9 ms·

How exercise could lead to a better brain

92 points by epenn 14y ago

rollypolly 14y ago
A recent study of the brains of elderly mice, for instance, found 117 genes that were expressed differently in the brains of animals that began a program of running, compared with those that remained sedentary That's really interesting. I thought exercise just made me healthier now. I didn't know it actually might be altering my genes. If this result applies to humans, then my exercising will also benefit my descendents!
- SamReidHughes 14y ago
  It's affecting gene expression, not genes.
  - agentgt 14y ago
    There was a scientific america article (I know not exactly "science") that showed how gene expression could in fact affect future offspring mainly through nurture. I believe the study was obese mice parents through gene expression would lead to obese mice children. However they believe this was caused through nurture.
    - SamReidHughes 14y ago
      IANAB but I wouldn't be completely surprised if the gene expression of an egg or sperm cell or fetus depended on the conditions of the parent. (I wouldn't be surprised otherwise, if sperm and egg cells are designed to be as independent as possible from the parent.) It might not be gene expression in particular, after all, drug use affects babies, so why not obesity? Of course we were originally talking about gene expression within brains.
    - pazimzadeh 14y ago
      Yes, those obese mice are called Agouti mice, and the concept overall is called epigenetics. The ON/OFF state of genes can be changed through diet, nurture, and more. For example, if you do not eat very nutritious food you might not have enough methyl groups to methylate (turn OFF) some of the genes that are currently ON but should naturally switch. http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/obesity-epigenetics-and-gene-regulation-927 http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/obesity-epigenetics... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics
    - xaa 14y ago
      "epigenetic inheritance". Another example: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7373/full/nature10572.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7373/full/nature1...
  - gregable 14y ago
    This is correct, so it's not likely inherited (though we don't completely understand everything about inheritance such as the possible inheritance of miRNA). If you think of DNA as code, genes as specific programs, you can think of expression as how often those programs are run. "Running" in this sense means that the gene is copied to messenger RNA and send to the ribosome to synthesize proteins. Those proteins start as long chains like the dna/rna but immediately fold into complex shapes with unique properties that do various interesting things in the cell.
- raamdev 14y ago
  It's called Epigenetics; our environment actually influences which genes turn on and off: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1952313,00.html http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1952313,00....
- pyrogyn 14y ago
  That's called "Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics", and it doesn't quite work that way. The more you know! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inheritance_of_acquired_characteristics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inheritance_of_acquired_charact...
  - carbocation 14y ago
    Agreed about strict Lamarckism; however, also consider: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgenerational_epigenetics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgenerational_epigenetics
donnaware 14y ago
Exercise is how I de-frag my brain. It really is like that, I stop thinking while I am running, all I think about is breathing and the sound of my feet. Later, seemingly difficult problems are easier to figure out. I think it is a zen like way to give your brain time to re-organize.
bo1024 14y ago
In my own (somewhat humble) opinion, articles like these get the headline and angle completely wrong. It's backwards. Animals' natural state, including humans', is lots of exercise. This is the default; it is what our bodies and brains are adapted to doing.[-] A result like this demonstrates that a lack of exercise is harmful. Failure to exercise inhibits the brain from functioning properly as it is adapted to doing. [-] "Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution." -- Dobzhansky
- ajslater 14y ago
  This occurs with dietary reporting too. Deficiencies in a population are reported as if alleviating the deficiency is an unnatural enhancement. I'm glad you mentioned this.
  - johnchristopher 14y ago
    Pardon me if I don't grasp the meaning of this sentence. What is the link between deficiencies in a given population and its reporting and how does it relate with unnatural enhancement ? Do you mean deficiencies shouldn't be reported or taken into account because the solutions (ie: eat better) to these situations are unnatural enhancements (dietary supplements, daily fixed and predictable food input, etc.) ?
- Andrew_Quentin 14y ago
  Surely we are still evolving. Since civilization started, therefore we stopped running around or did less running, more than 100 if not perhaps 1000 if not even more generations have passed. During that time, we were evolving, thus adapting to the environment of a civilisation and moving away from the hunter gather running environment. Rats do not have a civilisation. Humans do. Rats may need running, humans might not. For humans, demanding intellectual work may be better or just as good as running as far as cognition is concerned.
tomjen3 14y ago
Interesting, but it won't matter in the grand scheme of things because people will not waste the time it takes to exercise daily. If the researchers figured out how to get the benefits of exercise, which are supposedly awesome, then maybe it matters. In fact I don't see why we fund any other exercise related research, or even most other health research at all until the exercise pill has been approved. Aside from the cure for cancer that is basically the only problem we have left worth worrying about.
- spodek 14y ago
  "people will not waste the time it takes to exercise daily" If you consider it waste you won't do it. As for me, I love the benefits of exercise and the experience of doing it. I exercise every day, twice a day, only a few minutes, but burpees, which are intense. What benefits? - Discipline in all other areas of life - Connecting with others who exercise - Stable appetite - Focus - Easy to fall asleep and wake up - A body that doesn't get winded and girls comment on with attraction - According to the article my brain develops too I also know not to waste time talking to people who consider exercise a waste of time. We have different values. How I got started: http://joshuaspodek.com/how-begin-workout-routine http://joshuaspodek.com/how-begin-workout-routine My exercise: http://joshuaspodek.com/knew-minute-day-workout http://joshuaspodek.com/knew-minute-day-workout (I do fifteen every morning and evening, plus I'm starting to do stretches in the morning). Some benefits: http://joshuaspodek.com/more-on-burpees http://joshuaspodek.com/more-on-burpees Folks, don't wait for an "exercise pill." You can enjoy exercise and all the benefits that come with it.
  - Tenoke 14y ago
    You are obviously making up this benefit: "I also know not to waste time talking to people who consider exercise a waste of time. We have different values." since you've obviously wasted a significant amount of time writing this relatively lengthy comment as a response to someone who considers exercise a waste of time..
    - spodek 14y ago
GigabyteCoin 14y ago
Or is it that people with a better brain like to exercise?
- seanpreston 14y ago
  It's probably self-reinforcing. The more you exercise the better your brain gets. The better your brain gets the more you exercise.
- wanderingstan 14y ago
  The article specifically eliminates this possibility. The mice in the study had no choice as to what group they would be in, so there was no self-selection effect.

92 points by epenn 14y ago

A recent study of the brains of elderly mice, for instance, found 117 genes that were expressed differently in the brains of animals that began a program of running, compared with those that remained sedentary That's really interesting. I thought exercise just made me healthier now. I didn't know it actually might be altering my genes. If this result applies to humans, then my exercising will also benefit my descendents!

SamReidHughes 14y ago
It's affecting gene expression, not genes.
- agentgt 14y ago
  There was a scientific america article (I know not exactly "science") that showed how gene expression could in fact affect future offspring mainly through nurture. I believe the study was obese mice parents through gene expression would lead to obese mice children. However they believe this was caused through nurture.
  - SamReidHughes 14y ago
    IANAB but I wouldn't be completely surprised if the gene expression of an egg or sperm cell or fetus depended on the conditions of the parent. (I wouldn't be surprised otherwise, if sperm and egg cells are designed to be as independent as possible from the parent.) It might not be gene expression in particular, after all, drug use affects babies, so why not obesity? Of course we were originally talking about gene expression within brains.
  - pazimzadeh 14y ago
    Yes, those obese mice are called Agouti mice, and the concept overall is called epigenetics. The ON/OFF state of genes can be changed through diet, nurture, and more. For example, if you do not eat very nutritious food you might not have enough methyl groups to methylate (turn OFF) some of the genes that are currently ON but should naturally switch. http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/obesity-epigenetics-and-gene-regulation-927 http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/obesity-epigenetics... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics
  - xaa 14y ago
    "epigenetic inheritance". Another example: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7373/full/nature10572.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7373/full/nature1...
- gregable 14y ago
  This is correct, so it's not likely inherited (though we don't completely understand everything about inheritance such as the possible inheritance of miRNA). If you think of DNA as code, genes as specific programs, you can think of expression as how often those programs are run. "Running" in this sense means that the gene is copied to messenger RNA and send to the ribosome to synthesize proteins. Those proteins start as long chains like the dna/rna but immediately fold into complex shapes with unique properties that do various interesting things in the cell.
raamdev 14y ago
It's called Epigenetics; our environment actually influences which genes turn on and off: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1952313,00.html http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1952313,00....
pyrogyn 14y ago
That's called "Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics", and it doesn't quite work that way. The more you know! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inheritance_of_acquired_characteristics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inheritance_of_acquired_charact...
- carbocation 14y ago
  Agreed about strict Lamarckism; however, also consider: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgenerational_epigenetics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgenerational_epigenetics

donnaware 14y ago

Exercise is how I de-frag my brain. It really is like that, I stop thinking while I am running, all I think about is breathing and the sound of my feet. Later, seemingly difficult problems are easier to figure out. I think it is a zen like way to give your brain time to re-organize.

bo1024 14y ago

In my own (somewhat humble) opinion, articles like these get the headline and angle completely wrong. It's backwards. Animals' natural state, including humans', is lots of exercise. This is the default; it is what our bodies and brains are adapted to doing.[-] A result like this demonstrates that a lack of exercise is harmful. Failure to exercise inhibits the brain from functioning properly as it is adapted to doing. [-] "Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution." -- Dobzhansky

ajslater 14y ago
This occurs with dietary reporting too. Deficiencies in a population are reported as if alleviating the deficiency is an unnatural enhancement. I'm glad you mentioned this.
- johnchristopher 14y ago
  Pardon me if I don't grasp the meaning of this sentence. What is the link between deficiencies in a given population and its reporting and how does it relate with unnatural enhancement ? Do you mean deficiencies shouldn't be reported or taken into account because the solutions (ie: eat better) to these situations are unnatural enhancements (dietary supplements, daily fixed and predictable food input, etc.) ?
Andrew_Quentin 14y ago
Surely we are still evolving. Since civilization started, therefore we stopped running around or did less running, more than 100 if not perhaps 1000 if not even more generations have passed. During that time, we were evolving, thus adapting to the environment of a civilisation and moving away from the hunter gather running environment. Rats do not have a civilisation. Humans do. Rats may need running, humans might not. For humans, demanding intellectual work may be better or just as good as running as far as cognition is concerned.

tomjen3 14y ago

Interesting, but it won't matter in the grand scheme of things because people will not waste the time it takes to exercise daily. If the researchers figured out how to get the benefits of exercise, which are supposedly awesome, then maybe it matters. In fact I don't see why we fund any other exercise related research, or even most other health research at all until the exercise pill has been approved. Aside from the cure for cancer that is basically the only problem we have left worth worrying about.

spodek 14y ago
"people will not waste the time it takes to exercise daily" If you consider it waste you won't do it. As for me, I love the benefits of exercise and the experience of doing it. I exercise every day, twice a day, only a few minutes, but burpees, which are intense. What benefits? - Discipline in all other areas of life - Connecting with others who exercise - Stable appetite - Focus - Easy to fall asleep and wake up - A body that doesn't get winded and girls comment on with attraction - According to the article my brain develops too I also know not to waste time talking to people who consider exercise a waste of time. We have different values. How I got started: http://joshuaspodek.com/how-begin-workout-routine http://joshuaspodek.com/how-begin-workout-routine My exercise: http://joshuaspodek.com/knew-minute-day-workout http://joshuaspodek.com/knew-minute-day-workout (I do fifteen every morning and evening, plus I'm starting to do stretches in the morning). Some benefits: http://joshuaspodek.com/more-on-burpees http://joshuaspodek.com/more-on-burpees Folks, don't wait for an "exercise pill." You can enjoy exercise and all the benefits that come with it.
- Tenoke 14y ago
  You are obviously making up this benefit: "I also know not to waste time talking to people who consider exercise a waste of time. We have different values." since you've obviously wasted a significant amount of time writing this relatively lengthy comment as a response to someone who considers exercise a waste of time..
  - spodek 14y ago

GigabyteCoin 14y ago

Or is it that people with a better brain like to exercise?

seanpreston 14y ago
It's probably self-reinforcing. The more you exercise the better your brain gets. The better your brain gets the more you exercise.
wanderingstan 14y ago
The article specifically eliminates this possibility. The mice in the study had no choice as to what group they would be in, so there was no self-selection effect.