions for each exercise: chest press, pull downs, bicep curls, leg press, cable triceps extensions, and leg extensions. 

Once completed, volunteers gave blood again and underwent a second EEG.

The scientists found that response times for working memory moderately improved in the group that completed resistance exercises compared to the group that watched videos.

Writing in the journal Psychophysiology, the scientists said they could not prove exactly why weight training improved working memory.

But they hypothesised that increased blood lactate — a marker of fatigue within muscles — and blood pressure after working out improved the speed of ‘executive function’.

This, in turn, may enhance cognitive performance.  

However, they noted, that because cognitive tasks were carried out straight after the exercises had been completed, it is not possible to ascertain how long the effects last. 

But, they added: ‘Clinically, these findings support the integration of resistance exercise into exercise programs for acute benefits to executive functions.’ 

Previous research has also suggested that increasing the time spent exercising as you hit middle age may help preserve cognitive function and slow the onset of dementia in later life. 

Earlier this year, Spanish scientists, who tracked more than 300 adults, found that those who increased their activity levels to around two and a half hours a week, between the ages of 45 and 65, were less prone to a toxic protein, amyloid, spreading in the brain- which is thought to be behind the symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease. 

Lifting weights just three times a week has also been shown to slash a person’s biological age, by almost eight years. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week — or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise.

The NHS also suggests strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups, including the legs, back and abdomen, on at least two days a week.