{"id":719770,"date":"2026-06-06T21:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T21:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/719770\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T21:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T21:30:09","slug":"the-30-minute-strength-workout-that-will-help-you-live-longer-and-boost-your-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/719770\/","title":{"rendered":"The 30-minute strength workout that will help you live longer \u2013 and boost your brain"},"content":{"rendered":"

I used to be immortal in my 20s: my weight-training<\/a> habit was entirely vanity-based. Now, at 62, the idea of living longer is both more appealing and less abstract. Fortunately, according to new research, it seems my lifetime addiction to strength exercises may keep me alive for longer and increase my chances of remaining cognitively healthy.<\/p>\n

A study published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine<\/a> has found that, for longevity, two hours of strength training per week seems to be the ideal amount of exercise. They tracked almost 150,000 people over 30 years during which 35,798 study participants died: \u201cA higher weekly long-term level of strength training was associated with a lower risk of death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between 90 and 120 minutes was found to be optimal, meaning there appeared to be no extra time on earth to be had from spending any more minutes lifting weights or doing press-ups. The NHS does not specify weekly duration, but recommends two strength sessions a week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Strength training reduces cognitive decline<\/p>\n

One of the more surprising findings was that, alongside the physical benefits, resistance training fans were also less likely to suffer cognitive decline. In fact, they had a 27 per cent lower risk of dying from neurological disease, which makes it well worth wrangling a dumbbell.<\/p>\n

This study doesn\u2019t explain how this works; it\u2019s simply tracking the evidence. No one knows for sure how resistance training helps retain cognitive function, but one theory points to a hormone released when we push our muscles. Dr Tommy Wood, associate professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at the University of Washington and author of The Stimulated Mind, says: \u201cIGF1 (Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1) is a hormone released by resistance training and helps with the structural function of the white matter of the brain, an area which is really important for decision-making and processing speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds that aerobic exercise is thought to help the area associated with memory function, so he recommends a combination of the two and indeed the evidence from the tracking research supports this.<\/p>\n

A home strength workout<\/p>\n

The key here is to ensure that you do sufficient repetitions of each exercise, so the last few are just at the limit of your capability. If you have enough weight, three sets of 8-12 reps is ideal.<\/p>\n

Rest for a minute between sets and perform three of each. Take a rest day between sessions. There is no need to do all of these at every session: mix and match.<\/p>\n

Dumbbell Squat<\/p>\n

Primary muscles: Quadriceps, glutes, core<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I used to be immortal in my 20s: my weight-training habit was entirely vanity-based. Now, at 62, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":719771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9473,49,48,408,407,84,12439,111031,53523,890,2225,13810,1776,2008,209598],"class_list":["post-719770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-brain-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-exercise","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-health-and-fitness","tag-home-workout","tag-how-to-live-longer","tag-lifestyle","tag-standard","tag-strength","tag-strength-training","tag-top-story","tag-us-content"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=719770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}