Can Muscle Mass Give Us a Younger Brain?
If you want a younger, healthier brain, exercise that increases your muscle mass can help, says Gretchen Reynolds in the Washington Post:
“More muscle mass was linked to younger brains in new research, suggesting resistance training can support long-term brain health.”
She goes on to say:
“If you need another reason to visit the gym this winter, a new study of almost 1,200 healthy, middle-aged men and women found that those with more muscle mass tended to have younger brains than those with less muscle.”
Yes, But…
This sounds great and even credible. Strength training has many benefits for health as people age. The body of evidence for strength training is impressive.
But no, the present study does not establish, as a matter of fact, that resistance training will give you a younger brain. Most especially, it doesn’t prove this because the researchers behind the study did not actually do a study of resistance (strength) training. All they have is observational data from MRI imaging. They searched for a correlation between muscle mass and the appearance of brain age on MRI scans.
Not only is there no data on actual exercise in this study, it has no data on muscle or brain function either. And then on top of that, the correlations they have found between MRI brain images and MRI estimates of muscle mass do not appear to be robust. The authors note that many of the correlations they found are not statistically significant.
Ready for Consumer Health Reporting?
One final note. This study that Reynolds uses to support her reporting in the Washington Post has not gone through peer review. It is merely an abstract of research for presentation of the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Andrew Brown, Director of Biostatistics for the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, told us:
“These claims are premature to be highlighted in the news. The findings are from a cross-sectional study presented in a meeting abstract, meaning they have not been subject to peer review, nor do they justify causal claims. The limited details we have do not tell us that such bold claims are supported by the evidence.”
So yes, resistance exercise training is good for you. But it’s not at all certain that it will keep your brain young.
Click here for the study abstract and here for the audacious reporting in the Washington Post. For the press release that prompted all this, press here.
All That Glitters in the Brain, photograph by BrainsRusDC, licensed under CC BY 4.0
Subscribe by email to follow the accumulating evidence and observations that shape our view of health, obesity, and policy.
December 19, 2025
December 19, 2025 at 8:15 pm, John dixon said:
As written the abstract suggests younger people have younger brains, greater muscle volume and less visceral fat.
Hmm interesting
December 20, 2025 at 2:59 am, Ted said:
What’s not to like about good critical thinking? Thank you, John.