By Deborah Bamisaye
Imagine walking into an old, quiet building:
The walls are crumbling.
The lights are flickering.
The once-busy place is strangely silent. You stand in the middle, watching darkness slowly claim one room after another.
Then you wonder: Once a light goes out, can it ever come back on? For someone watching a loved one battle Alzheimer’s disease, it can be very frustrating. Alzheimer’s is a specific brain disease and is the most common cause of dementia. Now, alp Alzheimer’s disease is not simply “dementia,” but Alzheimer’s disease can cause dementia.
A recent Nigerian source quotes Dr. Temitope Farombi, a consultant neurologist at University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, discussing Nigeria’s growing dementia burden and the need for stronger healthy-ageing and dementia interventions.
It’s heart-breaking; One feels like scolding oneself when:
- A familiar name disappears.
- A conversation is forgotten.
- A face that should be instantly recognizable becomes difficult to place.
- And slowly, painfully, the person seems to be losing pieces of a life they once knew by heart.
For years, we have been tempted to see the ageing brain this way, a house whose walls can only crumble once the damage begins but what if that picture is incomplete? What if the brain is not a dying house at all? What if it is a living, restless structure, one that can adapt, reorganize and respond to what we do?
Now, science has given us a word for part of this remarkable ability: NEUROPLASTICITY. The brain can change its connections and adapt throughout life. Researchers are also investigating adult neurogenesis, the formation of new neurons in certain parts of the brain. The science here is fascinating, although exactly how much new-neuron formation occurs in the ageing human brain and what it means for disease is still being studied. So, no! We cannot honestly say: “Exercise reverses Alzheimer’s disease.” There is no magic three-move formula that can make Alzheimer’s disappear but there is something we can say. The brain responds to the body and that changes the conversation. This is because the “medicine” we are about to discuss isn’t sitting in some futuristic laboratory. It may begin with something much closer…’Your muscles.’
Think about that for a moment. The organ responsible for memory, attention and decision-making is constantly communicating with the muscles carrying you around. When you move, your muscles don’t simply burn energy; They send chemical and biological signals through the body; Blood flow changes; The cardiovascular system responds; The nervous system gets involved and the brain receives the message: “Something is happening down here.”
This is one reason scientists are so interested in physical activity as part of a broader strategy for maintaining brain health and healthy ageing. But here’s the fascinating part: Not every movement challenges the brain in the same way. So, let’s meet the three helpful exercises or movements:
- Resistance Training
The muscle challenge that gets the brain’s attention: We often think of lifting weights as something people do to become stronger, or fitter, or simply because they enjoy the gym. But muscles are far more interesting than that. When muscles contract against resistance, they release a variety of signaling molecules that can influence the rest of the body.
One of the names that keeps appearing in brain-health research is BDNF – brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Think of BDNF as part of the brain’s maintenance crew. It is involved in the growth, survival and functioning of neurons and their connections. This is why researchers are interested in how exercise may influence BDNF and other biological pathways involved in brain plasticity. So, when you perform an appropriate resistance exercise, you’re not merely telling a muscle:
“Get stronger.” You’re creating a whole-body biological conversation, and that conversation includes the brain.
2. Dual-Task Exercise
Make the body move. Make the brain think. Now let’s play a little trick on the brain:
- Walk while answering a simple question.
- Step from side to side while remembering a sequence.
- Move according to instructions while counting.
- Suddenly, the body has a job and the brain has another job at the same time. That’s the idea behind dual-task exercise.
It’s about combining movement with a cognitive challenge. And that is important because real life is full of dual tasks. You walk while watching where you’re going. You talk while remembering what someone just told you. You carry something while avoiding an obstacle. You cook while keeping track of what is happening on the stove. You see, the brain is constantly switching, processing and coordinating.
Dual-task activities deliberately challenge some of those abilities. The aim is not to “force electricity through dormant brain cells” or magically bypass Alzheimer’s damage. The real fascination is simpler: You are asking the brain to think while the body moves, and that is a very different challenge from simply sitting and solving a crossword puzzle.
3. Lower-body Exercise
This is because the road to independence begins at your feet. And now, for the part that sounds almost too simple: your legs. Why should we care about leg strength when we are talking about the brain? Because your legs are responsible for taking you through life: Standing; Walking; Climbing stairs; Getting out of a chair; Moving around your compound; Going to the market; Getting into a bus; Going to church; Visiting family. When lower-body strength and balance decline, everyday life can shrink and when movement becomes difficult, physical activity can decline too. That is why lower-body exercise matters.
Sit-to-stands, Step-ups.
Squats, where appropriate – and do other carefully selected strengthening exercises.
These movements primarily target strength, mobility and physical function. And those things matter enormously for healthy ageing. So, no, your legs do not contain a secret “Alzheimer’s switch.” But they do something just as important: ‘They help keep you moving.’ And staying physically active is one of the behaviours associated with better health as we age.
Three Moves:
Resistance training challenges strength and stimulates whole-body responses.
Dual-task movement challenges the brain to think while the body moves.
Lower-body exercise helps preserve strength, mobility and independence.
- Three movements – Three different emphases – One body – One brain and perhaps that is the part we have been overlooking. So perhaps the question isn’t: “Can these three exercises cure Alzheimer’s?” They cannot.
The better question is: “Can the way we move help create a healthier environment for the brain as we age?”
That is a question science is still working to answer in all its complexity but it is a question worth asking because the old building in our opening story may not be as helpless as we imagined. The lights may flicker. Some rooms may need attention but the building is still alive and perhaps the caretaker has more work to do than simply stand there and watch the darkness grow.
In the second part of this episode, we’ll bring these three movements out of the laboratory and into everyday Nigerian life, what they can each offer, how to approach them safely, and how something as ordinary as walking, standing, dancing or lifting can become part of caring for the ageing brain.
For more on emerging research into the biological processes associated with Alzheimer’s disease, read Lithium Loss May Be the Unseen Trigger of Alzheimer’s Disease
Until our next episode, keep moving, keep learning, and keep giving your brain something to work with.
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