Exercise helps stimulate the brain

Anyone who trains for a marathon knows that individual running workouts add up over time to dramatically improve fitness. It is therefore not surprising that the cognitive benefits of workouts also accumulate to generate long-term cognitive gains. Yet until now, little research has been conducted to describe and support the underlying neurobiology. In the new work presented this week on the effects of exercise on the brain at San Francisco's Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS), researchers are discovering that the brain changes that occur after a single workout are predictive of what happens with sustained physical training over time. .

"There is a close and direct connection between physical activity and the functioning of your brain," said Wendy Suzuki of the New York University (NYU), who chairs a symposium on the subject at the CNS. "People still do not link physical health to brain and cognitive health, they think about getting into a bikini or losing that last book, not all the brain systems that they improve and improve every time. 'they work."

But as new research reveals how different types, amounts, and intensities of physical activity improve brain function, cognitive neuroscientists hope to see a dramatic shift in the way the general public sees exercises – effects of long-term training on the positive effects of physical activity on socio-economically disadvantaged communities.

The new study showing that the immediate cognitive effects of exercises are similar to the long-term effects is the first of its kind, because the short-term and long-term effects are usually examined in different studies, says Michelle Voss of the University of Iowa, who led the study. . His team's early findings are good news for the field of cognitive neuroscience because they suggest that brain changes seen after a single training study can be a type of biomarker for long-term training.

Participants in the study underwent fMRI brain tests and memory work tests before and after simple light and moderate intensity exercise sessions and after a training program. 12 weeks. The researchers found that those who had observed the most significant improvements in cognition and functional brain connectivity after a single moderate intensity physical activity also had the greatest gains in terms of cognition and connectivity.

The study used elongated motorized pedal cycles, allowing participants to apply their own force to turn the pedals or let the pedals do the work. "This feature allowed us to keep the pedal speed constant while only changing the heart rate between mild and moderate intensity activity conditions," Voss said. "This is a novelty for acute exercise paradigms, which often use sitting as a condition of control."

Voss looks forward to replicating this first study with larger samples. His laboratory is currently recruiting participants for a similar study including 6 months of training instead of 3 months, to give participants more time to improve their cardiorespiratory fitness. But in the meantime, she says, "Think about how physical activity can help your cognition today and see what works: Day after day, the benefits of physical activity can add up."

Michelle Carlson of Johns Hopkins University is using it to convey this message to socio-economically disadvantaged communities through a new program called the Experience Corps Program, which incorporates physical activity into Weekly volunteering for seniors to guide children in local elementary schools. "We need to tackle socio-economic barriers such as costs and accessibility to motivate seniors to adopt healthy behaviors," said Carlson. "And many people do not appreciate the power of physical activity on our brain."

Many studies of the Experience Corps program have shown that regular walking and other physical activities generated by volunteering experience have had the effect of improving memory and other cognitive functions, as well as Prefrontal cortex changes reflecting those observed after 6 months of exercise at older people at cognitive risk. "These results, as well as those around me, have contributed to our understanding that targeting low-intensity lifestyle activities is increasingly recognized as an important and evolving intervention to promote all physical activity," says -she.

His team has also developed a 3D game to simulate real activity in the areas of cognition and mobility. Carlson will present new data at the NSC meeting on 14 participants who completed a 5-week intervention with the game. "What's good, is that most participants, regardless of their cognitive and physical limitations basic, learn and improve gradually during the sessions, "she says. "We want to help a large portion of the aging population who is sedentary or unable to take advantage of volunteering opportunities by providing opportunities to increase useful physical activity."

Suzuki has experienced the transformative power of exercise on the brain. While working to lose weight, she notices that her memory improves with time. The link between physical activity and brain function has so fascinated her that she has completely transformed her lab from a laboratory that studies the hippocampus in a non-human primate to another that focuses solely on human cognition and exercise. "I'm really all-in," she says.

Cognitive neuroscientists can help answer a range of questions: how many and what types of exercises are optimal for brain health, to convert the results of young and healthy populations into older populations and risk. Suzuki hopes to see improved neuroimaging techniques in the coming years, to better understand what is happening in the brain during and after exercise.

Provided by
Cognitive Neuroscience Society