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Exercise for your brain

Updated: Nov 11, 2024


In this blog:

-       What is cognition?

-       What are the benefits of exercise for your brain?

-       What does the science say?

-       What types of exercise are the best?

 

Cognition can be defined as “the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses” (Dictionary), and plays a pivotal role in our everyday lives and activities. It includes the mental processes such as attention, judgement, problem solving and decision making. As cognition declines with age, and there is a prevalence of 11.1% of subjective cognitive decline (American-based data; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), using such a simple mechanism such as exercise to aid this, seems like a no brainer. But does exercise aid cognition, and if it does, how?

 

The benefits

Multiple studies have demonstrated that interventions involving exercise produce improvements in cognitive functioning. Below are some of these studies and the different aspects of cognitive functioning that exercise has been shown to benefit:

 

Academic ability

  • Both Fedewa and Ahn (2011) and Donnelley et al. (2013) have demonstrated that exercise can improve academic ability of participants.

  • More specifically, the areas of IQ, maths and reading.

 

Physical and mental health (Benedict et al., 2013).

  • It is well known that exercise improves physical health, including the proportion of active body mass, cardiorespiratory fitness, bone strength, whilst also reducing the risk of hypertension, diabetes, osteoporosis, and cancer.

  • However, it is increasingly demonstrated that exercise can also aid with cognitive functioning in older age and may also reduce the risk of neurological disorders such as dementia.

 

Attention

  • Having good attention and being able to focus on tasks, is something that we do in our everyday lives, so being able to maintain this is vital to our daily living (Smith et al., 2010; Berryman et al., 2014; Klimova & Dostalova, 2020).

 

Memory and executive functioning.

  • As with attention, memory is another important factor in our lives, something which many of us don’t think about. We’re just able to remember something with often little effort.

  • Executive functions including working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control, are also crucial in our lives.

  • However, we also know that memory declines with age, so being able to preserve this through simple means such as exercise, is highly valuable (Smith et al., 2010; Berryman et al., 2014; Bliss et al., 2021).

  • More specifically, verbal (memory for verbally presented information, i.e., speech) and episodic (memories about specific events and experiences) memory (Klimova & Dostalova, 2020).

 

Processing speed

  • We’re all aware of how frustrating it can be when we have those days where our brain just doesn’t seem to be working as fast as we’d like it to.

  • Therefore, maintaining our brains processing speed can aid with everyday tasks (Smith et al., 2010).

 

Dementia

  • Dementia is one of the most prevalent neurological diseases worldwide, with over 55 million people suffering in 2020 (Alzheimer’s Disease International).

  • Studies demonstrating that exercise may help reduce the likelihood of dementia and aid the quality of life of those with dementia, are highly valuable.

  • A study by Holthoff et al. (2015) was able to show that in patients with dementia, an exercise intervention:

    • Reduced caregiver burden.

    • Increased the ability to do activities of daily living.

    • Reduced neuropsychiatric symptoms.

    • Increased executive function and language ability.

    • Reduced reaction times.

    • Had a greater effect compared to pharmacological interventions (Laver et al., 2016).

 

Overall, all these benefits of exercise on cognition lead us to having a better quality of life.

 

The science

But how does exercise actually help with cognition? What is going on in the brain for these advantages to occur? One explanation is that exercise increases the neuroplasticity of the brain (“the ability of the brain to form and reorganise synaptic connections, especially in response to learning or experience or following injury;” Dictionary). This means we can continue to learn new information and remember it and improves our ability to undertake cognitive tasks. 

 

Another line of evidence is that exercise stimulates the production of a protein FNDC5, which enters the bloodstream. This then stimulates the production of BDNF, leading to the growth of new nerve cells and synapses, the capacity and efficiency of which underlie superior intelligence (Stillman et al., 2020). Increased nerve cells also means increased neurotransmitter release, which has been known to help attention, motivation, patience, and mood (Ratey & Loehr, 2008). Similarly, increased cerebral blood volume in the hippocampus (responsible for creating new neurons for the rest of the brain) after exercise, provides another mechanism for how exercise can aid cognition.

 

The importance

So why is this topic so important? Why does it matter if we exercise or not? As 80% of adolescents and 27% of adults don’t meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity (WHO, 2022), there are potentially a lot of people not getting the benefits of it. Physical inactivity is also the fourth leading risk factor for mortality across the world (Daniele et al., 2022). Keeping people active is therefore highly important.

 

There are also other risks associated with living a sedentary lifestyle. In 5–17-year-olds, watching more than 2 hours of TV a day led to increased body composition, reduced fitness, self-esteem, and academic achievement (Trembley et al., 2011). Physical inactivity is also the most crucial factor of 7 lifestyle risk factors (smoking, physical activity, weight, diet, blood glucose, cholesterol, and blood pressure), for the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. These risks demonstrate why we need to utilise the benefits of exercise as much as we can.

 

Studies have been conducted to evidence these risks. For example, Cai et al. (2023) found that sedentary behaviour was positively associated with the risk of cognitive decline or mild cognitive impairment in elderly participants.

 

The exercise

So, we know that we should exercise, because we know it helps and we know why it helps. But what type of exercise should we be doing, and how do we get people doing it? It has been suggested that active teachers equals active students (Smith et al., 2010). Therefore, promoting exercise more in school settings, may get younger people involved in exercise; a habit which they will hopefully continue for the rest of their lives.

 

More specifically, aerobic exercise, including walking or running have been demonstrated to be most effective (Mandolesi et al., 2018), particularly in the areas of working memory, cognitive flexibility, and speed of information processing. However, another study suggested that coordination-focused exercise, may be more beneficial (Ludyga et al., 2020). It may be that a combination of exercise could prove most useful, or it may be that we require more information to determine whether there is one type of exercise that is beneficial for cognitive functioning above all others.

 

The conclusions

  • Cognition is defined at “the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.”

  • Exercise has been demonstrated to improve academic ability, physical and mental health, attention, memory and executive functioning, processing speed, and dementia.

  • Exercise increases neuroplasticity and the production of FNDC5 and BDNF. This leads to increased growth of synapses and nerve cells.

  • 80% of adolescents and 27% of adults don’t meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity, but physical inactivity is a risk factor for poor mental and physical health.

  • Aerobic and coordinative exercise have been demonstrated to be useful in aiding cognitive functioning.

 

I hope this blog has shown how important exercise can be for cognitive functioning. Thank you for reading :)

 

References

2.     Benedict, C., Brooks, S.J., Kullberg, J., Nordenskjöld, R., Burgos, J., Le Grevès, M., Kilander, L., Larsson, E.M., Johansson, L., Ahlström, H. and Lind, L., 2013. Association between physical activity and brain health in older adults. Neurobiology of aging, 34(1), pp.83-90.

3.     Berryman, N.; Bherer, L.; Nadeau, S.; Lauzière, S.; Lehr, L.; Bobeuf, F.; Lussier, M.; Kergoat, M.J.; Vu, T.T.M.; Bosquet, L. Multiple roads lead to Rome: Combined high-intensity aerobic and strength training vs. gross motor activities leads to equivalent improvement in executive functions in a cohort of healthy older adults. Age (Dordr) 2014, 36, 9710

4.     Bliss, E.S., Wong, R.H., Howe, P.R. and Mills, D.E., 2021. Benefits of exercise training on cerebrovascular and cognitive function in ageing. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 41(3), pp.447-470.

5.     Cai, X.Y., Qian, G.P., Wang, F., Zhang, M.Y., Da, Y.J. and Liang, J.H., 2023. Association between sedentary behavior and risk of cognitive decline or mild cognitive impairment among the elderly: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 17, p.1221990.

6.     Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/aging/data/subjective-cognitive-decline-brief.html 

8.     Daniele, A., Lucas, S.J. and Rendeiro, C., 2022. Detrimental effects of physical inactivity on peripheral and brain vasculature in humans: Insights into mechanisms, long-term health consequences and protective strategies. Frontiers in Physiology, 13, p.998380.

9.     Donnelly, J.E., Greene, J.L., Gibson, C.A., Sullivan, D.K., Hansen, D.M., Hillman, C.H., Poggio, J., Mayo, M.S., Smith, B.K., Lambourne, K. and Herrmann, S.D., 2013. Physical activity and academic achievement across the curriculum (A+ PAAC): rationale and design of a 3-year, cluster-randomized trial. BMC public health, 13, pp.1-8.

10.  Fedewa, A.L. and Ahn, S., 2011. The effects of physical activity and physical fitness on children's achievement and cognitive outcomes: a meta-analysis. Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 82(3), pp.521-535.

11.  Hillman, C., Erickson, K., & Kramer, A. (2008). Be smart, exercise your heart: exercise effects on brain and cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9(1), 58- 65

12.  Holthoff, V.A., Marschner, K., Scharf, M., Steding, J., Meyer, S., Koch, R. and Donix, M., 2015. Effects of physical activity training in patients with Alzheimer’s dementia: results of a pilot RCT study. PloS one, 10(4), p.e0121478.

13.  Klimova, B. and Dostalova, R., 2020. The impact of physical activities on cognitive performance among healthy older individuals. Brain sciences, 10(6), p.377.

14.  Laver, K., Dyer, S., Whitehead, C., Clemson, L. and Crotty, M., 2016. Interventions to delay functional decline in people with dementia: a systematic review of systematic reviews. BMJ open, 6(4), p.e010767.

15.  Ludyga, S., Gerber, M., Pühse, U., Looser, V.N. and Kamijo, K., 2020. Systematic review and meta-analysis investigating moderators of long-term effects of exercise on cognition in healthy individuals. Nature human behaviour, 4(6), pp.603-612.

16.  Mandolesi, L., Polverino, A., Montuori, S., Foti, F., Ferraioli, G., Sorrentino, P. and Sorrentino, G., 2018. Effects of physical exercise on cognitive functioning and wellbeing: biological and psychological benefits. Frontiers in psychology, 9, p.347071.

18.  Ratey, J.J. and Loehr, J.E., 2011. The positive impact of physical activity on cognition during adulthood: a review of underlying mechanisms, evidence and recommendations.

19.  Smith, P.J., Blumenthal, J.A., Hoffman, B.M., Cooper, H., Strauman, T.A., Welsh-Bohmer, K., Browndyke, J.N. and Sherwood, A., 2010. Aerobic exercise and neurocognitive performance: a meta-analytic review of randomized controlled trials. Psychosomatic medicine, 72(3), pp.239-252.

20.  Stillman, C.M., Esteban-Cornejo, I., Brown, B., Bender, C.M. and Erickson, K.I., 2020. Effects of exercise on brain and cognition across age groups and health states. Trends in neurosciences, 43(7), pp.533-543.

21.  Tremblay, M.S., LeBlanc, A.G., Kho, M.E., Saunders, T.J., Larouche, R., Colley, R.C., Goldfield, G. and Gorber, S.C., 2011. Systematic review of sedentary behaviour and health indicators in school-aged children and youth. International journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 8, pp.1-22.

 

 

 

 
 
 

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