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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.
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
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
-----
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
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