Excercise and the Brain: a review

[sekio]

To all yall looking for nootropics, anxiolytics etc from a natural source, there's good evidence that excercise does wonderful things for brain development.

‘To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable’ (Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891).

Unfortunately for those of us who subscribe to this outlook, physical activity is the most effective way to maintain a healthy body and mind. This might seem obvious; however, the evidence that exercise is beneficial for general health (i.e. prevention of hypertension, heart disease, type II diabetes, osteoporosis and depression) began to be taken seriously in western society only towards the end of the previous century. Indeed, in 1975 it was observed that ‘physical fitness and physical education have no respected place in the American public health movement. Their practitioners have been labeled by at least one elder statesman of public health as “the big muscle boys”, and this contemptuous attitude has persisted to this day’ [1]. However, a decade later, in view of the increasing evidence for the health benefits of exercise ‘the Public Health Service specified “Physical Fitness and Exercise” as 1 of the 15 areas of greatest importance for improving the health of the public’ [2]

Study after study has now shown that the risk of contracting cardiovascular, metabolic and metastatic diseases is mitigated by exercise and a diet containing fruits and vegetables [3,4]. However, it is not as well appreciated that exercise and a healthy diet also provide substantial benefits for brain function. Physical activity improves cognition and might delay age-related memory decline [5,6]. In addition, exercise protects against brain damage caused by stroke [7], promotes recovery after injury [8] and is an antidepressant [9].

Similar to exercise, nutrition affects brain function. Consumption of food high in saturated fats and cholesterol increases the risk of cognitive decline, whereas dietary restriction benefits learning and protects the brain from oxidative stress [10]. There is also increasing evidence that dietary supplements enhance learning and memory. Of interest are the omega fatty acids, certain spices, teas and fruits [11]. Interestingly, these supplements enhance the benefits of exercise for brain function [11-13]. Possible common mechanisms of action for exercise and diet on cognition are discussed.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2680508/

 

[Dmytry]

nice find

 

[Renz Envy]

How else would I keep my marbles?!

 

[Darksidesam]

My therapist told me that one of the best ways to fight depression and regain mood stability is with exercise and its one of the first things they recommend (Not all therapists are the same though i guess)

Also keep in mind that drug users can speed up their recovery process from using drugs by exercising.


An interesting article, thanks for sharing. +1

 

[alexvolume2]

This is a really interesting article. Experientially, regular exercise has had a profound impact on the frequency of my depressive moods. Can anyone clarify the part about NMDA receptors for me?

 

[sekio]

Regular excercise increased the expression of NMDAr in mice.

 

[Jabberwocky]

good review, and even better target audience; most who are looking for the relatively subtle benefits of noots and whatnot are missing the bigger picture (kinda like my almost shut-in mother, whose diet is shit and is practically atrophied, yet is *constantly* looking for that herb/amino acid/whatever that's "the key" to what ails her )

 

[Sturnam]

I really enjoyed reading this. I've become much more interested in exercise and nutrition physiology and pharmacology recently. The part about flavanols being additive with exercise was awesome. Nerd-side made super happy.

I also recommend this review, which talks about exercise more as a 'drug', which importantly, includes dosing, of which we know almost nothing about with respect to humans.

Exercise acts as a drug; the pharmacological benefits of exercise.

The beneficial effects of regular exercise for the promotion of health and cure of diseases have been clearly shown. In this review, we would like to postulate the idea that exercise can be considered as a drug. Exercise causes a myriad of beneficial effects for health, including the promotion of health and lifespan, and these are reviewed in the first section of this paper. Then we deal with the dosing of exercise. As with many drugs, dosing is extremely important to get the beneficial effects of exercise. To this end, the organism adapts to exercise. We review the molecular signalling pathways involved in these adaptations because understanding them is of great importance to be able to prescribe exercise in an appropriate manner. Special attention must be paid to the psychological effects of exercise. These are so powerful that we would like to propose that exercise may be considered as a psychoactive drug. In moderate doses, it causes very pronounced relaxing effects on the majority of the population, but some persons may even become addicted to exercise. Finally, there may be some contraindications to exercise that arise when people are severely ill, and these are described in the final section of the review. Our general conclusion is that exercise is so effective that it should be considered as a drug, but that more attention should be paid to the dosing and to individual variations between patients.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22486393

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

so effective as to be considered a drug

hmmm

 

[chaos_destroy]

So turns out SWIMming is good for you after all? Haha.

I've read quite a few articles on exercises effects on increasing neurogenesis particularly in the hippocampus. It has been shown to upregulate BDNF too (which is upregulated by the fast acting anti-depressant NMDA antagonists).

It improves memory and learning and has certainly helped my ADHD particularly short term memory issues like forgetting where I put my insert any item here

 

[campers]

"Exercise Stimulates Transcription Factors (Nrf2 & NFkB), Increases Antioxidant Defenses, Decreases Oxidative Stress, and Restores Renal Dopamine D1 Receptor Function in Aging"
http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/22/1_MeetingAbstracts/1159.6

Full article at http://ajprenal.physiology.org/content/293/3/F914.full

"Acute exercise stress activates Nrf2/ARE signaling and promotes antioxidant mechanisms in the myocardium."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22051043

These aren't brain specific, but I would think it would help with Nrf2 activation in the brain too.

 

[Jabberwocky]

so effective as to be considered a drug

hmmm

not even a stretch - i'd equate my "runner's high" (running or biking) to having a perc or something. it usually takes 10-15min of training to get into that 'zone' but once there it's unmistakable ;P

So turns out SWIMming is good for you after all? Haha.