Exercise Boosts the Brain, Not Just Brawn

Everybody knows that exercise helps the body and builds up muscles.

But it does more than that. It also helps the brain.

Focus and attention

A study published in 2013 in The Journal of Pediatrics looked at 8-10 year old boys and girls before and after 20 minutes of exercise. Here are the details:

• Half the children had Attention Deficit Disorder.
• All of them took computerized tests involving academics and attention.
• Then they sat quietly for 20 minutes, and read. After that, the tests were repeated.
• Another day, they took the tests, and then they either walked briskly for 20 minutes, or jogged on a treadmill for 20 minutes. The tests were then repeated.
• Brain activity was monitored while the tests were repeated.

Results

After exercise, the math and reading comprehension tests improved markedly.

The children with attention deficit disorder were able to focus better and their attention levels improved.

Reason for benefit

The researchers felt that exercise increases electrical activity in the frontal lobe, and this could be at least part of the reason why exercise sharpens mental focus.

Reduced cell aging

Stress accelerates the aging of cells.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, studied 239 women who had stressful events over one year.

The women who were physically active, had healthy diets and good quality sleep, had fewer signs of cellular aging in response to stress.

Improvement in depression

Exercise enough to burn 350 calories, if done three days a week, can reduce symptoms of depression.

There is some data showing an increase in brain GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) levels with a one hour yoga session. This suggests a possible role in anxiety disorders.

Learning

Exercise increases the levels of a chemical called BDNF, or Brain-Derived Neurotropic Factor. This may have a role in creating new brain cells and making new connections between the brain cells. All of this appears to help us to learn.

It also appears that complicated activities are better than regular activities in the learning process.

Cognitive function

There is some data suggesting that exercise (like Tai-Chi) can improve global cognitive function and memory in older adults. Obviously, more studies are needed.

Alzheimer’s disease

Exercise might protect the structure of the brain from deterioration in people at high risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

In May 2014, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic published a study on nearly 100 people in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. The details are as follows:

• People 65-89 years old were studied.
• Half the people were at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s, because they carried a variant gene called e4, which increases this risk.
• Half the gene carriers exercised regularly.
• Brain scans were done at the beginning of the study, and also 18 months later.
• The hippocampus is an area of the brain important for memory processing.
• Carriers of e4 who did not exercise had significant shrinkage of the hippocampus after 18 months.
• Carriers of e4 who exercised had almost no such shrinkage.

Although the connection between exercise and Alzheimer’s needs to be probed further with more research, it is reasonable to advise people to exercise in an effort to protect their memory.

Conclusion

To quote Harvard Medical School psychiatrist John Ratey, who has written a book about the brain and exercise, “Exercise is the single best thing you can do for your brain in terms of mood, memory, and learning.”