NEW EVIDENCE: EXERCISE BOOSTS YOUR BRAIN

We all know that exercise is good for us, and if done right can build muscles, physical strength and cardiovascular fitness. Now new evidence is emerging that physical exercise is good for our brains as well.

Publishing in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, a group of physicians and epidemiologists at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases detail a large study measuring and comparing the cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and brain volume of 2103 German women and men between the ages of 21 and 84. The researchers found that fitter participants had significantly greater brain volume than their less-fit peers.

Physical fitness may also boosts brain fitness
Photo credit: Michael (Mike) L. Baird

Interestingly, highly detailed magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of the participant's brains showed that the parts of the brain that benefitted most from increased fitness were not areas associated with movement or coordination, but instead areas involved in thinking and--seniors take note--memory. The effects on the hippocampus, crucial for memory, were especially strong in older participants.

"This is another piece of the puzzle showing physical activity and physical fitness is protective against aging-related cognitive decline," says Michael Joyner, a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist. He and two Mayo Clinic colleagues wrote an editorial to accompany the research report. They note that while previous research has linked exercise, physical fitness, blood flow to the brain, and cognitive functioning, this is the first research to show beneficial changes to the grey matter of the brain.
". . . these data are encouraging," says Clifford Jack Jr., a neuroradiologist at Mayo Clinic. "The findings regarding cardiorespiratory fitness and certain brain structures are unique."

You can read an earlier zerospinzone post about research linking exercise and brain connectivity here.

The new study's authors point out that while their cross-sectional research clearly showed that CRF and brain volume and structure are correlated, it can't prove cause and effect-- ". . . reverse causation (i.e., individuals with greater brain volumes have higher CRF) cannot be excluded," they write.

Even with that caveat, the researchers and the Mayo Clinic commentators conclude that these findings justify large-scale studies that follow participants over time to see if exercise and improved physical fitness actually help preserve grey matter in aging brains, or possibly even stimulate growth in regions of the brain such as the frontal lobes or hippocampus.

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You can access the full research paper and editorial commentary at this link. 

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 REA

WANT TO KEEP YOUR BRAIN HEALTHY? STAY PHYSICALLY FIT

As the ancient Romans already knew (remember "a sound mind in a healthy body"?), physical and mental fitness are connected.  Now, two millenia later, new research may tell us why.

Dr. Jonathan Repple, at the University of Muenster, in Germany, and his colleagues were able to study over 1000 MRI brain scans of healthy volunteers, with an average age of 29. They supplemented the scans with a test of physical endurance and a dozen cognitive tests.

 High contast brain scan

Credit: Nevit Delmin/Wikimedia

As has been shown in previous research studies, the researchers found that physical fitness and cognitive functioning were strongly correlated.  What was new was their finding that this correlation was mediated by the integrity and connectivity of the white matter of the subjects' brains.

White matter consists of long, insulated nerve fibers that transmit information rapidly from one part of the brain to another.  Fitter subjects had better brain connectivity, and those with better brain connectivty scored better across the board on cognitive tests.

(This finding makes subjective sense if you consider how much of our thinking consists of making connctions.)

The researchers didn't expect to find such a strong relationship between physical fitness, brain health and cognition in healthy young people. "To see this happening in 30 year olds is surprising," Repple says. "This leads us to believe that a basic level of fitness seems to be a preventable risk factor for brain health."

Still, this correlative study could not determine is whether improving people's fitness will improve the health of their white matter and/or boost their cognitive performance. "We see that fitter people have better brain health," says Repple. "So we now need to ask whether actually making people fitter will improve their brain health. Finding this out is our next step."

Stay tuned. And in the meantime, just in case, stay fit.

Robert Adler

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You can find the research paper, White matter microstructure mediates the association between
physical fitness and cognition in healthy, young adults; at:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-49301-y 1

DON'T JUST REMEMBER TO EXERCISE--EXERCISE TO REMEMBER!

We all know that exercise boosts physical fitness, but more and more research is showing that it also boosts mental fitness. The latest evidence appears in an article in MIT's Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, showing that six weeks of aerobic exercise boosted performance on a challenging memory task. Although the subjects in this study were 95 healthy young adults, the researchers expect to see similar results as they research the benefits of exercise for older adults. They hope to show that exercise can ward off age-related memory loss and even the ravages of dementia.

“At the other end of our lifespan, as we reach our senior years," says researcher Jennifer Heisz, at McMaster University, in Ontario, Canada, "we might expect to see even greater benefits in individuals with memory impairment brought on by conditions such as dementia.”

 Aerobic exercise--credit Wikipedia

The kind of exercise that produced these results is called interval training--short bouts of intense exercise followed by a short rest period, repeated over 20 minutes. The physical results were impressive--improved cardiovascular fitness, and an increase in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) a protein that helps brain cells to survive and thrive. But the mental benefits were equally important--a significant boost to high-interference memory, which lets us recall the correct word, name or event when there are many similar possibilities.

A growing body of research with mice and other animals also homes in on BDNF as a key player in translating physical exercise into better brain functioning. Remarkably, there are hints that this effect changes the expression of DNA in reproductive cells and can pass on cognitive benefits to offspring. You can read an excellent summary in TheScientist by clicking here.

So, if you remember to exercise, exercise will help you remember!

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GOOD NEWS--EVEN RIDING AN E-BIKE BOOSTS FITNESS

It's rare when something that seems easy turns out to be good for you. Even though it seems too good to be true, new research finds that riding an e-bike to work for a month boosted cardiovascular fitness as much as riding to work on a conventional bicycle.

Cardio benefits of riding an e-bike

Credit: Richard Masoner

This research, reported in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, took place in Basel, Switzerland. As part of a national bike-to-work month, the researchers recruited 32 "untrained, overweight" men and women. Their median age was 40 and their median Body Mass Index was 29, just on the border between overweight and obesity. 

The participants we're divided into two groups, those who rode normal bicycles to work for the month and those who rode e-bikes. They had to commute at least 6 km (3.75 miles), three days per week. All were tested for cardiovascular fitness before and after the one-month trial, as measured by peak VO2, the body's ability to absorb and utilize oxygen.

Measuring peak VO2

Credit: Cosmed

At the end of the month, both groups showed comparable and significant improvements in cardio fitness. Interestingly, the e-bike riders rode farther and took on more hills than those using normal bikes. "This indicates that the e-bike can increase motivation and help overweight and older individuals to maintain fitness training on a regular basis," says Arno Schmidt-Trucksäss, Professor of Sports Medicine at the University of Basel and part of the research team. 

When he takes into account other studies, Schmidt-Trucksäss is bullish about the benefits of e-bikes. "Those who use e-bikes on a regular basis benefit permanently, not only in terms of their fitness, but also in terms of other factors such as blood pressure, fat metabolism, and overall mental well-being.”

Not bad at all for something as practical and enjoyable as riding an e-bike.

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