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Today’s Health Upgrade

• Statins and your brain

• Do you have a magnesium problem?

• In defense of game night (Why science backs it)

• Fact or fiction: Deadlifts and back pain

Health 
Do Statins Cause Dementia? A 6-Year Study Offers A Big Clue 

Last week, we mentioned how Ketch is on a statin. It was a footnote in a longer column, but many of you were worried about the health risks.

Because if you’ve ever hesitated to take a statin (or watched a parent or loved one refuse one), the concern might have been caused by the common belief that statins can negatively affect your brain or cause dementia. 

A large new trial put the worry to the test. 

The new STAREE trial followed nearly 10,000 people ages 70 and older. None had heart disease, diabetes, or dementia when the study began. Half received atorvastatin (a statin), and half took a placebo. Researchers tracked them for nearly six years.

The statin cut major cardiovascular events by about 30 percent. And, for those worried about their brain, the statin did not increase the risk of dementia.

That’s a real reduction, and the statin prevented some nonfatal heart problems. That said, it did not extend the number of years they lived without disability.

Serious side effects were uncommon and occurred at the same rate in both groups. However, that doesn’t mean there were no side effects. The researchers noted that statin users were more likely to experience changes in their liver and blood sugar. 

Whether to begin a statin is a question to discuss with your physician and depends on your cholesterol, blood pressure, health history, and overall cardiovascular risk.

But if you’re worried that taking a statin might solve one problem (cardiovascular health) while causing another (brain health), the most recent trial suggests that’s likely not the case. 

Together With Magtein
Magnesium Is Famous for Sleep. Its Résumé Is Much More Impressive

Most people know magnesium as the thing you take before bed. That's how it shows up in ads, on pharmacy shelves, in the group chat when someone can't wind down. But sleep is one part of what this mineral does, and the rest of the job description barely gets talked about.

Magnesium is one of the hardest-working minerals in your body. It’s involved in your energy, muscles, nerves, and metabolism every second, and there’s a high likelihood you don’t get enough of it.

A new analysis of 78 randomized trials found that magnesium shifted almost the entire metabolic panel in the right direction. The effects were not dramatic. So there’s nothing to oversell. 

And the trend was impossible to ignore: having adequate magnesium improved fasting blood sugar, HbA1c (your three-month blood sugar average), insulin resistance, LDL, and triglycerides.

Those wins make sense once you understand magnesium’s role in your body. It's the fourth most abundant mineral in your body and a required helper in more than 300 enzyme systems. 

The energy molecule your cells run on, ATP, only works when it's bound to magnesium. Your muscles need it to contract and then relax. Your nerves need it to fire. Add it up, and that's hundreds of everyday processes leaning on one mineral.

The data suggest that only about 50% of Americans consume the magnesium they need, and it sits on the short list of nutrients the government flags as underconsumed. 

Most supplements oversell the benefits and undersell the need. And again, if you don’t have a deficiency, you don’t need to flood your body with magnesium. 

But if you’re running low and not getting enough from your diet, closing that gap is a real and easy win.

If you want to fuel up with food, leafy greens, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains are rich in magnesium and bring plenty of other benefits. 

And if that doesn’t work, or you eat those foods and are still low on magnesium, a supplement can help. 

But like so many supplements, not all brands and products are equal. 

For magnesium, there are two primary concerns: absorption and unwanted side effects. In this case, that would be stomach and GI discomfort. 

If you want magnesium backed by published research, easier on the stomach, and fully absorbed by your body and your brain, Magtein® checks all the boxes as a trusted brand. 

Cheap versions like oxide barely dissolve, so most of the dose never gets absorbed. It just sits in your gut and pulls in water. 

Magtein® is magnesium bonded to L-threonate, a carrier that walks the mineral out of your gut and into your system, including your brain, instead of leaving it to churn in your intestines. 

Magtein® is the patented, clinically studied version, not a generic threonate that may behave differently. When you spot that name on the label, that's how you know you're getting the one the studies used.

Our preferred brand is from Momentous. Three capsules give you 2 grams of Magtein®, about 145 mg of elemental magnesium, and every batch is independently tested (NSF Certified for Sport), so what's on the label is what's in the bottle.

Magnesium runs a few hundred jobs in your body every day. You don’t need to “magnesium max,” but you do want to make sure you’re not deficient and slowing down your body. 

On Our Radar 
Game Night Isn’t Goofing Off. It Can Be Medicine For Your Mind

It’s time to give game night some better PR. 

A round of Mahjong, a hand of cards, a slow chess match: it’s the thing you do once the real work of the day is done. But research suggests the right game might be the real work for your mind.

Older adults who regularly play games that stimulate the mind do better on thinking and memory tests than those who don’t.

A meta-analysis of 10 trials assessed games such as Mahjong, chess, and cards to determine whether a little extra playtime not only turns back the clock on how you spend your free time but also leads to a brain that acts younger. 

The games appeared to improve executive function, overall cognition, planning, and focus. And these benefits were observed in both healthy people and those with early signs of cognitive decline. 

Games like those studied by the researchers work your brain by requiring you to hold rules in mind, plan ahead, and adapt to an opponent. This is exactly the type of "mental exercise” the research suggests builds your cognitive reserve, which can help fight against age-related decline. 

Not to mention, social connection has its own separate link to brain health. And, if you’re having fun, separate research shows that better mood and happiness are linked to sharper cognition because depression and stress also wear on your mind. 

This is probably why Arnold always takes breaks from our writer’s room meetings to FaceTime his friends around the world for a quick game of chess. The guy has always been ahead of the science.

If you were looking for an excuse to get your friends together, send them this newsletter. Because game night might be the easiest way to help reduce the risk of cognitive decline that typically happens as you age.

Fact or Fiction
The Deadlift Will Wreck Your Back

Spend any time on social media following accounts that discuss fitness, and you’ll inevitably hear, “The deadlift is a high-risk, low-reward exercise.”

To anyone taught that bending over while holding a heavy weight ruins backs, it can look like an injury waiting to happen.

But research (and decades of training) paints a very different picture: Studies suggest the deadlift is not uniquely dangerous, and researchers have found that the exercise can help treat recurring back pain.

In a randomized controlled trial, researchers divided adults with recurrent low back pain into two groups. One performed progressively heavier deadlifts for eight weeks. The other did gentler, low-load exercises commonly used in back rehab. Both groups also learned how pain works and why discomfort doesn’t always mean the back is being damaged.

The people who deadlifted reported less pain and better function, and those improvements were still present at the two-year follow-up. The deadlift wasn’t always better than conventional rehab, but it wasn’t worse, either. In other words, a movement often blamed for back pain worked just as well as the cautious alternative for treating it, and sometimes the outcomes were even better.

That doesn’t mean everyone with a bad back should start pulling heavy. And that’s the real issue. 

Most people aren’t taught how to deadlift correctly and don’t understand how to load the exercise. Learn the exercise correctly and load it right, and deadlifts (and all resistance exercise) are protective.

And the payoff compounds with age: Programs that combine strength and balance work cut the rate of falls in older adults by about a third, and exercise overall lowers the risk of fall-related fractures by roughly a quarter. 

Strength alone isn't the whole answer. Balance is the other half, but the muscle and bone you build now is the reserve you'll be standing on in forty years.

The research doesn’t prove deadlifts prevent injuries or that they belong in every rehab plan. What it does show is that loading the back is not inherently harmful. In fact, it’s the opposite. It builds strength and resilience, and with coaching and gradual progression, your back can adapt to resistance like the rest of the body.

The broader injury data tells a similar story. 

When researchers analyzed studies across different types of weight training, traditional strength training had one of the lowest injury rates. Even powerlifting — a sport built around heavy squats, bench presses, and deadlifts — averaged roughly four injuries per 1,000 hours of training.

For context, a review of recreational running injuries estimated about 7.7 injuries per 1,000 hours, with a much higher rate among beginners. That isn’t a clean head-to-head comparison; the studies tracked different people and didn’t always define injuries the same way.

But it makes one point hard to ignore: heavy lifting is not the reckless outlier people assume it is.

And then there is the upside: strength is protective. 

A meta-analysis of 16 studies linked strength training to a 10 to 17 percent lower risk of early death, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, with much of the benefit observed after just 30 to 60 minutes per week. 

If you want to learn how to deadlift correctly, we have an entire masterclass in the Pump Club app from one of the best movement coaches in the world, former World’s Strongest Man Nicolai Myers. He also spends 3-4 hours every single week helping Pump Club app members with technique in a Zoom call where they submit their form checks.

Since we are crazy and believe giving things away for free helps people see the true value of the Pump Club, here is the deadlift masterclass.

And here is one of Nic’s latest form check calls with members. Check the timestamps in the description to see how he reviews any specific exercise.

And if you want a good place to start, use a range of motion you can control, stop the set when your position begins to change, and add weight gradually.

If the floor is too far away, raise the bar on blocks to start. Reduce the range of motion, and remember that increasing range as you go is a form of progression just as much as increasing weight is.

The deadlift isn’t dangerous because it loads your back. Problems are more likely when the load, volume, or range of motion exceeds what your body is ready to handle.

The Positive Corner of The Internet
About Arnold’s Pump Club Editorial Standards

We do things a bit differently here, starting with transparency.

1. The Content: All APC emails are researched, written, and fact-checked by the APC editors (see bottom of the email), with written contributions from Arnold (noted with “Arnold’s Corner”). Links take you to original studies (not second-hand sources).

2. Does AI play a role? Not for the primary content, but it is used in two ways. The main items are original content written by the APC team. The summaries at the end are AI-generated based on the human-written content above. We also use an AI tool to edit and review our interpretations of the research, ensuring scientific accuracy. We don’t assume AI is right, but we use technology to hold ourselves accountable.

3. Yes, we have partners (all clearly noted by “Together With”). Why? Because it allows us to keep the APC emails free. We first test products, and then reach out to potential partners who offer ways to help you improve every day. The bar is set high, and to date, we have turned down millions in ad deals. (Example: we will not partner with any non-certified supplements or those without evidence in human trials). If we won’t buy the product, we won’t recommend it to you. And if there’s no evidence it works, then there’s no place for it here.

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell