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Exercise Releases Brain-Healthy Protein

478 points by brahmwg 10y ago

deleted 10y ago
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jey 10y ago
The connection between exercise and brain health has now been super conclusively and astonishingly shown, but what are some possible evolutionary reasons for this connection? Maybe the extra energetic investment in brain health is only justified when there is an energetic surplus, and doing exercise correlates with having extra energy available? (As opposed to starving and thus needing to conserve energy.) But that doesn't actually make sense, since the extra metabolic expenditure of these processes can't possibly be all that high, and doesn't the brain use almost the same (huge) amount of resources whether it's at rest or very cognitively active?
- sliverstorm 10y ago
  It's probably not that complicated. It probably goes something like, our species developed using our brains and exercising in harmony, so they wound up linked to eachother, simply because everyone was exercising. The two systems developed together, and simply because there was no reason NOT to be, wound up intertwined. Like what I've heard about automatic transmissions. Supposedly, some automatic transmissions do not lubricate themselves when coasting in neutral (the pump is driven engine-side), and for this reason you shouldn't regularly coast long distances at freeway speeds in neutral on an affected automatic. Why is it this way? Simply because it's easy to slave the pump off the engine-side, and at 65mph, you generally have your engine engaged! So why NOT? Evolution is all about selective pressures, but equally important are the absence of those pressures.
  - jey 10y ago
    True, but this does smell an awful lot like a control signal (in the sense of a control system).
- drzaiusapelord 10y ago
  >but what are some possible evolutionary reasons for this connection? Maybe you should be asking the opposite question like why should evolution reward sedentary life? Human history involves daily exercise in some form that is more strenuous than a long walk and that's clearly connected to our general health and well-being both mentally and physically (why should these be separate to evolution?). What we're doing today is the exception, we shouldn't expect everything to work out as before. I imagine we're in a temporary lull. Either modern society will collapse and we'll go back to farming or hunting and gathering, or we'll invent a exercise pill. There is effort in this direction: http://qz.com/516757/scientists-are-working-on-an-exercise-pill-so-you-never-have-to-work-out-again/ http://qz.com/516757/scientists-are-working-on-an-exercise-p...
  - searine 10y ago
    >Maybe you should be asking the opposite question like why should evolution reward sedentary life? If you can live a sedentary lifestyle and still produce children, then evolution doesn't care. In fact, an indoors lifestyle is much more fit in the longterm than a life of hard labor. Evolution isn't trying to create the Platonic Ideal of a human. It just is a thoughtless mechanism to efficiently reproduce DNA.
    - pc86 10y ago
      > If you can live a sedentary lifestyle and still produce children, then evolution doesn't care. Hunter/gatherer humanity did not have the luxury of a sedentary lifestyle, so it did have a negative impact on your ability to produce children for a long time. > In fact, an indoors lifestyle is much more fit in the longterm than a life of hard labor. I think "hard labor" is a bit extreme, but even so, working a physically demanding job is still better for your overall health than a sedentary lifestyle of office job + sitting on the couch watching Netflix.
      - TillE 10y ago
        > better for your overall health Again, evolution does not care. As long as you can survive to about 40 (long enough to raise children), it makes no difference.
- rhondapatrick 10y ago
  Interestingly, exercise itself actually helps get an energetically favorable type of energy to the brain in the first place: lactate.[1] Moreover, lactate in the brain triggers the release of BDNF, which causes neurogenesis.[2] I recorded a video conversation with the pioneer of the lactate shuttle theory behind this mechanism which may interest you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lThFQM503EU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lThFQM503EU [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactate_shuttle_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactate_shuttle_hypothesis [2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21094220 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21094220
  - StanislavPetrov 10y ago
    Exercise also causes the release of endorphins in the brain that leads to a condition commonly known as "runners high". http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/how-to-achieve-a-runners-high http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/how-to-achieve-a-ru...
    - bitL 10y ago
      Real runner's high means you started damaging your muscles and brain flushes endorphins to your blood stream in order to keep you being able to continue without experiencing debilitating pain in case you are running from a disaster/predator/death in the last attempt before you cease to be able to move. Not something you'd want to achieve repeatedly.
      - StanislavPetrov 10y ago
        Any exercise can lead to the release of endorphins. Endorphin release doesn't occur only to mask the damage you are doing to yourself in the face of an extreme life threatening situation (which is also accompanied by the release of adrenaline and other hormones). >The endogenous opioids seem likely to be assigned a significant role in the integrated hormonal and metabolic response to exercise. This article reviews the present evidence on exercise and the endogenous opioids, and examines their involvement in a number of widely disparate physiological processes http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6091217 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6091217
- searine 10y ago
  > but what are some possible evolutionary reasons for this connection? With long term phenotypes like brain health, there probably isn't enough selective pressure to create or maintain this relationship. Rather this result is likely the result of coincidence, and that coincidence was not deleterious enough to be removed by selection. Ex : Exercise stimulates repair enzymes > Excess Repair Enzymes Filter Into Blood Stream > Excess Repair Enzymes Also Fix Brain Cells.
- ldehaan 10y ago
  your heart is a pump, when you exercise your heart pumps harder and faster, your legs create a flowing motion that helps the blood make it back to the heart. during all this the brain experiences a surge in blood levels, oxygen, metabolic exchanges happen faster and so your brain is more effective. add into that, the body breaks down fats to power you, those fats have omega fatty acids that are released into the blood stream and go to the brain to provide nutrients. this is why drinking coffee wakes you up. what I really want is a pair of those leg pumps that assist the heart, so I can sit on my ass longer and code whilst getting the benefits of exercise on my brain :)
- revelation 10y ago
  As usual, evolution means there might just be no reason, certainly not one that is reasonable.
  - bduerst 10y ago
    I was going to say this as well. Unless it's explicitly linked to surviving natural selection before reproduction, it's more likely that this finding is just a pointless by-product of another biomolecular pathway, even though it may have some discernible benefits. It's like trying to puzzle out why there are nipples on male mammals - it usually devolves to some creative stories and hand waving.
    - omalleyt 10y ago
      Well, male nipples are spandrels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spandrel_(biology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spandrel_(biology) That is, they're useful for the female and not particularly harmful for the male, so they live on. It's also an instance of DRY (don't repeat yourself) "coding" in our DNA: basically males and females carry the same instructions, with a bunch of randomly interspersed if/else conditions that hinge on the presence of testosterone (coded for in the small Y chromosome)
- quantumhobbit 10y ago
  Prehistoric humans likely exercised as a matter of course. They weren't sedentary. The brain evolved assuming the condition of exercise. naturally occurring byproducts of exercise were just always there for the brain to use.
  - seizethecheese 10y ago
    This is my favorite explanation. It may be that the deficiencies of these chemicals are harmful and the release of them returns us to "regular" function, but since we are so sedentary it appears that we are getting a benefit.
    - pizza 10y ago
      Avoiding the teleological default misconception of "evolution means adding features to DNA," to boot.
  - searine 10y ago
    You are assuming Hunter/Gatherers expend more energy than modern humans, which is not true (http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0040503 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....) Physical activity levels were also within a standard deviation of one another (between western and h/g populations). The brain evolved in similar conditions to modern man. I would argue current conditions are far better for the brain in terms of good nutrition and low disease. The effect in the OP was not selected for, it is likely a serendipitous biochemical interaction. Repair enzymes from one part of they also effecting another.
    - woodandsteel 10y ago
      As far as calories go, exercise doesn't have much impact. And maybe the Hunter/Gatherers are more efficient in their metabolisms. As far as exercise goes, maybe one standard deviation is enough to produce a brain effect. And maybe there is a lot of variation within modern populations, with many far enough below the average to have a significant effect. I find it really hard to believe that any healthy Hunter/Gatherers sit around all day like so many moderns do.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- foxxwinters 10y ago
  There's interesting theories behind humans evolving as a distance running (endurance hunting) species, and brain size being required evolutionarily as a tracking mechanism (understanding footprints & getting in the prey's head to understand it's path). The two work in concert because fast prey escapes line of sight and gets mixed up with each other easily, so human endurance becomes much less useful if you can't follow & wear down the appropriate target. "Born to Run" is a fun summary/story about some of this science but there's more hard science out there too if you're interested.
- aqwfgm 10y ago
  Reason should be some kind of benefit. But honestly, I dont know, here are just some facts. You need to see the connection of systems. Neuromuscular connection of basal ganglia: central part of brain - neural pathway - muscle - and then feeling of movement going back to the brain through hypothalamus and to other areas - from hypothalamus it goes to brain like a shotgun fire. The more you do the same movement the more you fire up the same lines. In order to get faster and more effective movement you add additional channels for signal transport in neuronal connections {this happens through release of BDNF, which induces insertion of new channels, for faster transmission}. This molecule happen to influence formation of memory, survival of neurons and supress your desire to eat. There has been an article from 1998 about reduced cathepsin, which happens to reduce this BDNF. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9514826 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9514826) Sooo, again, I dont know, but this seems a bit like a side effect of firing up those circuits, because more or less the same way works memory formation (long-term memory potentiation). I would guess here plays a role effect of neigborhood - niche influencing neurons sitting next to those active pathways. BTW. Also movement should increase your bloodflow, waste created by neurons is now removed much faster, this should go the same for neurotrasmitters - molecules transmitting signal which just flow around and act as signal interference, thus removing part of interference and now you can fire clear signal.
- jsprogrammer 10y ago
  If you are being active, you probably want to be able to do more. Move easily, see things, predict ahead, etc. When you are not active, you don't need to be doing those things as much.
- drawkbox 10y ago
  A couple possible reasons: surviving to hunt, fighting/battle and celebration/training/building activities. If you have an elevated heart rate and exercising in the past that might mean going after food where you have to outwit, thus the brain needed to fuel/prepare for that. Additionally, exercise could be fighting, you might also need elevated brain performance during a battle for survival. It might also mean you are doing some work to get a system in place for food and providing that for others in the group. Exercising is probably tied to survival, nourishment and providing. The brain probably has a reward system because it can expend more energy if there is more to be had soon.
  - mywittyname 10y ago
    Also, you're probably learning during that time. Think about how young animals play: they practice a lot of the skills they need to survive. It builds dexterity, coordination, reflexes and strength. Evolutionary speaking, those animals whose brains go into "extra learning mode" during exercise likely had a huge advantage over their peers whose brains didn't. Their brains picked up on skills related to hunting and survival and didn't waste energy building neural connections while they're sitting around not doing anything.
    - searine 10y ago
      You two are wildly speculating. The fact is that none of this greatly influences reproductive fitness, so it is unlikely to be acted on by evolution. The effect is likely just biochemical coincidence. Repair enzymes in one part of the body effecting another.
      - nazgul17 10y ago
        I agree that it is speculation, but the evolutionary advantage is pretty clear there: getting extra learning during fights increases your chances of survival in the next fight.
        searine 10y ago
- tn13 10y ago
  > The connection between exercise and brain health has now been super conclusively and astonishingly shown, but what are some possible evolutionary reasons for this connection? Both physical activity and brain-health improve survival and a small group of people whose brain became healtheir with physical activity survived at a faster rate than others. Isn't it obvious ? I would assume exercise for early humans did not mean spending 30 minutes running for no reason. They probably spent that time running after a rabbit or running way with someone else's wife on his shoulder etc or tribes that kept well trained armies probably survived at a higher rate than tribes that relied on the Shaman to summon the dead.
- ObeyTheGuts 10y ago
  To me it is very obvious that physical activity = you are being active and will need more brain power to proccess all the activity, while being inactive means brain power will be energy waste. As only very recently u can do high intellect stuff like computer work while sitting.
- stared 10y ago
  Neurons evolved from muscles. After exercises muscles needs to be repaired (due to microdamages); it is not unreasonable that there is some positive side-effect for neurons as well.
- rsync 10y ago
  "The connection between exercise and brain health has now been super conclusively and astonishingly shown, but what are some possible evolutionary reasons for this connection?" Your question assumes that bodily health and brain health are separate and distinct things - as if we are mental beings that just happen to have bodies. Perhaps we should read the headline as "exercise releases body healthy protein" ... I doubt we'd consider that an evolutionary paradox. Probably these results should be considered ipso facto.
igorgue 10y ago
Why do we have an article saying basically the same thing every single week here? I get it, and I think everyone here has, exercise is good for you, in many ways, don't sit on your ass all day. I guess it's sad to see this becoming the "Good Morning America" of tech (not that we didn't have those ones already) or the ultra localized we-only-care-about-the-bay-area medium.
- laxatives 10y ago
  Because an enormous chunk of the population still refuses to exercise and/or diet and articles like this help motivate some of that subset.
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    Or piss them off. Exercise is tiring and painful and time-consuming (especially if you count in after-exercise showers). Also, I don't like the whole culture around exercising and fitness. Gimme a damn pill or something. More seriously though, I really find no pleasure in exercise and would like to approach it in the most cost-effective way (i.e. maximum benefit for minimum time used). Any hints on exercise regime optimised for that? I heard weightlifting is good.
    - pc86 10y ago
      If you really want minimum time but still some benefit, taking a walk around the block 2-3 times a day is probably your best bet. But that's "fitness" in the same way the 15 year old with a pirated copy of Photoshop is "a graphic designer." I don't think anyone who has done weightlifting would say you can do it quickly or that it takes minimal time or effort.
      - TeMPOraL 10y ago
        I don't want to minimize time, I want to maximize the benefit/time ratio, where time includes maintenance expenses (like showering, getting to the gym) as well. I.e. if jogging every day for an hour provides X "fitness points", but you can also get those X "fitness points" by doing e.g. weightlifting 3 times a week, I prefer to go for the second option. It can be painful - I won't like it, but when I work out I don't do it for pleasure (which I generally never got from exercises); its means to an end. End being losing weight, keeping cognitive power at full capacity, living longer.
davnn 10y ago
Are there any studies on what kind of exercise, or what kind of intensity is most beneficial to overall or mental health? Edit: Got back to my laptop and did some research myself. Aerobic Exercise Training Increases Brain Volume in Aging Humans (and nonaerobic doesn't) -http://biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/61/11/1166.long http://biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/61/11/11... Findings show that although the more intense, motorized running exercise induced a rapid increase in BDNF, the elevation was more short-lived than with voluntary running. Suggests that longer, easier exercises might be more beneficial. - http://202.120.143.134/download/20090702135031_277199777813.pdf http://202.120.143.134/download/20090702135031_277199777813.... Exercise effects on executive function are not doseresponsive, meaning that better fitness does not necessarily lead to larger cognitive gains... physical activity levels that benefit cognition may not necessarily be as intense as those levels required to increase cardiovascular fitness. - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michelle_Ploughman/publication/23247248_Ploughman_M._Exercise_is_brain_food_the_effects_of_physical_activity_on_cognitive_function/links/0912f50b24e3bd11f6000000.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michelle_Ploughman/publ... neither duration (20 vs. 40 min) nor intensity (60 vs. 80% HR reserve) significantly affects the benefits of exercise if only the sBDNF increase at a single post-exercise time point is considered... -http://www.jssm.org/research.php?id=jssm-12-502.xml http://www.jssm.org/research.php?id=jssm-12-502.xml High intensity interval training evokes (slightly) larger serum BDNF levels compared to intense continuous exercise. - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nicole_Wenderoth/publication/282911637_High_intensity_interval_training_evokes_larger_serum_BDNF_levels_compared_to_intense_continuous_exercise/links/5649aa1508aef646e6d29ed1.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nicole_Wenderoth/public... This meta-analysis provides reliable evidence that both acute and regular exercise have a significant impact on BDNF levels. (but animal models show that these can be gone soon after you stop training) - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4314337/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4314337/ The effects of acute exercise on cognitive performance: A meta-analysis - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yu_Kai_Chang/publication/223962303_The_effects_of_acute_exercise_on_cognitive_performance_A_meta-analysis/links/56191a6308ae78721f9cfd3b.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yu_Kai_Chang/publicatio... I can recommend the meta-analysis (last link), data is unfortunately somewhat inconclusive. There are basically two theories, the inverted-U theory, stating that moderate exercise is most beneficial and the drive theory, stating that the largest effects will be achieved with the largest intensity. Chang et. al., however, conclude that: The size of the benefit is dependent upon a number of factors, but results indicate that benefits are larger for more fit individuals who perform the physical activity for 20 min or longer. The appropriate intensity depends upon the time of measurement — any intensity benefits cognitive performance during exercise, but lower intensities provide more benefit when the tests are performed immediately after exercise and higher intensities have more durable effects that can be observed even following a delay.
yarou 10y ago
Exercise also increases BDNF gene expression, which deficits of are implicated in depression and addiction.
tmaly 10y ago
I would be more interested in a discussion of the benefits of the different types of exercise. I see there is this sentiment about seeing the same type of exercise is good for you articles every week. Which types help lower cholestrol? Which types are best for the heart?
- atmosx 10y ago
  All of it. As long we're not talking extremes, all kind of aerobic exercise, is beneficial for both cholesterol (HDL), lowers triglycerides and it's (very) good for the heart. There are other beneficial side effects like: endorphins, high quality night sleep, bigger amount of oxygen reaches the entire body and the brain.
- TillE 10y ago
  > An average 40 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity aerobic activity 3 or 4 times per week http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/PhysicalActivity/FitnessBasics/American-Heart-Association-Recommendations-for-Physical-Activity-in-Adults_UCM_307976_Article.jsp http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/PhysicalActivity...
bronz 10y ago
well im surprised to be the first person in this thread to ask this question (if i am not mistaken) but what about supplementing the protein instead of working out?
- pc86 10y ago
  Does supplementing this protein cause the brain to absorb it at the same rate as exercise? Doesn't exercise increase the brain's ability to absorb certain chemicals (probably a bad way to phrase it, mentioned elsewhere on this page).
- Shivetya 10y ago
  well I would argue that other benefits of exercise cannot be simply ingested.
  - bronz 10y ago
    a lot of people cant exercise though
    - jtuente 10y ago
      > a lot of people WONT exercise though Honestly, considering the overweight and obese population is growing we have a problem with systemic overeating that needs to be corrected first. It doesn't matter how much exercise you do if you eat more than you need.
      - delecti 10y ago
        Even if you grant that many overweight/obese people merely won't exercise, certainly at least some people can't exercise.
        jschwartzi 10y ago
        The important question is how many people _can't_ exercise, and why, and what exercises have they tried?
uptownfunk 10y ago
If this is true, why are jocks commonly viewed as unintelligent?
- Jweb_Guru 10y ago
  Stereotypes aren't always accurate.
  - Hydraulix989 10y ago
    Right, the runners on my track/cross country team in high school were all top 10 students. Also, Ivy League schools recruit heavily based on athletics, but they still hold their recruits to high academic standards.
- lloyd-christmas 10y ago
  High school jocks are different than fitness minded adults.
- pcunite 10y ago
  Drug abuse
- Retra 10y ago
  Every group is viewed as unintelligent by some other group.
- jschwartzi 10y ago
  Why are all fat people so dumb?
- 0xcde4c3db 10y ago
  The social categorization of an activity as "intelligent" or "unintelligent" is based primarily on bullshit stereotypes (including classist, sexist, and racist ones). The actual level of intellectual engagement involved in the activity has hardly anything to do with it.
th0ma5 10y ago
I had heard that even a brief bit of HIIT has all of the benefits of longer exercise times... Does this refute that or give evidence in support of that?
- etrautmann 10y ago
  this particular research doesn't answer your question - though a followup study could
- bitL 10y ago
  It probably helps with some markers deemed important in competitive sports like VO2 max and won't help with others that aren't measured. With HIIT you significantly increase the risk of injury and/or death comparing to moderate longer exercise. You should only do it when your body doesn't gain much benefit from moderate ones. Try the popular Tabata sprints just once to understand the stress you are putting your body through (20 seconds all out effort sprint followed by 10 seconds pause, repeat 8 times).
  - saiya-jin 10y ago
    Wait a minute, the part about injury/death is a bit ridiculous. With this logic, stay sedentary, no risk of injury/death from training ever, that's for sure. And never ever go to the mountains or dive! I do HIIT, with running uphill on treadmill (1 min sprint, 2 mins slow pace, increase inclination, repeat), but it's only one type of running I do (others are slowly increasing speed and inclination every 5 mins, and just circles in hilly park nearby). It's very effective, 'different' type than others (heart rate takes very long to come down for example). Definitely I feel my knees more after usual running on concrete in proper shoes rather than these treadmill sprints. If you don't challenge your body and put some pressure on muscles/joints/ligaments/cardiovascular system etc. it will never reach its potential. Would I do this if 60 years old? No. But I don't consider such blank statements true. If you don't want to do HIIT for whatever reason, that's your choice
    - bitL 10y ago
      You are probably in a good enough shape to benefit from HIIT. For usual couch potatoes it might not be the case; it would benefit them more to start with swimming/walking, then later running a bit and once they are somewhat in shape and have proper injury-avoiding practices, they can do HIIT.
googletron 10y ago
This is exactly the message we are trying to get across at Gyroscope. https://gyrosco.pe/myusuf3/2016/6/27/ https://gyrosco.pe/myusuf3/2016/6/27/ As you can see, me there playing sports that evening, super exciting and really keeps me focused. Granted hard to take me seriously, but we have some users like Tatiana have done some amazing stuff https://blog.gyrosco.pe/tatiana-b68f863333f9#.s6ugu6g65 https://blog.gyrosco.pe/tatiana-b68f863333f9#.s6ugu6g65
- thoughtpeddler 10y ago
  hm, seems like the bet is to get people that are not as scientifically well-versed to get into exercise through nice data visualization and fun shareable images of their exercise. probably has a higher likelihood of getting people to exercise instead of saying "cathespin B is good for you and here's why" people seem to be sharing their stuff
- jameshk 10y ago
  I'm a Gyroscope user and really enjoy it. It combines tracking from different sources well, making it easier to understand your day, and take action based on that.
cpdean 10y ago
pssh NICE TRY SCIENCE. You'll have to try a lot harder to trick me into exercising!
thehashrocket 10y ago
Does it have to be a treadmill? I mostly do the elliptical (ski whatever it's called) since i'm not much of a runner. Just curious if I need to take it up a notch or not.
- saiya-jin 10y ago
  not it can be also spinning, swimming (probably best since it's full body workout without joint stress) and so on. elliptical is actually pretty good full body exercise from what i heard, if you are happy with it keep doing it
nsxwolf 10y ago
"Brain-healthy"... that's the BS language you hear in commercials for vitamins and supplements and breakfast cereals... "Heart-healthy whole grains", "Supports breast health", etc.
mathattack 10y ago
There is a strange dichotomy here... I do believe that exercise helps thinking, but when I was growing up, very few of the smarter people were involved in sports, either formally or informally. Perhaps 1 in 20 was on a team, and few were that active otherwise. The link to drama and music was much bigger.
- codyb 10y ago
  Is it possible kids maintain a higher rate of metabolic activity just by growing thus offsetting some of the activity you don't see in children with above average intelligence?
  - mathattack 10y ago
    It could be. Also could be a low sample size. :-)
- ethanbond 10y ago
  Probably because you're talking about academic success which is only loosely correlated to intelligence, and almost entirely not correlated to "brain health." "Brain health," as it's used in this article, would also contribute to coordination, muscle control, and various other things that would benefit athletes in ways that are totally opaque to you or me. The article doesn't say exercise makes you smarter, and even if it did, "smarter" is an awfully vague term.
  - papapra 10y ago
    One more thing is emotional health, it's already pretty known that exercise helps with anxiety and depression. But I disagree about your assertion about intelligence, I think it plays a huge role in academic success.
    - ethanbond 10y ago
      There are plenty of people with above average intelligence who enjoy below average academic success, and inversely plenty of people with below average intelligence who enjoy above average academic success. This can happen for a variety of reasons: poverty, nutrition, "misaligned" interests, etc. Intelligence plays a role in that someone with an IQ of 80 probably isn't going to Stanford, but there are ostensibly plenty of people with IQs far above your average Stanford student who will never set foot in a university.
schappim 10y ago
For all the entrepreneurs wanting to bottle Cathepsin B (the "Brain-Healthy Protein"), unfortunately it has also been linked with tumour invasion and metastasis[1]. Further study is needed to know if the increase in Cathepsin B is a factor or simply correlation. [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14587299 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14587299
- brahmwg 10y ago
  That's assuming the unscrupulous spam artists pushing nootropics and smart-pills even care about the adverse effects of the ingredients they're selling. And most of their target consumers will be too wooed by the use of a scientific term like 'cathepsin-b' to bother with their own due diligence.
  - pizza 10y ago
    Lebanese proverb - "If a rich man eats a snake, people call it wisdom; if a poor man does the same thing, people call it derangement."
    - nstj 10y ago
      English speaking equivalent: _"Wealthy people with quirks are called eccentric. Poor people are called crazy"_
      - greendestiny_re 10y ago
        Terry Pratchett's quote?
simonebrunozzi 10y ago
Latin: "Mens sana in corpore sano" (healthy mind in a healthy body).
samuell 10y ago
Related study from 2014, with more details on consequences, less on biological detail: "Regular exercise changes the brain to improve memory, thinking skills" http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/regular-exercise-changes-brain-improve-memory-thinking-skills-201404097110 http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/regular-exercise-changes-...
espeed 10y ago
John Ratey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ratey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ratey), the professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who wrote Driven to Distration, recently published a book called "Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain" (http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-Brain/dp/0316113506 http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-B...). Spark details how high-intensity cardio (like sprints or interval training) put your brain chemicals in balance in part by generating BDNF (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-derived_neurotrophic_factor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-derived_neurotrophic_fact...), which as Ratey describes, it's like "Miracle-gro" for the brain. Last year my stress levels were getting out of control from working too much. At the time I was running at least two miles every day so it's not like I wasn't exercising. But then one day I changed from running a couple miles to running 50-yard sprints, as fast and as hard as I could push myself. The first day I only ran four sprints, but I felt euphoric the rest of the day -- the best I had felt in years. So I tried it again a couple days later, and sure enough it worked again -- I felt amazing. So then I had to find out why this worked -- why a few sprints were so much more effective than running several miles. I started Googling and eventually found Ratey's book -- it explains the entire biochemical process of what's going on and why sprinting works. It's an eye-opening read. Each chapter covers how high-intensity cardio affects things like stress, anxiety, depression, ADHD. I have ADHD but haven't taken anything for it in years (since I was in college), and I can attest that sprints not only fixed by stress levels, but my ADHD symptoms were almost non existent. Here's a key point that Ratey makes throughout the book that completely changed my perspective on things -- he says that instead of thinking of exercise as something you should do to look good and build a healthy body, you should instead think of exercise as the key to building a healthy brain: "We all know that exercise makes us feel better, but most of us have no idea why. We assume its because we're burning off stress or reducing muscle tension or boosting endorphins, and we leave it at that. But the real reason we feel so good when we get our blood pumping is that it makes the brain function at its best" (http://www.sparkinglife.org http://www.sparkinglife.org). In the book's introduction he goes on to say, "Building muscles and conditioning the heart and lungs are essentially side effects. I often tell my patients that the point of exercise is to build and condition the brain." In fact the brain exercise routine he recommends is similar to a weight workout routine, in that you have to push yourself hard one day, and then take a day off to let your brain recover, just like in weight training. Another key is when you sprint, always put everything you have into it. Run as fast and as hard as you can so you are constantly pushing your body and your brain past their limitations -- this is the key to growth. Reposted from: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5323019 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5323019 (2013) Also see: "How exercise boosts brain health" (http://www.kurzweilai.net/how-exercise-boosts-brain-health http://www.kurzweilai.net/how-exercise-boosts-brain-health)

478 points by brahmwg 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

jey 10y ago

The connection between exercise and brain health has now been super conclusively and astonishingly shown, but what are some possible evolutionary reasons for this connection? Maybe the extra energetic investment in brain health is only justified when there is an energetic surplus, and doing exercise correlates with having extra energy available? (As opposed to starving and thus needing to conserve energy.) But that doesn't actually make sense, since the extra metabolic expenditure of these processes can't possibly be all that high, and doesn't the brain use almost the same (huge) amount of resources whether it's at rest or very cognitively active?

sliverstorm 10y ago
It's probably not that complicated. It probably goes something like, our species developed using our brains and exercising in harmony, so they wound up linked to eachother, simply because everyone was exercising. The two systems developed together, and simply because there was no reason NOT to be, wound up intertwined. Like what I've heard about automatic transmissions. Supposedly, some automatic transmissions do not lubricate themselves when coasting in neutral (the pump is driven engine-side), and for this reason you shouldn't regularly coast long distances at freeway speeds in neutral on an affected automatic. Why is it this way? Simply because it's easy to slave the pump off the engine-side, and at 65mph, you generally have your engine engaged! So why NOT? Evolution is all about selective pressures, but equally important are the absence of those pressures.
- jey 10y ago
  True, but this does smell an awful lot like a control signal (in the sense of a control system).
drzaiusapelord 10y ago
>but what are some possible evolutionary reasons for this connection? Maybe you should be asking the opposite question like why should evolution reward sedentary life? Human history involves daily exercise in some form that is more strenuous than a long walk and that's clearly connected to our general health and well-being both mentally and physically (why should these be separate to evolution?). What we're doing today is the exception, we shouldn't expect everything to work out as before. I imagine we're in a temporary lull. Either modern society will collapse and we'll go back to farming or hunting and gathering, or we'll invent a exercise pill. There is effort in this direction: http://qz.com/516757/scientists-are-working-on-an-exercise-pill-so-you-never-have-to-work-out-again/ http://qz.com/516757/scientists-are-working-on-an-exercise-p...
- searine 10y ago
  >Maybe you should be asking the opposite question like why should evolution reward sedentary life? If you can live a sedentary lifestyle and still produce children, then evolution doesn't care. In fact, an indoors lifestyle is much more fit in the longterm than a life of hard labor. Evolution isn't trying to create the Platonic Ideal of a human. It just is a thoughtless mechanism to efficiently reproduce DNA.
  - pc86 10y ago
    > If you can live a sedentary lifestyle and still produce children, then evolution doesn't care. Hunter/gatherer humanity did not have the luxury of a sedentary lifestyle, so it did have a negative impact on your ability to produce children for a long time. > In fact, an indoors lifestyle is much more fit in the longterm than a life of hard labor. I think "hard labor" is a bit extreme, but even so, working a physically demanding job is still better for your overall health than a sedentary lifestyle of office job + sitting on the couch watching Netflix.
    - TillE 10y ago
      > better for your overall health Again, evolution does not care. As long as you can survive to about 40 (long enough to raise children), it makes no difference.
rhondapatrick 10y ago
Interestingly, exercise itself actually helps get an energetically favorable type of energy to the brain in the first place: lactate.[1] Moreover, lactate in the brain triggers the release of BDNF, which causes neurogenesis.[2] I recorded a video conversation with the pioneer of the lactate shuttle theory behind this mechanism which may interest you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lThFQM503EU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lThFQM503EU [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactate_shuttle_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactate_shuttle_hypothesis [2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21094220 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21094220
- StanislavPetrov 10y ago
  Exercise also causes the release of endorphins in the brain that leads to a condition commonly known as "runners high". http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/how-to-achieve-a-runners-high http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/how-to-achieve-a-ru...
  - bitL 10y ago
    Real runner's high means you started damaging your muscles and brain flushes endorphins to your blood stream in order to keep you being able to continue without experiencing debilitating pain in case you are running from a disaster/predator/death in the last attempt before you cease to be able to move. Not something you'd want to achieve repeatedly.
    - StanislavPetrov 10y ago
      Any exercise can lead to the release of endorphins. Endorphin release doesn't occur only to mask the damage you are doing to yourself in the face of an extreme life threatening situation (which is also accompanied by the release of adrenaline and other hormones). >The endogenous opioids seem likely to be assigned a significant role in the integrated hormonal and metabolic response to exercise. This article reviews the present evidence on exercise and the endogenous opioids, and examines their involvement in a number of widely disparate physiological processes http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6091217 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6091217
searine 10y ago
> but what are some possible evolutionary reasons for this connection? With long term phenotypes like brain health, there probably isn't enough selective pressure to create or maintain this relationship. Rather this result is likely the result of coincidence, and that coincidence was not deleterious enough to be removed by selection. Ex : Exercise stimulates repair enzymes > Excess Repair Enzymes Filter Into Blood Stream > Excess Repair Enzymes Also Fix Brain Cells.
ldehaan 10y ago
your heart is a pump, when you exercise your heart pumps harder and faster, your legs create a flowing motion that helps the blood make it back to the heart. during all this the brain experiences a surge in blood levels, oxygen, metabolic exchanges happen faster and so your brain is more effective. add into that, the body breaks down fats to power you, those fats have omega fatty acids that are released into the blood stream and go to the brain to provide nutrients. this is why drinking coffee wakes you up. what I really want is a pair of those leg pumps that assist the heart, so I can sit on my ass longer and code whilst getting the benefits of exercise on my brain :)
revelation 10y ago
As usual, evolution means there might just be no reason, certainly not one that is reasonable.
- bduerst 10y ago
  I was going to say this as well. Unless it's explicitly linked to surviving natural selection before reproduction, it's more likely that this finding is just a pointless by-product of another biomolecular pathway, even though it may have some discernible benefits. It's like trying to puzzle out why there are nipples on male mammals - it usually devolves to some creative stories and hand waving.
  - omalleyt 10y ago
    Well, male nipples are spandrels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spandrel_(biology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spandrel_(biology) That is, they're useful for the female and not particularly harmful for the male, so they live on. It's also an instance of DRY (don't repeat yourself) "coding" in our DNA: basically males and females carry the same instructions, with a bunch of randomly interspersed if/else conditions that hinge on the presence of testosterone (coded for in the small Y chromosome)
quantumhobbit 10y ago
Prehistoric humans likely exercised as a matter of course. They weren't sedentary. The brain evolved assuming the condition of exercise. naturally occurring byproducts of exercise were just always there for the brain to use.
- seizethecheese 10y ago
  This is my favorite explanation. It may be that the deficiencies of these chemicals are harmful and the release of them returns us to "regular" function, but since we are so sedentary it appears that we are getting a benefit.
  - pizza 10y ago
    Avoiding the teleological default misconception of "evolution means adding features to DNA," to boot.
- searine 10y ago
  You are assuming Hunter/Gatherers expend more energy than modern humans, which is not true (http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0040503 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....) Physical activity levels were also within a standard deviation of one another (between western and h/g populations). The brain evolved in similar conditions to modern man. I would argue current conditions are far better for the brain in terms of good nutrition and low disease. The effect in the OP was not selected for, it is likely a serendipitous biochemical interaction. Repair enzymes from one part of they also effecting another.
  - woodandsteel 10y ago
    As far as calories go, exercise doesn't have much impact. And maybe the Hunter/Gatherers are more efficient in their metabolisms. As far as exercise goes, maybe one standard deviation is enough to produce a brain effect. And maybe there is a lot of variation within modern populations, with many far enough below the average to have a significant effect. I find it really hard to believe that any healthy Hunter/Gatherers sit around all day like so many moderns do.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
foxxwinters 10y ago
There's interesting theories behind humans evolving as a distance running (endurance hunting) species, and brain size being required evolutionarily as a tracking mechanism (understanding footprints & getting in the prey's head to understand it's path). The two work in concert because fast prey escapes line of sight and gets mixed up with each other easily, so human endurance becomes much less useful if you can't follow & wear down the appropriate target. "Born to Run" is a fun summary/story about some of this science but there's more hard science out there too if you're interested.
aqwfgm 10y ago
Reason should be some kind of benefit. But honestly, I dont know, here are just some facts. You need to see the connection of systems. Neuromuscular connection of basal ganglia: central part of brain - neural pathway - muscle - and then feeling of movement going back to the brain through hypothalamus and to other areas - from hypothalamus it goes to brain like a shotgun fire. The more you do the same movement the more you fire up the same lines. In order to get faster and more effective movement you add additional channels for signal transport in neuronal connections {this happens through release of BDNF, which induces insertion of new channels, for faster transmission}. This molecule happen to influence formation of memory, survival of neurons and supress your desire to eat. There has been an article from 1998 about reduced cathepsin, which happens to reduce this BDNF. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9514826 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9514826) Sooo, again, I dont know, but this seems a bit like a side effect of firing up those circuits, because more or less the same way works memory formation (long-term memory potentiation). I would guess here plays a role effect of neigborhood - niche influencing neurons sitting next to those active pathways. BTW. Also movement should increase your bloodflow, waste created by neurons is now removed much faster, this should go the same for neurotrasmitters - molecules transmitting signal which just flow around and act as signal interference, thus removing part of interference and now you can fire clear signal.
jsprogrammer 10y ago
If you are being active, you probably want to be able to do more. Move easily, see things, predict ahead, etc. When you are not active, you don't need to be doing those things as much.
drawkbox 10y ago
A couple possible reasons: surviving to hunt, fighting/battle and celebration/training/building activities. If you have an elevated heart rate and exercising in the past that might mean going after food where you have to outwit, thus the brain needed to fuel/prepare for that. Additionally, exercise could be fighting, you might also need elevated brain performance during a battle for survival. It might also mean you are doing some work to get a system in place for food and providing that for others in the group. Exercising is probably tied to survival, nourishment and providing. The brain probably has a reward system because it can expend more energy if there is more to be had soon.
- mywittyname 10y ago
  Also, you're probably learning during that time. Think about how young animals play: they practice a lot of the skills they need to survive. It builds dexterity, coordination, reflexes and strength. Evolutionary speaking, those animals whose brains go into "extra learning mode" during exercise likely had a huge advantage over their peers whose brains didn't. Their brains picked up on skills related to hunting and survival and didn't waste energy building neural connections while they're sitting around not doing anything.
  - searine 10y ago
    You two are wildly speculating. The fact is that none of this greatly influences reproductive fitness, so it is unlikely to be acted on by evolution. The effect is likely just biochemical coincidence. Repair enzymes in one part of the body effecting another.
    - nazgul17 10y ago
      I agree that it is speculation, but the evolutionary advantage is pretty clear there: getting extra learning during fights increases your chances of survival in the next fight.
      - searine 10y ago
tn13 10y ago
> The connection between exercise and brain health has now been super conclusively and astonishingly shown, but what are some possible evolutionary reasons for this connection? Both physical activity and brain-health improve survival and a small group of people whose brain became healtheir with physical activity survived at a faster rate than others. Isn't it obvious ? I would assume exercise for early humans did not mean spending 30 minutes running for no reason. They probably spent that time running after a rabbit or running way with someone else's wife on his shoulder etc or tribes that kept well trained armies probably survived at a higher rate than tribes that relied on the Shaman to summon the dead.
ObeyTheGuts 10y ago
To me it is very obvious that physical activity = you are being active and will need more brain power to proccess all the activity, while being inactive means brain power will be energy waste. As only very recently u can do high intellect stuff like computer work while sitting.
stared 10y ago
Neurons evolved from muscles. After exercises muscles needs to be repaired (due to microdamages); it is not unreasonable that there is some positive side-effect for neurons as well.
rsync 10y ago
"The connection between exercise and brain health has now been super conclusively and astonishingly shown, but what are some possible evolutionary reasons for this connection?" Your question assumes that bodily health and brain health are separate and distinct things - as if we are mental beings that just happen to have bodies. Perhaps we should read the headline as "exercise releases body healthy protein" ... I doubt we'd consider that an evolutionary paradox. Probably these results should be considered ipso facto.

igorgue 10y ago

Why do we have an article saying basically the same thing every single week here? I get it, and I think everyone here has, exercise is good for you, in many ways, don't sit on your ass all day. I guess it's sad to see this becoming the "Good Morning America" of tech (not that we didn't have those ones already) or the ultra localized we-only-care-about-the-bay-area medium.

laxatives 10y ago
Because an enormous chunk of the population still refuses to exercise and/or diet and articles like this help motivate some of that subset.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  Or piss them off. Exercise is tiring and painful and time-consuming (especially if you count in after-exercise showers). Also, I don't like the whole culture around exercising and fitness. Gimme a damn pill or something. More seriously though, I really find no pleasure in exercise and would like to approach it in the most cost-effective way (i.e. maximum benefit for minimum time used). Any hints on exercise regime optimised for that? I heard weightlifting is good.
  - pc86 10y ago
    If you really want minimum time but still some benefit, taking a walk around the block 2-3 times a day is probably your best bet. But that's "fitness" in the same way the 15 year old with a pirated copy of Photoshop is "a graphic designer." I don't think anyone who has done weightlifting would say you can do it quickly or that it takes minimal time or effort.
    - TeMPOraL 10y ago
      I don't want to minimize time, I want to maximize the benefit/time ratio, where time includes maintenance expenses (like showering, getting to the gym) as well. I.e. if jogging every day for an hour provides X "fitness points", but you can also get those X "fitness points" by doing e.g. weightlifting 3 times a week, I prefer to go for the second option. It can be painful - I won't like it, but when I work out I don't do it for pleasure (which I generally never got from exercises); its means to an end. End being losing weight, keeping cognitive power at full capacity, living longer.

davnn 10y ago

Are there any studies on what kind of exercise, or what kind of intensity is most beneficial to overall or mental health? Edit: Got back to my laptop and did some research myself. Aerobic Exercise Training Increases Brain Volume in Aging Humans (and nonaerobic doesn't) -http://biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/61/11/1166.long http://biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/61/11/11... Findings show that although the more intense, motorized running exercise induced a rapid increase in BDNF, the elevation was more short-lived than with voluntary running. Suggests that longer, easier exercises might be more beneficial. - http://202.120.143.134/download/20090702135031_277199777813.pdf http://202.120.143.134/download/20090702135031_277199777813.... Exercise effects on executive function are not doseresponsive, meaning that better fitness does not necessarily lead to larger cognitive gains... physical activity levels that benefit cognition may not necessarily be as intense as those levels required to increase cardiovascular fitness. - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michelle_Ploughman/publication/23247248_Ploughman_M._Exercise_is_brain_food_the_effects_of_physical_activity_on_cognitive_function/links/0912f50b24e3bd11f6000000.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michelle_Ploughman/publ... neither duration (20 vs. 40 min) nor intensity (60 vs. 80% HR reserve) significantly affects the benefits of exercise if only the sBDNF increase at a single post-exercise time point is considered... -http://www.jssm.org/research.php?id=jssm-12-502.xml http://www.jssm.org/research.php?id=jssm-12-502.xml High intensity interval training evokes (slightly) larger serum BDNF levels compared to intense continuous exercise. - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nicole_Wenderoth/publication/282911637_High_intensity_interval_training_evokes_larger_serum_BDNF_levels_compared_to_intense_continuous_exercise/links/5649aa1508aef646e6d29ed1.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nicole_Wenderoth/public... This meta-analysis provides reliable evidence that both acute and regular exercise have a significant impact on BDNF levels. (but animal models show that these can be gone soon after you stop training) - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4314337/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4314337/ The effects of acute exercise on cognitive performance: A meta-analysis - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yu_Kai_Chang/publication/223962303_The_effects_of_acute_exercise_on_cognitive_performance_A_meta-analysis/links/56191a6308ae78721f9cfd3b.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yu_Kai_Chang/publicatio... I can recommend the meta-analysis (last link), data is unfortunately somewhat inconclusive. There are basically two theories, the inverted-U theory, stating that moderate exercise is most beneficial and the drive theory, stating that the largest effects will be achieved with the largest intensity. Chang et. al., however, conclude that: The size of the benefit is dependent upon a number of factors, but results indicate that benefits are larger for more fit individuals who perform the physical activity for 20 min or longer. The appropriate intensity depends upon the time of measurement — any intensity benefits cognitive performance during exercise, but lower intensities provide more benefit when the tests are performed immediately after exercise and higher intensities have more durable effects that can be observed even following a delay.

yarou 10y ago

Exercise also increases BDNF gene expression, which deficits of are implicated in depression and addiction.

tmaly 10y ago

I would be more interested in a discussion of the benefits of the different types of exercise. I see there is this sentiment about seeing the same type of exercise is good for you articles every week. Which types help lower cholestrol? Which types are best for the heart?

atmosx 10y ago
All of it. As long we're not talking extremes, all kind of aerobic exercise, is beneficial for both cholesterol (HDL), lowers triglycerides and it's (very) good for the heart. There are other beneficial side effects like: endorphins, high quality night sleep, bigger amount of oxygen reaches the entire body and the brain.
TillE 10y ago
> An average 40 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity aerobic activity 3 or 4 times per week http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/PhysicalActivity/FitnessBasics/American-Heart-Association-Recommendations-for-Physical-Activity-in-Adults_UCM_307976_Article.jsp http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/PhysicalActivity...

bronz 10y ago

well im surprised to be the first person in this thread to ask this question (if i am not mistaken) but what about supplementing the protein instead of working out?

pc86 10y ago
Does supplementing this protein cause the brain to absorb it at the same rate as exercise? Doesn't exercise increase the brain's ability to absorb certain chemicals (probably a bad way to phrase it, mentioned elsewhere on this page).
Shivetya 10y ago
well I would argue that other benefits of exercise cannot be simply ingested.
- bronz 10y ago
  a lot of people cant exercise though
  - jtuente 10y ago
    > a lot of people WONT exercise though Honestly, considering the overweight and obese population is growing we have a problem with systemic overeating that needs to be corrected first. It doesn't matter how much exercise you do if you eat more than you need.
    - delecti 10y ago
      Even if you grant that many overweight/obese people merely won't exercise, certainly at least some people can't exercise.
      - jschwartzi 10y ago
        The important question is how many people _can't_ exercise, and why, and what exercises have they tried?

uptownfunk 10y ago

If this is true, why are jocks commonly viewed as unintelligent?

Jweb_Guru 10y ago
Stereotypes aren't always accurate.
- Hydraulix989 10y ago
  Right, the runners on my track/cross country team in high school were all top 10 students. Also, Ivy League schools recruit heavily based on athletics, but they still hold their recruits to high academic standards.
lloyd-christmas 10y ago
High school jocks are different than fitness minded adults.
pcunite 10y ago
Drug abuse
Retra 10y ago
Every group is viewed as unintelligent by some other group.
jschwartzi 10y ago
Why are all fat people so dumb?
0xcde4c3db 10y ago
The social categorization of an activity as "intelligent" or "unintelligent" is based primarily on bullshit stereotypes (including classist, sexist, and racist ones). The actual level of intellectual engagement involved in the activity has hardly anything to do with it.

th0ma5 10y ago

I had heard that even a brief bit of HIIT has all of the benefits of longer exercise times... Does this refute that or give evidence in support of that?

etrautmann 10y ago
this particular research doesn't answer your question - though a followup study could
bitL 10y ago
It probably helps with some markers deemed important in competitive sports like VO2 max and won't help with others that aren't measured. With HIIT you significantly increase the risk of injury and/or death comparing to moderate longer exercise. You should only do it when your body doesn't gain much benefit from moderate ones. Try the popular Tabata sprints just once to understand the stress you are putting your body through (20 seconds all out effort sprint followed by 10 seconds pause, repeat 8 times).
- saiya-jin 10y ago
  Wait a minute, the part about injury/death is a bit ridiculous. With this logic, stay sedentary, no risk of injury/death from training ever, that's for sure. And never ever go to the mountains or dive! I do HIIT, with running uphill on treadmill (1 min sprint, 2 mins slow pace, increase inclination, repeat), but it's only one type of running I do (others are slowly increasing speed and inclination every 5 mins, and just circles in hilly park nearby). It's very effective, 'different' type than others (heart rate takes very long to come down for example). Definitely I feel my knees more after usual running on concrete in proper shoes rather than these treadmill sprints. If you don't challenge your body and put some pressure on muscles/joints/ligaments/cardiovascular system etc. it will never reach its potential. Would I do this if 60 years old? No. But I don't consider such blank statements true. If you don't want to do HIIT for whatever reason, that's your choice
  - bitL 10y ago
    You are probably in a good enough shape to benefit from HIIT. For usual couch potatoes it might not be the case; it would benefit them more to start with swimming/walking, then later running a bit and once they are somewhat in shape and have proper injury-avoiding practices, they can do HIIT.

googletron 10y ago

This is exactly the message we are trying to get across at Gyroscope. https://gyrosco.pe/myusuf3/2016/6/27/ https://gyrosco.pe/myusuf3/2016/6/27/ As you can see, me there playing sports that evening, super exciting and really keeps me focused. Granted hard to take me seriously, but we have some users like Tatiana have done some amazing stuff https://blog.gyrosco.pe/tatiana-b68f863333f9#.s6ugu6g65 https://blog.gyrosco.pe/tatiana-b68f863333f9#.s6ugu6g65

thoughtpeddler 10y ago
hm, seems like the bet is to get people that are not as scientifically well-versed to get into exercise through nice data visualization and fun shareable images of their exercise. probably has a higher likelihood of getting people to exercise instead of saying "cathespin B is good for you and here's why" people seem to be sharing their stuff
jameshk 10y ago
I'm a Gyroscope user and really enjoy it. It combines tracking from different sources well, making it easier to understand your day, and take action based on that.

cpdean 10y ago

pssh NICE TRY SCIENCE. You'll have to try a lot harder to trick me into exercising!

thehashrocket 10y ago

Does it have to be a treadmill? I mostly do the elliptical (ski whatever it's called) since i'm not much of a runner. Just curious if I need to take it up a notch or not.

saiya-jin 10y ago
not it can be also spinning, swimming (probably best since it's full body workout without joint stress) and so on. elliptical is actually pretty good full body exercise from what i heard, if you are happy with it keep doing it

nsxwolf 10y ago

"Brain-healthy"... that's the BS language you hear in commercials for vitamins and supplements and breakfast cereals... "Heart-healthy whole grains", "Supports breast health", etc.

mathattack 10y ago

There is a strange dichotomy here... I do believe that exercise helps thinking, but when I was growing up, very few of the smarter people were involved in sports, either formally or informally. Perhaps 1 in 20 was on a team, and few were that active otherwise. The link to drama and music was much bigger.

codyb 10y ago
Is it possible kids maintain a higher rate of metabolic activity just by growing thus offsetting some of the activity you don't see in children with above average intelligence?
- mathattack 10y ago
  It could be. Also could be a low sample size. :-)
ethanbond 10y ago
Probably because you're talking about academic success which is only loosely correlated to intelligence, and almost entirely not correlated to "brain health." "Brain health," as it's used in this article, would also contribute to coordination, muscle control, and various other things that would benefit athletes in ways that are totally opaque to you or me. The article doesn't say exercise makes you smarter, and even if it did, "smarter" is an awfully vague term.
- papapra 10y ago
  One more thing is emotional health, it's already pretty known that exercise helps with anxiety and depression. But I disagree about your assertion about intelligence, I think it plays a huge role in academic success.
  - ethanbond 10y ago
    There are plenty of people with above average intelligence who enjoy below average academic success, and inversely plenty of people with below average intelligence who enjoy above average academic success. This can happen for a variety of reasons: poverty, nutrition, "misaligned" interests, etc. Intelligence plays a role in that someone with an IQ of 80 probably isn't going to Stanford, but there are ostensibly plenty of people with IQs far above your average Stanford student who will never set foot in a university.

schappim 10y ago

For all the entrepreneurs wanting to bottle Cathepsin B (the "Brain-Healthy Protein"), unfortunately it has also been linked with tumour invasion and metastasis[1]. Further study is needed to know if the increase in Cathepsin B is a factor or simply correlation. [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14587299 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14587299

brahmwg 10y ago
That's assuming the unscrupulous spam artists pushing nootropics and smart-pills even care about the adverse effects of the ingredients they're selling. And most of their target consumers will be too wooed by the use of a scientific term like 'cathepsin-b' to bother with their own due diligence.
- pizza 10y ago
  Lebanese proverb - "If a rich man eats a snake, people call it wisdom; if a poor man does the same thing, people call it derangement."
  - nstj 10y ago
    English speaking equivalent: _"Wealthy people with quirks are called eccentric. Poor people are called crazy"_
    - greendestiny_re 10y ago
      Terry Pratchett's quote?

simonebrunozzi 10y ago

Latin: "Mens sana in corpore sano" (healthy mind in a healthy body).

samuell 10y ago

Related study from 2014, with more details on consequences, less on biological detail: "Regular exercise changes the brain to improve memory, thinking skills" http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/regular-exercise-changes-brain-improve-memory-thinking-skills-201404097110 http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/regular-exercise-changes-...

espeed 10y ago

John Ratey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ratey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ratey), the professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who wrote Driven to Distration, recently published a book called "Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain" (http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-Brain/dp/0316113506 http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-B...). Spark details how high-intensity cardio (like sprints or interval training) put your brain chemicals in balance in part by generating BDNF (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-derived_neurotrophic_factor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-derived_neurotrophic_fact...), which as Ratey describes, it's like "Miracle-gro" for the brain. Last year my stress levels were getting out of control from working too much. At the time I was running at least two miles every day so it's not like I wasn't exercising. But then one day I changed from running a couple miles to running 50-yard sprints, as fast and as hard as I could push myself. The first day I only ran four sprints, but I felt euphoric the rest of the day -- the best I had felt in years. So I tried it again a couple days later, and sure enough it worked again -- I felt amazing. So then I had to find out why this worked -- why a few sprints were so much more effective than running several miles. I started Googling and eventually found Ratey's book -- it explains the entire biochemical process of what's going on and why sprinting works. It's an eye-opening read. Each chapter covers how high-intensity cardio affects things like stress, anxiety, depression, ADHD. I have ADHD but haven't taken anything for it in years (since I was in college), and I can attest that sprints not only fixed by stress levels, but my ADHD symptoms were almost non existent. Here's a key point that Ratey makes throughout the book that completely changed my perspective on things -- he says that instead of thinking of exercise as something you should do to look good and build a healthy body, you should instead think of exercise as the key to building a healthy brain: "We all know that exercise makes us feel better, but most of us have no idea why. We assume its because we're burning off stress or reducing muscle tension or boosting endorphins, and we leave it at that. But the real reason we feel so good when we get our blood pumping is that it makes the brain function at its best" (http://www.sparkinglife.org http://www.sparkinglife.org). In the book's introduction he goes on to say, "Building muscles and conditioning the heart and lungs are essentially side effects. I often tell my patients that the point of exercise is to build and condition the brain." In fact the brain exercise routine he recommends is similar to a weight workout routine, in that you have to push yourself hard one day, and then take a day off to let your brain recover, just like in weight training. Another key is when you sprint, always put everything you have into it. Run as fast and as hard as you can so you are constantly pushing your body and your brain past their limitations -- this is the key to growth. Reposted from: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5323019 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5323019 (2013) Also see: "How exercise boosts brain health" (http://www.kurzweilai.net/how-exercise-boosts-brain-health http://www.kurzweilai.net/how-exercise-boosts-brain-health)