Squats, scissors, lunges. Athletes are familiar with these muscle strengthening exercises for the legs and buttocks. According to a King’s College London study (Great Britain), this training would be welcome to strengthen not only the lower body, but also the brain. In other words, concrete legs would help strengthen our brains and slow down the aging process of neurons.
To find out, the researchers followed for ten years 324 healthy female twins aged 43 to 73 residing in the United Kingdom. Their cognitive capacities, their memory and their learning in particular were evaluated at the beginning and at the end of the experiment.
The results published on November 9 in the journal Gerontology show that leg power is proving to be a good indicator of brain health, more than another physical factor. More broadly, the twins with muscular legs have maintained their mental faculties after ten years. They had fewer age-related brain changes than twins with weaker legs. “It’s interesting to see such differences in the knowledge and brain structure of identical twins who had different leg strength 10 years ago,” says study author Dr. Claire Steves.
Special sport for beautiful legs
This publication confirms the importance of maintaining good physical shape by playing sports regularly to keep in shape “physically and mentally”, say the researchers. Activities to favor for toned legs (and a brain): for example walking, running, cycling, swimming.
However, further work is expected to determine whether this association between leg power and brain health is also true in men.
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