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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSource: ISSA USA\/issaonline.com<\/sub><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Why is it that doing deadlifts, jumping on boxes, and doing interval cardio\u2014among many other things\u2014helps us sleep better, be more productive at work, and just better handle life’s curve balls? There are so many benefits to working out regularly: cardiovascular health, muscle tone, strength…the list goes on and on. In order to understand how exercise actually grow connections in the brain, let’s try to understand three vocabulary: Neuroplasticity, Cerebelum and Pre-frontal cortex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neuroplasticity<\/strong> is the brain’s ability to change and grow by generating new neurons and producing or preserving links between pre-existing neurons.[1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Think of how easily and effortlessly toddlers and young children learn everything they need to know: language, coordination, and the complexities of culture. That’s all thanks to neuroplasticity and it decreases as we get older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since neuroplasticity could be called the fountain of brain youth<\/strong>, neuroscientists have been studying anything that could possibly improve this brain quality in adults. It’s a short but important list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The good news for us in the training business is that exercise is one of those things that improves neuroplasticity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to grow new neurons, create new connections, and make old connections stronger, the brain needs brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF),<\/strong> a protein that belongs to the group of compounds known as growth factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A recent meta-analysis summarized what we know about exercise and BDNF by combining the findings of 29 studies and 1,111 participants:[2]<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though much more research is needed to understand how to maximize BDNF through program design<\/strong> (type, duration, and intensity of exercises for any given client), we can make a very basic, but specific, conclusion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Completing a 12-week program that consists of at least 3 workouts per week will spike your client’s internal levels of BDNF and significantly enhance the brain’s ability to learn new skills, retain information, and be creative.<\/em>[3<\/em>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Researchers have used laboratory animals to determine how exercise affects the cerebellum\u2014an important region of the brain for all kinds of functions. They have found that when a lab rat exercises as much as it wants for eight weeks, the cerebellum grows very large<\/strong>. When a rat is restricted to three exercise sessions on the rodent wheel for eight weeks, the cerebellum is a normal size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When an unlucky lab rat is restricted from exercise for eight weeks\u2014when it is forced to be sedentary\u2014its cerebellum shrinks to almost half the normal size.[4,5]<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cerebellum is of serious interest in neuroscience because not only is it responsible for motor functions\u2014walking, squatting, drinking tea, and so on\u2014but also responsible for the “smooth functioning” of emotion, language, memory, and social interaction.[6] Small cerebellums have been correlated with the development of Alzheimer’s and dementia.[7,8,9]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Teach your client a new\u2014or less often used\u2014exercise during each session, and encourage regular activity more than three days per week, and you help them to grow and improve the density of the cerebellum. And by doing this, you help your client reduce the risk of age-related deterioration in emotion, language, memory, and social interaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the brain, the pre-frontal cortex (PFC) is responsible for numerous executive functions. One of these is the regulation of undesirable behaviors or self-control. Exercise has been shown to increase the grey matter in the brain in a number of areas, particularly in the PFC.[10] Just three half-hour bouts per week of moderate intensity cardio for 12 weeks increased PFC activity in adults.[11]<\/p>\n\n\n\n As health and fitness professionals, we encourage and motivate our clients with exercise programs to achieve a number of positive changes in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As long as you’re holding clients accountable to at least a three half-hour per week program for 12 weeks, you are helping them change their brains in positive ways.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Remind your clients next time they’re breathing hard and sweating that you are giving them increased BDNF for a younger mind, a denser cerebellum for better aging, and larger PFC for greater willpower that will help them in all areas of their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Pascual-Leone A.; Amedi A.; Fregni F.; Merabet L. B. (2005). “The plastic human brain cortex”. Annual Review of Neuroscience<\/em>. 28: 377-401.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Tarumi T, Zhang R (January 2014). “Cerebral hemodynamics of the aging brain: risk of Alzheimer disease and benefit of aerobic exercise”. Front Physiol<\/em>. 5: 6. doi:10.3389\/fphys.2014.00006. PMC 3896879. PMID 24478719.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Gomez-Pinilla F, Hillman C (January 2013). “The influence of exercise on cognitive abilities”. Compr Physiol<\/em>. 3 (1): 403-428. doi:10.1002\/cphy.c110063. PMC 3951958. PMID 23720292.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Larsen JO, Skalicky M, Viidik A. Does long-term physical exercise counteract age-related Purkinje cell loss? A stereological study of rat cerebellum. J Comp Neurol 428: 213-222, 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Isaacs, K. R., Anderson, B. J., Alcantara, A. A., Black, J. E., & Greenough, W. T. (1992). Exercise and the brain: angio-genesis in the adult rat cerebellum after vigorous physical activity and motor skill learning. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow Metabolism , 12 , 110-119<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. Ratey, John. MD. Spark. The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. Jan 2008. Print.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. Woodruff-Pak DS, Foy MR, Akopian GG, Lee KH, Zach J, Nguyen KP, Comalli DM, Kennard JA, AgelanA, Thompson RF. Differential effects and rates of normal aging in cerebellum and hippocampus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107: 1624-1629, 2010<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8. Harmon-Jones, Eddie, A Cognitive Dissonance Theory Perspective on<\/em> Persuasion<\/em>, in The Persuasion Handbook: Developments in Theory and Practice, James Price Dillard, Michael 9. Stanley Colcombe and Arthur F. Kramer Beckman.FITNESS EFFECTS ON THE COGNITIVE FUNCTION OF OLDER ADULTS: A Meta-Analytic Study Institute and Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana. 2002. https:\/\/www.psychologicalscience.org\/pdf\/ps\/exercise_brain.pdf?q=research<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10. Erickson KI, Leckie RL, Weinstein AM (September 2014). “<\/a>PhysicalA) Neuroplasticity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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B) Cerebellum<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
According to research,\u00a0the biggest effect on the size and functioning of the cerebellum is<\/strong>\u00a0…exercise, of course.<\/strong><\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
C) Pre-frontal cortex <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Train the Body, Train the Brain<\/mark><\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Pfau, eds. 2002. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, p.101.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
activity, fitness, and gray matter volume“<\/a>. Neurobiol. Aging<\/em>. 35
Suppl 2: S20-528. doi:10.1016\/j.neurobiolaging.2014.03.034. PMC 4094356. PMID 24952993. Retrieved 9 December 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n