Why long-distance runners smarter strokes

Information about the fact that physical exercise is good not only for the muscles, but also for the brain, is no longer a secret. But scientists have gone even further and found out what kind of exercise is best to influence intelligence.

Scientists from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, decided to see what types of exercise are most effective for stimulating brain work. To do this, they conducted a series of experiments on rats, who were forced to carry out the movement, about the respective running, weight training and high intensity interval training.

For this study, a group of rats was selected with approximately the same physical characteristics. All animals, scientists have introduced a special substance by means of which it would be easy to calculate the new marrow cells at the end of the experiment. Thereafter rodents were divided into four groups.

The first is the control and led a sedentary lifestyle. The rats of the second group each day running in the swivel wheel. Representatives of the third group with attachments to them in small weights overcome various obstacles. Finally, the fourth group dealt with interval training. For this the animals were placed on a special

These experiments went on for seven weeks, followed by scientists under the microscope examined the brain tissue of rats to evaluate occurred during this time of change.

Overall, the results confirm the idea that any physical activity increases brain volume and largely prevents age-related changes. All animals from sporting groups to discover more new neurons than their counterparts in the control group. However, comparing the performance of the Group and held various "sports", revealed something interesting.

The largest number of new nerve cells were found in those rats that were running. In this case, the longer the distance was, the better it looked like the brain. In second place with a considerable lag were rodents after interval training. And the worst results showed those that were training with weights. Despite the fact that at the end of the experiment, they have become much stronger, their brains are practically no different from the brain of rats in the control group.

It is obvious that rats are not people. But the results of these experiments lead to the assumption that the different kinds of physical activities have different effects on the human brain. Nokia Miriam (Miriam Nokia), leader of the study, suggested that "the long-term aerobic exercise is likely to be most useful for brain health, not only animals, but also people."

So far, the scientists believe that in the race for long distances there is a stimulation of neurogenesis due to release a special substance, known as Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). For accurate explanations of this phenomenon we identified a number of additional experiments, during which will study the effect on the brain and other sports.

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