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How Exercise Benefits Your Body AND Your Mind
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Exercise And Brain Health
But the effects of exercise on the brain are not just psychological. New research indicates that being physically active can significantly lower a person’s risk of serious neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.
As the worldwide population increases and people continue to live longer, the number of people diagnosed with neurodegenerative conditions in old age will increase. According to a study cited in Harvard Health Publications, some 115 million adults around the world will be living with some form of dementia by 2050.
Exercise helps reduce inflammation in the brain, and also increases neurogenesis—a fancy word for the formation of new brain cells. The studies that have been done have produced widely varying results, but there are two findings which are more or less consistent across all studies:
- Any exercise is better than no exercise.
- Certain types of exercise seem to be more beneficial for the brain than others.
A study was conducted by researchers in Finland at the University of Jyvaskyla to determine whether resistance training, aerobic, or high intensity interval training (HIIT) had the greatest effect on the brain in rats. Special weights, hamster wheels and tiny treadmills were used for this purpose.
At the end of the 7-week study, the researchers found that the rats that performed aerobic exercise—equivalent to steady, consistent running—had the highest levels of new brain cell formation. The rats doing resistance exercise (climbing obstacles with weights attached to their bodies) had no significant change, as did the rats which engaged in HIIT.
Studies on humans have yielded similar results. A study on women between 65 and 75 years of age found that exercise had quite a significant effect on neurodegenerative trends. Each of these women had exhibited white-matter lesions, a phenomenon in which small holes begin to form inside brain tissue. When this occurs, it can result in problems with memory.
The researchers found that after one year, the group that performed resistance training had much lower levels of white matter lesions than the other group, which only performed stretching and balance exercises. These findings indicate that more intense forms of exercise, like running and weightlifting, stimulate the brain more than less strenuous activities.
READ ALSO: Can Omega-3s Fight Depression And Build A Stronger Brain?
The modern lifestyle of sitting around all day in the office, in the car, and in front of the TV is linked to many problems. The fact is that if the body begins to atrophy through lack of use, the brain eventually will as well. It’s not enough to simply read a lot or have an active social life; you must engage your body to keep your mind sharp. The mind and the body are not separate, but part of the same unit. As clichéd as the expression may be, science has shown that when it comes to your brain and body, you really do have to use them or lose them.
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