Exercise Improves Brain Activity

Exercise plays a very important role in our lives. We all must exercise regularly in order to stay fit and fine. Exercise helps us in staying disease free and healthy. It has been rightly stated that “True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are ever united”. Some of the neuroscientists at OHSU in Poland, Oregon have lately found that little exercise can help in boosting up the function of a gene that consequently increases the connections between neurons in the hippocampus. Hippocampus is that region of the brain which is associated with the process of learning and memory. Exercise is not a very expensive practice. One can indulge in exercising easily if one is determined for the same. Regular exercise ensures a healthy brain. Alongside, exercise has many other benefits to the heart, liver and muscles also. In order to understand the brain specific benefits of exercise the scientists have designed a short study in mice. The study measures the brain’s response to single bouts of exercise in mice that were placed on running wheels for short periods. The mice ran on it for about a period of two hours. The study found that the short term bursts of exercise led to an increase in synapses in the hippocampus. The scientists were able to make this key discovery by putting under observation the genes that were increased in single neurons activated during exercise. Out of all other genes, there is one gene that stood out: i.e. Mtss1L. This gene had been largely ignored in prior studies in the brain. The Mtss1L gene is capable of encoding a protein that leads to bending of the cell membrane. Researchers have found out so far that when this gene is activated by short bursts of exercise, at the same time it helps in promoting small growths on neurons referred to as dendritic spines -- the site at which synapses form. Resultantly the study reflects that an acute burst of exercise is sufficient to prime the brain for learning. In the researches that are to take place in the future, the scientists are planning to pair acute bouts of exercise with learning tasks so as to improve the understanding and its impact on learning and memory.

By: Preeti Narula
Content: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190702184555.htm