Exercise may boost the size of the brain – and could reduce the risk of falls
People who take exercise could be increasing more than just their fitness level as a new study has found that it leads to bigger brain volume in some areas of the brain.
The changes in the brain may have long-term health implications, such as reducing the risk of falling and mobility limitations as we age, said the study’s author, Dr Urho Kujala, of the University of Jyvaskyla who published the small study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
We know that physical activity has already been linked to a number of health benefits, such as lower levels of body fat, reduced heart disease risk factors, better memory and thinking, and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. But the research team wanted to assess how exercise might affect the brain itself.
So they recruited 10 pairs of identical twins, all men aged 32 to 36 years. The study focused on identical twins because they share the same DNA, allowing researchers to study how the environment affects their bodies.
In each pair of twins, one brother had exercised more over the past three years than the other (about three hours more running a week). The twins reported getting about the same levels of exercise at earlier times in their lives.
All of the twins had MRI scans of their brains so that the researchers could see what impact exercise had on the size of the brain and specific regions of the brain.
Exercise didn’t seem to affect the size of the brain as a whole, but there was a connection between more exercise and more brain volume in areas related to movement. And the twins who exercised more did a better job of controlling their blood sugar levels, potentially reducing the risk of diabetes.
However, while the study is interesting, it was short term and only looks at a very small number of men – and no women. We don’t know how much exercise is needed to prompt a change in size. And it isn’t yet clear if having larger brain regions is actually helpful, although the research team speculates that it is possible that they may provide a kind of reserve brainpower that could be good to have in old age.
But Brad Roy, executive director of the Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s Summit Medical Fitness Center in Montana comments:
“This study reinforces a greatly underappreciated fact, that regular exercise has a powerful health impact throughout the body, including the brain. The take-home message: move!”
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Image credit: Robert Neff
