ExerciseNZ highlight why staying physically active will reduce cognitive decline

With researchers having found direct links between low skeletal muscle mass and dementia, ExerciseNZ Chief Executive Richard Beddie sees this as reinforcing the importance of maintaining muscle mass as people age for physical and mental functions.

Beddie says this new research shows the importance of not only staying physically active, but the type of activity - loading muscles and bones in gym sessions or through other structured exercise.

Beddie explains “this is clearly vital for people who want both physical and cognitive functions, as well as providing social interactions, and improving mental wellness.

“The World Health Organization (WHO) and NZ’s Ministry of Health guidelines for physical activity include two key requirements. They are about one 150 minutes a week of general movement plus the often forgotten muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days a week.”

“The key mechanisms believed to be at play are the interactions between myokines - peptides and proteins - which then trigger a negative spiral that ultimately leads to cognitive decline. This new pathway from research is the first to show why this happens. We have known for a while that there was a link.

The linking of skeletal muscle and cognition was led by Dr Peter Attia, who received his medical degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine in the USA and trained for five years at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in general surgery.

He spent two years at the National Institutes of Health as a surgical oncology fellow at the National Cancer Institute, where his research focused on immune-based therapies for melanoma.

His latest research drew data from more thana hundred publications on associations between various measures of muscle strength and physical performance and cognition, the biochemical and physiological connections between skeletal muscle and the brain, and the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying cognitive decline.

His review collates and evaluates existing evidence for four proposed pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the link between skeletal muscle mass loss due and cognitive decline with age: systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, abnormal protein accumulation, and mitochondrial dysfunction.

Skeletal muscle is more than just a workhorse tissue required for movement. Contracting muscle also functions as an endocrine organ, releasing a wide variety of peptides and proteins, collectively known as myokines, which act as signalling molecules to other parts of the body.

In related findings, the Australian Sports Commission's latest AusPlay survey found that almost one-in-three Australian adults are now motivated to exercise to maintain their mental wellness.

The AusPlay study showed that, at 31%, that figure has almost doubled in five years, finding steady growth over the period of the pandemic and its accompanying restrictions.