“…Epidemiological, observational and intervention studies indicate that exercising can reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., dementia [2,4,77], multiple sclerosis [78], Parkinson's disease [79,80]). Proposed mechanisms of exercise induced neuroplasticity are increased expression, secretion, and downstream signaling of neurotrophic factors (e.g., BDNF, VEGF, IGF-1), reduced inflammation [81,82], reduced stress levels [83] and improved cardiovascular (e.g., reduced arterial stiffness, reduced blood pressure) [84,85] and metabolic (e.g., insulin sensitivity) [86,87] parameters. Numerous studies have shown that exercise induced neuroplasticity is associated with BDNF [88,89].…”