The Link Between Physical Fitness And Brain Health?

A study conducted by Harvard Medical School regarding on how could exercise help your brain and what kind of exercise will help your brain to have a better result. In this article, we learn that exercises can help your brain and can also help your memory. The researchers examined different people to try to understand what exercises could help your brain using 30 minutes section. In this study, the researchers randomly evaluate people doing exercises like cardio and compared their memory and their productivity with those that didn’t any type of exercises.

Physical activity is able to shift neurons in your brain from a revved, stressed state-more vulnerable to dangerous cardiac rhythms and heart attacks-to a relaxed state.

Sub-Point a:According to CDC.gov in there June, 2015 issue on physical activity, Regular physical activity can help you keep your thinking and judge mental skills sharp. Research shows that doing aerobic exercises can give you great mental benefits. Some scientific evidence also have shown even if you were to do lower levels of exercise it still will be beneficial to you.

Since it is close structurally to the hippocampus, the amygdala is involved in controlling memory consolidation, especially emotional memories; when a memory is emotionally charged, it has a better retention rate than one that is not. The hippocampus is generally seen as having an essential role in the creation of new memories about past experiences; it's even responsible for memories that can be verbalized also known as declarative memory. Damage to it result in difficulties in forming new memories and being able to access new memories formed before the

Running increases blood flow to the brain including the hippocampus, the key area affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

Sport is healthy, as more and more research shows. For example, sport ensures that certain substances in the body are released, which have a significant effect on the brains. These compounds support brain functions and increase the ability to decision making process. Research has shown that elderly people who on a daily basis have a medium to heavy physical effort of at least 30 minutes have a better cognitive performance

In the book Spark, written by Dr. John J. Ratey, he discusses how exercise can positively affect how your brain works. He provides studies and personal experiences to support the claims he makes. I always knew exercise would improve your life but never could have imagined how much it can affect your brain health as well. The chapter I thought spoke the most to me was chapter two, Learning: Grow Your Brain Cells.

There is ample evidence to demonstrate that through the normal ageing process alterations to the brain in structure and function are directly related to cognitive changes (Glisky, 2007). With an increasing ageing population strategies for prevention of disease and age related cognitive decline are necessary to improve quality of life and reduce the associated healthcare costs (Australian Government Productivity Commission [AGPC], 2013). Physical exercise is known to be crucial in maintaining physiological health; it can also be used as a means of neuroprotection and assist in modifiable risk factors for improved brain health and subsequent cognitive function. This review will critically analyse current research into the effects of exercise

The human brain is constantly changing where many new neurons are formed while others neurons die and new synapses are created while other synapses are removed (Spalding et al., 2013). Some dendrites will withdraw while other dendrites continue branching (Killgore et al., 2013). The processes driving the reshaping of the brain are neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s lifelong ability to rewire neural connections to compensate for diseases and injuries or in response to changes in the environment, whereas neurogenesis is the ability to create new neurons and neural connections. This dynamic process of remodeling gray matter is determined mainly by a person’s genetics and can slow down due to age (Denes, 2016). However, recent scientific evidence demonstrates other non-genetic factors that can significantly improve the development of the brain and slow down neurodegeneration (Kays et al., 2012). Physical exercise has always been linked to a person’s physical health, but many recent scientific studies shows physical exercise can also keep a person’s brain sharp. Exercise affects the brain in numerous ways by creating a flourishing environment for brain growth, aiding the release of numerous hormones, and fighting against depression, stress, and anxiety.

Hippocampus is a small, curved region, which exists in both hemispheres of the brain and plays a vital role in emotions, learning and acquisition of new information. It also contributes majorly to long term memory, which is permanent information stored in the brain. Although long term memory is the last information that can be forgotten, its impairment has become very common nowadays. The dysfunction is exemplified by many neurological disorders such as amnesia. There are two types of amnesia, anterograde and retrograde. Anterograde amnesia is inability in forming new information, while retrograde refers to the loss of the past memory. As suggested by Cipolotti and Bird (2006), hippocampus’s lesions are

involved in memory storage. The hippocampus is a place in the brain that is used to

Having a “Brain Healthy Lifestyle” (Bend, 2014) is made up of several different categories that include “physical health, brain fitness, and vitality” (Bend, 2014) as well as “balanced nutrition, stress management, and mental stimulation” (Sharpbrains, 2014). Our physical health plays a major part in brain function. Exercising our bodies, eating well, and getting the proper amount of sleep has a huge impact on our physical health. “Our brain requires 25% of the blood that is pumped by your heart. The healthier your heart is, the healthier your brain will be” (Bend, 2014). Cognitive fitness is demonstrated by uses of vocabulary, thinking, perception, and attention. It is crucial to make it a normal everyday practice to challenge our brains through new activities. Taking part in a cooking class or learning to

The Erikson et al. article supports the idea that physical exercise helps the brain by improving memory and the size of the hippocampus. Erikson and his colleagues suggested in their study that physical exercise increases the retention of information and improves learning capabilities. The way they measured this was by studying the increased or decreased size of the subject’s hippocampus and levels of BDNF. The control group in this experiment completed stretching/toning exercises while the experimental group did aerobic exercise; the experimental group ended up having a larger hippocampus volume than when starting out, as well as higher levels of BDNF; the

Exercise may be one of the most important influences on your overall health to date. While the only benefits that are mainly focused on are the physical benefits, significant psychological impacts can also be linked to exercise. Although some of these benefits aren’t viewed with much enthusiasm, studies have proven that exercise can actually improve one’s quality of life greatly by increasing not only their physical health but their mental health as well. It is because of this that exercise is a