Frequent exercise important for memory

As a kPNI therapist, I am happy to advise you on picking up a healthy lifestyle and how to implement this at home and at work. Good health starts with exercise and taking in the right nutrients. Read more about this in the article below.

Take contact with me for a personal or team consultation.

Frequent exercise important for memory

Received from Bonusan

Sitting has been called the new smoking. When sitting for more than half an hour, the body produces inflammatory factors that negatively affect all physiological systems. This includes the brain, which is part of the central nervous system.

Prolonged sitting in the same position increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and premature death. When sitting for more than half an hour, the body produces inflammatory factors that negatively affect all physiological systems, including the brain.

Recent neurobiological research indicates that frequent exercise is important for memory. Prolonged sitting seems to have a negative impact on memory function(s) There is also evidence that exercise is important for learning processes. Memory refers to the retention of learned information, and learning means acquiring new knowledge and skills by forming neural networks. But what exactly happens in the brain?

Mediotemporal lobe

North American researchers conclude in PLOS ONE that much sitting is associated with thinning of the medial part of the temporal lobe (MTL) in adults. The mediotemporal lobe with hippocampus is responsible for the temporal storage of new knowledge of facts and events. Thinning of the MTL can be a precursor to cognitive decline and dementia in people from middle age onwards.

The study was partly based on surveys (International Physical Activity Questionnaire) completed by 35 non-demented adults aged 45 to 75 years. The information from these questionnaires was coded and then analysed. Study participants were also given an MRI scan in which detailed imaging images of the MTL were obtained. The researchers found that prolonged sitting is a significant predictor of MTL thinning and that a full day of sitting cannot be compensated with an hour of vigorous exercise.

The study does not prove that frequent sitting leads to dilution of brain structures, but it does prove that continuous (prolonged) sitting leads to MTL dilution. The researchers want to conduct follow-up studies in which a group of people is followed for a longer period of time. This will allow them to determine whether sitting is the main cause of MTL thinning and what role gender, race and body weight may play in brain health in relation to sitting.

Move faster, learn faster

Other new research, conducted in Portugal and published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, shows that mice learn better by moving faster. The researchers have been trying for years to understand more about cellular plasticity and how neural connections in the cerebellum change when learning a motor task. The cerebellum performs many functions related to movement, balance, cognition and learning advanced movements. It calibrates and refines movements in a changing environment to coordinate movements in a very precise way. To understand the cellular changes in the cerebellum involved in learning, the researchers initially studied a classical conditioning learning task.

During these experiments, while running in a running wheel, the mice had to learn to close their eyelids in response to a flashing light (visual stimulus). The experiment did not work because the running speed of the mice was not taken into account. After walking speed was taken into account, a remarkable causal relationship was revealed. Fast-running mice performed better than those on a slow running wheel. Next, the researchers wanted to find out the underlying mechanism. Was the effect of running on learning specific to the visual system? Could mice see better while running which made them learn better?

The mice were trained again. Now they had to learn to close eyelids when experiencing other types of sensory stimuli (such as hearing a tone or feeling a vibration on their whiskers). Again, it was found that walking speed also influenced learning behaviour when presented with different stimuli. Via another technique (optogenetics) in which specific neurons can be stimulated directly with laser light, mossy fibres were activated. This showed that learning ability was increased. In short, direct stimulation of these brain fibres, which connect to the cerebellum, improves learning ability. One implication of the study is that not only fast locomotion, but also direct stimulation of mossy fibres plays a role in learning.

Conclusion

Clearly, there are benefits to frequent exercise. Numerous recent studies note reductions in overall mortality, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, CVA, type 2 diabetes mellitus, colon cancer and breast cancer. Also, cardiovascular and muscular fitness increase, accompanied by healthier body weight and body composition.

Sources
Siddarth P, Burggren AC, Eyre HA, Small GW, Merrill DA (2018) Sedentary behaviour associated with reduced medial temporal lobe thickness in middle-aged and older adults. PLoS ONE 13(4): e0195549. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0195549
Locomotor activity modulates associative learning in mouse cerebellum
Catarina Albergaria, N. Tatiana Silva, Dominique Pritchett, Megan R. Carey
bioRxiv 099721; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/099721