Reducing the Effects of Dementia with Fitness Training

Reducing the Effects of Dementia with Fitness Training

Primary degenerative dementia is a terminal metal illness. It results in considerable memory loss, debilitated judgement, personality fluctuations, confusion, and loss of language capabilities. Due to the fact that this is a primary progressive dementia, the projections for someone with this condition is poor.

 

The origin of Alzheimer’s disease is unidentified; yet, a number of factors are believed to be involved. These entail neurochemical influences, such as deficiencies in the neurotransmitter (a chemical messenger) somatostatin, acetylcholine, and norepinephrine; environmental issues; and genetic immunologic disorders.

The start of this illness is illusive. At first, the patient undergoes virtually unnoticeable changes, such as memory loss, absent-mindedness, issues with education and absorbing new information, a deterioration in personal sanitation and appearance, and absent focus. Little by little, tasks that necessitate intellectual basis and activities that demand verdict become more and more taxing.

Progressive strain in communication and grave deterioration of memory, language, and motor function causes loss of synchronisation and failure to express anything via pen and paper, and words. The countless health benefits resulting from exercise, including strength training, are well-established facts. Cognitive decline is more of a pressing issue than most people realise, with a stunning one case recognised worldwide every seven seconds! Minor cognitive decline is a well-recognised symptom of dementia, and denotes an ideal chance for intervening and changing the course of mental decay in the elderly.

A modern-day study, distributed on April 23rd (2012) in the Archives of Internal Medicine by researchers at the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility at Vancouver Coastal Health and the University of British Columbia, established that applying a seniors’ exercise regime, clearly one using strength training, can do just that. Possibly most remarkably, the exercise programme improved the decision-making mental process of discriminating attention and conflict resolution abilities in addition to associative memory retention, which are great predictors for the progression of slight cognitive deficiency into dementia. For six complete months, the staff observed 86 elderly women with (credible) mental impairment and the results of which were assessed using functional magnetic resonance imagery. These results advocated that strength training significantly enriched decision-making processes and associative memory performance.

The crucial thing here is that strength training will develop two mental processes that are especially sensitive to the results of aging and neurological erosion – executive function and associative memory – processes which are often compromised in initial stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

Bibliography

  • Bourgeois, Michelle S., and Ellen M. Hickey. Dementia: From Diagnosis to Management: A Functional Approach. New York: Psychology Press, 2009
  • L. S. Nagamatsu, T. C. Handy, C. L. Hsu, M. Voss, T. Liu-Ambrose. Resistance Training Promotes Cognitive and Functional Brain Plasticity in Seniors With Probable Mild Cognitive Impairment”Archives of Internal Medicine, 2012; 172 (8)
  • "Neurological Disorders: Alzheimer's Disease." Professional Guide to Diseases. 10th Edition. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2013. 193-195.

 

  • University of British Columbia (2012, April 23). Preventing dementia: Trajectory of cognitive decline can be altered in seniors at risk for dementia. Science Daily. Retrieved March 5, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120423162403.htm

 

 

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