Stress and brain. Part 2 - Physiology of Exercise.

Few things to get you started - you need to plan to incorporate stress-reducing techniques into your day in order to prevent the load of that stress to mess with your personal CEO - Mr. Brain.

Consider taking conscious breaks from your screen, taking a brisk walk [even on the lunch break], looking at the greenery in your home, making sure that you connect with your friends (best in person).

One of the most potent weapons we have against aging of our brains and improving its function comes from exercise, and the most compelling evidence about it comes from animal studies and few human-based data sets. Dr. Cotman in Journal Cell from June 2002 talks about exercise as a behavioral intervention to enhance brain health and its plasticity based on animal data. Neuroplasticity is what provides us the ability to preserve and enhance brain function during lifetime through rebuilding and maintaining brain cells and their connections. Some examples of how exercise can increase brain plasticity is through promoting brain circulation, promoting formation of new neurons, and the outcome of that is to help with acquiring new skills and to sustain high-level executive function as we progress in years. The latter has been demonstrated in the example of 160 individuals in the study of lifestyle and neurocognition in adults with risk of cognitive impairment published in Neurology, January 2019 by Dr. Blumenthal. Although no significant improvement in memory or language were observed, on the other hand very specific diet intervention and aerobic workout were associated with improvement in executive function. To be very clear about exercise used in this study - the scientists used 10 minutes of warm-up and then 35 minutes of either continued walking or stationary biking for three days a week for a period of study of six months. This very specific and prescriptive way to look at how you can help yourself to maintain executive function is so important in the later stages of life.

Now going back to the study in Cell - rat pushing the wheel as a form of aerobic exercise increased the level of something called brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which supports growth of many neuronal subtypes, and what was especially important is how this factor affects the function of hippocampus, which is the area of the brain with cognitive function rather than motor activity. The changes in BDNF were evident in both male and female rats after several weeks of exercise. In other words exercise enhanced neuroplasticity of their brain.

What are other stress reducing and brain enhancing exercise-derived benefits? Next week I will concentrate on mood, stress, depression and a healthy way how exercise can help in these domains.

In the week from now can you answer the following questions: which exercises you go back to with joy? What are you able to do all year long or on most days of the week and what is the feeling that you experience right after the workout?

In part 3 I write Rx for brain healthy exercises.

Jump with joy listening to this song - exercise can be dance as well, jumping rope, hands free, hands in the air, or on the wheels of a stationary bike - choose your magic remedy for brain health.