Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia that is so common that roughly 5.4 million Americans are currently living with it, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Although cases of dementia are prevalent among older adults, new research reveals that there may be ways to intervene before Alzheimer’s and similar ailments take their toll on seniors.

Recently, researchers from both the University of British Columbia and the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility at Vancouver Coastal Health conducted a study on ways of changing the course of cognitive decline in older adults.

During the six-month study, the researchers had 86 senior women who were likely to have mild cognitive impairment engage in both resistance and aerobic training.

Based on data from cognitive tests and other methods, the researchers found that resistance training was linked to significant improvements in areas such as functional brain plasticity and associative memory performance.

"What is key is that the training will improve two processes that are highly sensitive to the effects of aging and neurodegeneration - executive function and associative memory - functions which are often impaired in early stages of Alzheimer's disease," said Teresa Liu-Ambrose, who led the study.

If resistance training is part of adults’ weekly exercise routine, they may want to complete an IQ test and see what impact it is having on their cognitive abilities.