Be smart, exercise your heart: exercise effects on brain and cognition

Abstract

An emerging body of multidisciplinary literature has documented the beneficial influence of physical activity engendered through aerobic exercise on selective aspects of brain function. Human and non-human animal studies have shown that aerobic exercise can improve a number of aspects of cognition and performance. Lack of physical activity, particularly among children in the developed world, is one of the major causes of obesity. Exercise might not only help to improve their physical health, but might also improve their academic performance. This article examines the positive effects of aerobic physical activity on cognition and brain function, at the molecular, cellular, systems and behavioural levels. A growing number of studies support the idea that physical exercise is a lifestyle factor that might lead to increased physical and mental health throughout life.

Hippocampal Structure, Metabolism, and Inflammatory Response after a 6-Week Intense Aerobic Exercise in Healthy Young Adults: A Controlled Trial

“…17 Furthermore, interventional studies have reported a volume increase in the hippocampus as a beneficial result of physical exercise 5 in contrast to our findings here. However, the study by Erickson et al 5 reported-despite the overall increase-a wide range of volumetric changes in the hippocampus, indicating both increases and decreases of the hippocampal volume in participants after long-lasting aerobic exercise.…”

Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy

“…Drugs may seem distinctive among enhancements in that they bring about their effects by altering brain function, but in reality so does any intervention that enhances cognition. Recent research has identified beneficial neural changes engendered by exercise 10 , nutrition 11 and sleep 12 , as well as instruction 13 and reading 14 . In short, cognitive-enhancing drugs seem morally equivalent to other, more familiar, enhancements.…”

Brain volumetric changes and cognitive ageing during the eighth decade of life

“…It is possible that this is due to the established relations of cognitive ability with health behaviors: for instance, individuals with better cognitive ability tend to smoke less and exercise more (Gottfredson, 2004), and these lifestyle factors may impact brain structure (e.g. [Almeida et al, 2011; Hillman et al, 2008]; note that such factors were not measured in this study). There were, however, no significant associations in the opposite direction: broad measures of brain size, either total volume or specific volumes of grey matter, white matter, or WMH, did not serve as an early indicator of impending cognitive decline, despite in some cases predicting more volume loss.…”