Canny Minds Blog

Running is the perfect way to train your brain

Posted on 04. Feb, 2010 by Jenny in Articles, Brain Training, Memory

Running regularly can help to boost your brain power and improve memory, claim scientists.

People who jog a couple of days every week help to stimulate their brain to grow hundreds of thousands of new brain cells, research suggests.

Neuroscientists found that the new cells appeared in a region of the brain linked to memory formation and recall.

They said the findings meant that running could improve the ability to recall memories clearly, a skill that is crucial for learning new tasks.

The study, conducted on mice and carried out by Cambridge University and the US National Institute of Ageing in Maryland, could lead to new ways of slowing down the mental deterioration many people experience as they age.

“We know exercise can be good for healthy brain function, but this work provides us with a mechanism for the effect,” said Timothy Bussey, a behavioural neuroscientist at Cambridge and the study’s senior author.

Experts are not sure why exercise stimulates the growth of cells in the brain.

They say it may be linked to higher levels of hormones released while exercising, increased blood flow or reduced levels of stress. Cortisol, a hormone linked to stress, inhibits the growth of new brain cells.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, followed two groups of mice, one of which had unlimited access to a running wheel throughout. The mice with the wheel clocked up an average of 15 miles (24km) a day, whilst those in the other group had no such opportunity to exercise.

In memory tests, the running mice scored nearly twice as high as the other group.

By Andrew Hough, the Daily Telegraph.

Image courtesy of mikebaird