Critical Exercise for Brain Health
There are many mental exercises for brain health, and exercise has also been recommended for a healthy brain but there is a new study that provides a critical exercise for brain health.
What is it? Leg Exercise. Yes, Leg Exercise is a critical exercise for brain health. Apparently the signals from your brain telling your legs what to do is not a one way street. While there was a study in the past that confirmed this, there is a new study this year that is groundbreaking in its research.
You may have heard of the study back in 2015 published in Journal of Gerontology on twins.¹ The study was held at King’s College in London and they followed the fitness of over 150 pairs of twin sisters between the ages of 43 and 73. At baseline, they measured each twin’s cognition through well-regarded methods and leg muscle power as a predicted marker of cognition. At the end of the study, 10 years later, the researchers made follow-up measurements and found consistent and strong evidence that increased leg power was associated with improved cognitive aging over the following 10 years. The study suggested older women (men were not part of the study) who have strong legs are likely to fare better when it comes to aging of the brain. While the study was impressive, they did say more research was needed.
Now there is a more recent study that has shown neurological health depends as much on signals sent by the leg muscles to the brain as it does on directives fro
m the brain to the muscles. In fact, exercising leg muscles helps the brain to produce new neurons. This new study looked at how neural stem cells are affected by reduced leg movement.
The researchers were led by Raffaella Adami, of the Università degli Studi di Milano in Italy, and their findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience. The study is “Reduction of Movement in Neurological Diseases: Effects on Neural Stem Cells Characteristics².
What is fascinating is that leg exercises (weight-bearing exercise in particular) “tells” the brain to produce healthy neurons. “Neurological health is not a one-way street with the brain telling the muscles ‘lift,’ ‘walk,’ and so on,” says Adami. Rather, signals sent from the leg to the brain are just as critical as signals sent from brain to legs. So this is the exercise that is critical to brain health.
The study concluded that weight-bearing exercises produce signals that increase more healthy neural cells for the brain, and engaging in these simple activities will aid the brain³
So what are weight-bearing exercises? These are exercises that defy gravity. Some examples are climbing stairs, weight training, tennis, jogging and dancing. Disclaimer: Please note if you have been sedentary, consult your doctor before starting any exercise routine.
While incorporating this critical exercise for brain health in your routine will help, research has also shown that a regular intake of certain dietary supplements in combination with exercise and a healthy diet are some of the best ways to support the functioning of the brain.
Interested in products that can help you be healthier? I am a distributor with Jump to Health and you can learn more about their products HERE.
I hope you found the information useful and now I am off to go exercise my legs. 🙂
Any questions, you can always reach me on 404-827-8102.
To Your Health and Wellness,
Kathy
Katherine Smith
404-827-8102
Independent Jump To Health™ Distributor
Sources
¹ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4789972/
¹ https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/441029
² https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2018.00336/full
² https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5974544/
³ https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2018.00336/full?utm_source=G-BLO&utm_medium=WEXT&utm_campaign=ECO_FNINS_20180607_leg-exercise
Disclaimer: You should consult your physician before starting any exercise program or new diet to determine if it is right for your needs. Also, please know some of the links lead to products where I am an affiliate and will earn a commission. I only promote products I believe in and they are offered by a company where their products are backed by science and are high quality.