We all can understand as a general rule, exercise or increased physical activity is good for us.
Science has shown that increased physical activity can play a major role in longevity by its systemic impact on the body’s ability to create more energy by utilizing the pathways that produce it in the first place. The essence of the “use it or lose it” principal in its most basic form.
The idea comes from placing stress on the energy producing networks, like the mitochondria of the cell, which is responsible for the creation of cellular energy. The body will adapt and integrate all it’s systems; respiratory, circulatory, nervous, endocrine, muscular-skeletal as well as the importance of how and what neural networks share most of the burden of energy production and activation.
Recently, German scientists continue to pursue this popular notion by looking deeper into what regions of the brain are most impacted by exercise along with it’s correlation to brain volume. Although past research has demonstrated how exercise can combat the effects of aging, pointing out regular physical exercise helps improve heart elasticity, the production of protective hormones to stave off dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and other milder cognitive impairments.
The German team of researchers found that even slight amounts of increases to regular physical activity, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, can counter the anti-aging effects seen in loss of brain volume within the regions from which the disease is linked.
The German Center of Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), has now added to the growing body of evidence by addressing how exercise can impact certain brain regions.
The population-based study involved scientists looking into data from over 2,500 participants aged 30-94. They used fMRI technology to analyze brain volume and cortex thickness by assessing their physical activity levels for 7 days, by wearing an accelerometer on their thigh.
The lead author of the study, Fabienne Fox said, ‘“ Our goal was to take a more detailed look at the brain and find out which regions of the brain physical activity impacts the most. In previous research, the brain was usually considered as a whole.”
“We were able to show that physical activity had a noticeable effect on almost all brain regions investigated. Generally, we can say that higher and more intense the physical activity, the larger the brain regions were, either with regard to volume or cortical thickness. In particular, we observed this in the hippocampus, which is considered the control center of memory. Larger brain volumes provide better protection against neurodegeneration than smaller ones.”
Further genetic analysis indicated that certain brain regions that had the highest amounts of mitochondria, were more positively impacted by the uptake from more physical activity. These areas needed more oxygen because they produce the majority of the body’s energy.
Older more inactive adults may stand the most benefit when scientists found that the largest and almost sudden impact in volume increases were witnessed in inactive people over 70 years old when compared to moderately inactive people.
Ahmad Aziz, one of the study’s author added, “Compared to other brain regions, this requires increased blood flow. This is ensured particularly well during physical activity, which could explain why these brain regions benefit from exercise.” In principal, this is good news-especially for those who are reluctant to exercise. Our study results indicate that even small behavioral changes, such as walking 15 minutes a day or taking the stairs instead of the elevator, may have a substantial positive effect on the brain and potentially counteract age-related loss of brain matter and the development of neurodegenerative diseases. In particular, older adults can already profit from modest increases of low intensity physical activity.”
It should be pointed out that this study also indicated there was a significant overlap of genes impacted by physical activity and predisposition for neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. This could infer a possible explanation for why exercise provides protective benefits for these type of neuro conditions.
This should be good news for everyone and serve as a strong indicator in how even a modest amount of regular physical activity can have positive benefits that will carry on throughout your lifetime.
“ With our results, we want to provide a further impetus to become more physically active-to promote brain health and prevent neurodegenerative diseases. Even modest physical activity can help. Thus, it’s just a small effort-but with a big impact.”
Stay active, remain strong and live long!
-A Balanced Brain is a Better Brain-