Aerobic exercise and brain health after brain injury

When we think about the benefits of exercise on the body, most of us can come up with several examples such as improved muscle strength, reduced body weight, or a stronger heart. What research is beginning to show is that exercise benefits brain integrity. This concept is not new.

Ramon Y Cajal, Spanish scientist and Nobel prize winner in 1906, (sum­ma­riz­ing the main con­clu­sions of his paper on Gen­eral Con­sid­er­a­tions on the Mor­phol­ogy of the Nerve Cell in 1894) said that “intel­lec­tual power, and its most noble expres­sions, tal­ent and genius, do not depend on the size or num­ber of cere­bral neu­rons, but on the rich­ness of their con­nec­tive pro­ce­sses, or in other words on the com­plex­ity of the asso­ci­a­tion path­ways to short and long distances…Adaptation and pro­fes­sional dex­ter­ity, or rather the per­fect­ing of func­tion by exer­cise (phys­i­cal edu­ca­tion, speech, writ­ing, piano-playing, mas­tery in fenc­ing, and other activ­i­ties) were explained by either a pro­gres­sive thick­en­ing of the ner­vous path­ways … excited by the pas­sage of the impulse or the for­ma­tion of new cell processes (non-congenital growth of new den­drites and exten­sion and branch­ing of axone col­lat­er­als) capa­ble of improv­ing the suit­abil­ity and the exten­sion of the con­tacts, and even of mak­ing entirely new con­nec­tions between neu­rons prim­i­tively independent”. (Note: Read this passage at least 4 times-it is packed with much important content)

Even 125 years ago, Cajal was able to study connections between neurons and observed that these connections could change as a result of a stimulus. He proposed that exercise contributed to the richness of neuronal connections which was responsible for learning, “perfecting” and adaptation.  The difference today is that we have fine-tuned measurement of cells and molecules such that we can determine what events or processes are actually happening inside the brain as a result of exercise. Indeed, “doing” or “exercising” seems to be critical to a healthy brain. More to come on this topic….

“The brain cannot stand like a monument, and maintain its integrity.”                    

William Henry Day (from Headaches; their Nature, Causes, and Treatment, 1880)

Brain Health in general, Brain Injury and Recovery, Ways to promote recovery

aerobic, angiogenesis, brain health, brain recovery, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, Cajal, exercise, insulin-like growth factor, neurogenesis, neuroplasticity, neurotrophin

27/02/2012

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