Does our brain change when we exercise?

TORONTO (Uypress/Diálogos Online) – Movement is the basis of our daily interaction. We do it both to move (walk or run) and to reach objects, interact with other people or solve problems.

It encompasses a series of bodily components (sensory, cognitive and motor) and is influenced by social, environmental and personal factors.

What do we call exercise?

Exercise is all that systematized, repeated and planned activity, with cardiovascular and muscular objectives. It can be prescribed therapeutically, either analytically or functionally. All this depends on the objectives sought in people who suffer from a disease.

The number of benefits that the simple fact of being active brings to the body is well known. But in the last decade, doing it consistently and frequently is also showing huge benefits in the brain. This also depends on the type of exercise performed, the intensity reached and the different possibilities of evolution.

As a consequence, it also promotes our brain health. Thus, it helps prevent cognitive impairment and dementia, allows treating neurovascular and neurodegenerative diseases and protects the nervous system during their evolution.

This is how the brain changes when we exercise

There is abundant and solid scientific evidence that shows the relationship between the practice of exercise and the brain adaptations that occur. For example, when starting to exercise, muscle contraction demands a greater volume of blood pumped by the heart. This increases blood flow to the brain through the cardiovascular system.

Such blood supplies allow the arrival of oxygen and nutrients to the brain. Let us remember that these are tremendously necessary in cases of injuries to the nervous system, but equally essential for the proper functioning of this organ.

In the same way, the greater cerebral perfusion enables the creation of new vascular pathways that channel this flow (angiogenesis). All this gives way to the release of growth factors, mainly neurotrophic, tremendously important when creating new neuronal junctions (synaptogenesis).

This biological process increases neural efficiency and synaptic plasticity. That is, the natural propensity of the brain to respond dynamically to stimuli.

In addition, it increases brain volume, allowing improvements in executive functions, learning and neuroplasticity. These changes improve the functioning of the structures and circuits involved in cognition and motor activity.

exercise as medicine

Exercise helps keep our hearts and brains as healthy as possible. It does so at any stage and situation in our lives, due to the structural and functional adaptations it generates. Maintaining an active lifestyle prevents suffering from diseases related to sedentary life.

In addition, doing it therapeutically when a disease appears allows us to face and try to recover the symptoms that it causes in the short and medium term in the brain. In the same way, it generates a long-term neuroprotective effect, preventing relapses and the rapid progression of neurological diseases.

What types of exercises benefit the brain?

Choosing the type of exercise is essential. It should be motivating and should be able to be practiced continuously. That is, it fits into our rhythm of life.

In order to choose the most appropriate one, neuroscience, once again, provides us with evidence about which areas of the brain are activated when exercising (mainly the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex). Therefore, when it is prescribed in cases of disability, we must take into account the designed therapeutic exercise program.

We can distinguish, according to the American Cardiology Association and the American Stroke Association, different types: aerobic, strength, coordination and active stretching. Ideally, they could alternate.

How to prescribe exercise properly?

There is no global proposal. The fundamental premise is to adapt it to the needs of each one. Always individually. For this reason, it is important to have a range of possibilities depending on the capacities and needs.

Each type of exercise brings specific improvements if it is dosed properly, if it is done often (frequency) and with a certain workload (intensity). In addition, it must have a minimum duration, start as soon as possible (both in the presence or absence of disease) and have possibilities to progress to motivate, challenge and continuously improve.

Here lies the success of exercise programs in people with very different neurological symptoms. For each one, the previous components must be adjusted individually. This will ensure that the stress effects of exercise are beneficial. They must generate physiological tensions and efforts that allow progressive adaptations of the nervous system, never stressing excessively.

Finally, it is important to offer opportunities to exercise in different motivating environments for people with reduced abilities. They need to challenge their physiological effort through exercise, because, as we have seen, it is essential to stimulate the adaptations that lead to changes in their brain health in the short, medium and long term.

That is why we must promote feasible environments and accessible intensities, which together will make the exercise possible. So, let’s activate the muscles, activate the heart, and activate the brain to have a healthier life!

Javier Gueita RodriguezProfessor at the Faculty of Health Sciences, King Juan Carlos University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. read the original.

Photo: Nicolás Celaya/adhocPHOTOS