Physical exercise has many benefits to our health. The activity serves as one of the effective maintenance to balance our overall wellness. Although exercise is usually linked to physical advantages, some studies show how it influences our brain.
Can You Get Healthy Neuron and Synapses by Exercising?
BERLIN, GERMANY - APRIL 20: Elderly women walk at a fast pace in a park during the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic on April 20, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. Outdoor exercise has for many people become vital during the ongoing pandemic lockdown for maintaining positive well-being.
New research found that older adults fond of exercise may have a healthy cognition. According to the experts, people in the age group who remain physically active pushes a specific protein in their brains that induce neurons with healthier connections. The study was led by experts from the University of California San Francisco.
The protective benefits of physical activities were found not just in healthy people but also in patients who have their brains polluted with toxic proteins linked to Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.
UC San Francisco Department of Neurology expert Kaitlin Casaletto, who also authored the study, said in a Hindustan Times report that their team was first to utilize a set of data from human subjects to examine the links between synaptic protein regulation and physical activities. Along with the connection between the two aspects, the expert also noted that the beneficial outcomes in cognitive functions might also be categorized through the help of the findings.
The health advantages of physical activity and its correlation to cognition were already theorized in previous studies, but the information collected was only limited due to the subjects being mice.
Casaletto, a Weill Institute for Neurosciences fellow, has collaborated with the University of British Columbia and senior author of the paper William Honer. Most of the data they have gathered to run the investigations were contributed by Rush University's Memory and Aging Project.
Under the project, the physical activities of individuals who belong in the older adult age groups were monitored. Some participants also agreed to donate their brain organs to pursue studies after they depart.
According to ScienceDaily, Casaletto said that maintenance of the neuron connections could be an effective approach to fend off dementia-related conditions. The expert added that the integrity of the synapses should remain intact, as this is the aspect where cognition takes place.
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Physical Activities and Synaptic Integrity
According to Casaletto, physical activity could help older adults boost their own synaptic functions. The authors observed that the elderlies who remained physically active had higher levels of the proteins which regulate the information access across neurons.
The finding supports Honer's earlier theory in which people who die with a staggering amount of these proteins were able to maintain their cognition stable late in their lifetimes. The experts were surprised to find that the effects of physical activities on the neurons have exceeded from the hippocampus to other parts of the brain linked to cognitive functions.
Most of the brain in many older adults is usually infiltrated with excessive toxic proteins related to the birth of Alzheimer's disease, such as amyloid and tau. Previous research suggests that amyloids build up first before tau. Through these proteins, the synapses between neurons and the cells themselves become disrupted and even damaged.
Synaptic integrity, which is measured from either the spinal fluid or brain tissues, is believed to affect the intercept between amyloid and tau, as well as tau and neurodegeneration. Casaletto said neurotoxicity is the number one problem that leads to neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, but their study shows a chance to dampen the triggers by simply maintaining synaptic health through physical exercise.
The study was published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia, titled "Late-life physical activity relates to brain tissue synaptic integrity markers in older adults."
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