ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The Effects Of Aerobic Exercise On The Brain By Age And Gender

Updated on June 10, 2016
Patty Inglish, MS profile image

In many ways, music saved my life, and I have the most famous director of the USMC bands to thank for it!

Source

The Hippocampus Of The Brain

Maintaining And Regulating Brain Functions

The hippocampus is a portion of the brain that is positioned in the forebrain under the cerebral cortex. It is instrumental for regulating memory and emotion, which are thereby related.

The hippocampus is also a part of the olfactory cortex, a part of the cerebral cortex that is vital to the sense of smell -- This is why aromas often bring back memories.

Emotions, aromas, and memory are all interrelated and aerobic exercise can aide the brain in staying healthy, especially in the brain parts that regulate these elements.

Location Of The Hippocampus

The hippocampus is important to memory and shrinks in later adulthood if aeorbic exercise is not used regularly.
The hippocampus is important to memory and shrinks in later adulthood if aeorbic exercise is not used regularly. | Source

Oxygen and Health

Exercise promoter Susan Powter taught her fitness audiences that you have to eat, you have to move, and you have to breath - and this is the truth.

Proper fuel in nutrition, aerobic exercise, and breathing properly together supply the human body with better health than junk food, sedentary lifestyle, and shallow breathing on the couch in front of TV or video game.

Oxygen is a miracle cure when applied in HBOT, Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment. Wounds heal faster and more completely and endless positive results for a range of conditions receptive to HBOT shows what oxygen can do for health.

Some cases of ADD/ADHD include a factor that causes a lack of sufficient oxygen to parts of the brain in male children and youth. Without this adequate O2, the brain is less effective in helping the subject does to exert self control or self mastery.

I have found in teaching and coaching, that aerobic exercise can produce results in the first month to six weeks of continued training. Specifically. children and youth in grades 3 - 12 become calmer, more focused, better able to concentrate and attend, and more able to problem solve. Adults receive many of the same benefits.


Click thumbnail to view full-size
Human Neurons represented by fractal patterns.Network of Neurons.
Human Neurons represented by fractal patterns.
Human Neurons represented by fractal patterns. | Source
Network of Neurons.
Network of Neurons. | Source

Exercise And Oxygen

Source

Important Best Research For Brain-Body Function

Exercise, particularly aerobic exercise, can enhance many physical and emotional functions of the human body. The brain and full central nervous system are affected importantly by aerobic exercise, which can increase cognitive function and fight the dimentias and mood disorders. It can counteract many of the symptoms of aging. Most importantly:

  • Regular aerobic exercise ensures that its benefits continue for up to 1 to 3 weeks after the last session, even if the exercise routine be interrupted.
  • Aerobic exercise is cost-free and can reduce healthcare costs in an ongoing preventive manner. It is vital for all ages, as long recognized by the Chinese and adopted increasingly in the West.

Some of the most recent research that supports decades of findings and theories include the following reports with my own summaries:

Aerobic Exercise for New Brain Cells and Cognitive Performance

Effects Of Aerobic Exercise In Children and Youth

February 2011

"Aerobic Fitness and Executive Control of Relational Memory in Preadolescent Children." Authors: Chaddock, Laura; Hillman, Charles H.; Buck, Sarah M.; Cohen, Neal J. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, February 2011; Volume 43, Issue 2; pp. 344-349.

Children with lower levels of aerobic fitness demonstrate poorer recognition memory in relational coding (related items) than do children that are more aerobically fit. There was no relationship between aerobic fitness and recognition for faces and houses individually.

Human adult studies, child studies, and animal studies all show that aerobic exercise positively affects both prefrontal executive control (decision-making and similar selective tasks) and hippocampus functioning.

January 2008

"Science and society: Be smart, exercise your heart: exercise effects on brain and cognition." Authors: Charles H. Hillman, Kirk I. Erickson, and Arthur F. Kramer. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, January 2008; pp 58-65.

Medical, psychological, and educational research of many years' duration shows that physical activity and aerobic exercise enhance the selective tasks that can be performed within the brain.

Sedentary lifestyle among children in industrialized nations is a primary cause of obesity, but exercise can help improve physical health and academic performance.

Consistent aerobic exercise long-term can favorably impact brain functioning at the molecular, cellular, systems, and behavioral levels.

Effects Of Aerobic Exercise In Senior Citizens

December 2010

"Exercise training increases size of the brain's hippocampus and improves memory." PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Authors: Kirk I. Erickson, Michelle W. Voss, Ruchika Shaurya Prakashd, et. al. Article approved December 30, 2010.

  • The hippocampus is an area of the brain that shrinks in late adulthood.
  • This shrinkage results in an impaired memory and a heightened risk for the dementias.

In a controlled study of 120 senior citizens, a schedule of aerobic exercise increased the size of the anterior hippocampus. This resulted in improved spatial memory among the treatment group.

The exercise increased the volume of the hippocampus 2% on average and this increase significantly reversed the shrinkage resulting during aging. The average volume of the hippocampus among the control group (those who received no exercise) became even smaller than previous to the study. However, a higher level of physical fitness before the study helped to prevent some of the shrinkage among the control group. Therefore, better physical fitness seemed to prevent a measure of shrinkage even in the control group.

Results of the study show that consistent aerobic exercise reverses hippocampus shrinkage and prevents memory loss in senior citizens. This has implications for preventing dementias.

January 2010

"Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Controlled Trial." Archives of Neurology, January 2010; Volume 67, Number 1; p 71. Authors: Laura D. Baker et al.

Six months of intense aerobic exercise affected men and women of an average age of 70 differently in cognition, glucose metabolism, and other bodily functions.

In older women, aerobic exercise improved executive function (decisions, selective tasks) and reduced fasting plasma levels of insulin, cortisol, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF protein).

Among older men, aerobic exercise increased plasma levels of insulin-like growth factor and had little or no cognitive effect.

Aerobic exercise thus far seems to benefit the brains of female senior citizens more than those of senior men.

Positive Findings For All Ages

2009

"Exercise: Optimizing Function and Survival at the Cellular Level." Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, 2009; pp 133-138. Author: A. Russo-Neustadt.

  • Exercise, especially aerobic exercise, produces many health benefits to the CNS and can reduce the number of cases of dementia and mood disorders seen.
  • Regular aerobic activity improves cognitive and emotional functions at the cellular level and improves recovery in injuries to the brain and spinal cord.
  • Aerobic exercise is vital in maintaining brain health across the lifespan.

Source

Exercise Your Body, Exercise Your Brain

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
Exercise increases brain function and this book explains that concept and process very well. At the same time, it is a simple message - the body and the brain function together and each can enhance the other, but the body must move.
 
Click thumbnail to view full-size
Source
Source
Source

© 2011 Patty Inglish MS

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)