A recent article in the NY Times by Gretchen Reynolds discusses how aerobic exercise that causes the heart to work hard can promote the growth of new brain cells. The dramatic change in blood flow that occurs when you run, cycle, or swim can promote new connections and help create new neurons.
Click here to go to the article in the New York Times from 9/16/2009.
Share this:
Interesting hypothesis to explain the observation, but it is a pretty long leap to getting to growth factors coming from muscles to stimulate memory formation. When exercising, the brain is also “exercising” making neurotransmitters over and over again – but generally not in thepart of the brain for organizing new memories.
It would be interesting to check if the same results occur if the exercise is done before vs. after the learning situation. If it works for rote memory, does it also work for active learning? What about finding new information? Should researchers do aerobic exercise before entering the lab? Is there diurnal variation? Does short term memory turn to long term memory better if you exercise before sleep or if you exercise at the beginning of the day when sleep has consolidated yesterday’s learning?