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| Bill Yates Brain Posts |
This month I have been reviewing recent research on the effects of exercise on the brain.
Exercise appears to have both acute and chronic effects on brain physiology and function.
Newer imaging techniques provide sensitive tools to study exercise and the brain.
Bradley Macintosh and colleagues recently paired an aerobic exercise task with measurements of cerebral blood flow and blood oxygen utilization.
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Subjects: Sixteen healthy adults (ten women and six men) between the ages of 20 and 35 years of age
Exercise task: 25 minutes of exercise on a recumbent bike with 20 minutes at 70% of estimated maximum heart rate
Imaging protocol: Subjects had brain imaging studies before exercise and 10 and 40 minutes following exercise using cerebral blood flow and functional magnetic resonance imaging using a sustained attention task.
Statistical analysis: Paired t-tests on behavioral and imaging data were use to compare baseline and post-exercise performance.
The analysis found specific region variations in the brain following exercise. The main findings from the study included:
Cerebral blood flow: Gray matter cerebral blood flow decreased at 10 minutes after exercise while white matter cerebral blood flow increased at 40 minutes compared to baseline. The brain hippocampus and insula showed significant reduction in perfusion post-exercise. The left medial postcentral gyrus brain region demonstrated a reverse trend with increased perfusion post-exercise.The authors concluded that there are acute cerebral blood flow effects on the brain with exercise without significant brain activation changes. They note these cerebral blood flow changes may contribute to a neuroplasticity effect for exercise.
BOLD MRI: Most brain regions showed no BOLD response changes with exercise. However, a region of the left parietal lobe known as the operculum had reduced BOLD activation following exercise.
Cognitive Testing: Subjects showed no differences in measures of attention including error rates and reaction time.
They also noted the increased white matter perfusion with exercise may contribute to improvements in white matter integrity. Previous studies of chronic exercise have noted improved white matter connectivity.
This is an important study documenting the acute brain response to exercise. Aerobic exercise seems to provide for a brain work out as well as a cardiovascular and musculoskeletal work out.
Readers with more interest in this study can access the free full-text manuscript by clicking on the PMID link in the citation below.
Photo of a bottlenose dolphin off Fulton, TX is from the author's files.
Follow the author on Twitter at WRY999.
Macintosh BJ, Crane DE, Sage MD, Rajab AS, Donahue MJ, McIlroy WE, & Middleton LE (2014). Impact of a single bout of aerobic exercise on regional brain perfusion and activation responses in healthy young adults. PloS one, 9 (1) PMID: 24416356.
See the original article:
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