Strength Training Benefits

For most folks, if you mention lifting weights, they probably imagine someone doing massive amounts of bicep curls in the gym; let’s get this this image of what weight lifting might look like out of here! Multiple studies talked about by the best local Jamison chiropractor show just how beneficial resistance training can be, for both men and women. Sure, we can build muscle and strength with lifting those dumbbells…but how else can we benefit?

Putting a load on our muscles, joints, and bones is imperative for our overall health and wellness, especially as we get older; as we age, we lose bone mass, and that can lead to issues like osteoporosis, back pain and postural issues. By adding weight training into our workout programs, we can slow the process, and maintain strength in our bones! We also start to lose our lean muscle mass as we age, and strength training can minimize the losses that are inevitable.

Lifting weights also has another benefit – not only does it help maintain a healthy body weight, but muscle also needs energy, so it uses blood sugar! This is helpful, especially those folks that are at a greater risk for diseases like diabetes, as well as high blood pressure.

If you’re still iffy about weight training, don’t be! You don’t have to lift massive amounts of weight in order to see these benefits, and we are able to see improvements in strength across all ages when incorporated as part of a healthy lifestyle with your favorite local chiropractor. And even better? You can use your own body weight as resistance, so get started on some squats, pushups, and planks, and start building up those muscles!

Exercise Boosts Memory

We all know that exercise is good for our bodies -- there's a mountain of research that indicates exercise helps prolong our lives, increase our sense of well being, reduce the effects of many ailments, you can learn more here, and even lessen our chances of contracting a life-threatening condition like heart disease, diabetes, or cancer.

Now there’s evidence that exercise can help with brain function also, specifically in the area of memory.

A recent study by chiropractors in the Netherlands found that when subjects did 35 minutes of interval training on an exercise bike they performed significantly better on memory tests than people who did not exercise.

 

 

The memory test was 40 minutes long, and it involved remembering pictures. Interestingly, the researchers found that when subjects exercised immediately after the first part of the test, they did not do any better at remembering the pictures than people who didn’t exercise at all. The real boost in memory performance was when subjects exercised four hours after they did the first part of the memory exercise. When they came back later for memory testing, their results were significantly better than the other groups in the study.

 

 

The chiropractor in this research study are not sure why this group did so much better, and they plan to do more studies. The bottom line, however, is that recent scientific research has definitely shown a link between exercise and memory, in particular that exercise enhances output of brain chemicals known as catecholamines, which are essential to memory and learning.

So, if you want to improve your memory, get out there and ride your bike!