Why long distance runners are smarter than jocks

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The information that exercise is beneficial not only for muscles, but also for the brain has long been no secret. But scientists went even further and found out which exercises are the best for the intelligence.

Scientists from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, decided to test which types of exercise are most effective for stimulating the brain. To do this, they conducted a series of experiments on rats, which were forced to perform movements roughly corresponding to running, strength training, and high-intensity interval training.

For this study, a group of rats with approximately the same physical characteristics was selected. Scientists injected all animals with a special substance with which it would be possible to easily count new brain cells at the end of the experiment. After that, the rodents were divided into four groups.

The first of them was the control one and led a sedentary lifestyle. Rats from the second group ran in a spinning wheel every day. Representatives of the third group with small weights attached to them overcame various obstacles. Finally, the fourth group did interval training. For this, the animals were placed on a special treadmill, which spun very quickly, then slowly.

These experiments continued for seven weeks, after which the scientists examined the rat brain tissue under a microscope to assess the changes that occurred during this time.

Overall, the results confirmed the thesis that any physical activity increases the volume of the brain and largely prevents age-related changes. All of the animals in the sports groups showed more new neurons than their counterparts in the control group. However, a comparison of the indicators of the groups involved in different "sports" allowed us to reveal something curious.

The largest number of new nerve cells was found in those rats that were running. Moreover, the longer the distance was, the better the brain looked. In second place, with a significant lag, were rodents after interval training. And the worst results were shown by those who trained with weights. Despite the fact that at the end of the experiment they became significantly stronger, their brains practically did not differ from the brains of the rats from the control group.

Obviously, rats are not people. But the results of these experiments allow us to make the assumption that different types of physical activity have different effects on the human brain. Miriam Nokia, head of the study, suggested that "prolonged aerobic exercise is likely to be the most beneficial for brain health, not only in animals, but also in humans."

So far, scientists believe that during long-distance races, neurogenesis is stimulated by the release of a special substance also known as (BDNF). For an accurate explanation of this phenomenon, a number of additional experiments are outlined, during which the effect on the brain and other sports will be investigated.

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