Just like how a regular exercise routine can make your muscles stronger, it turns out that it can also give your brain a boost! A recent study investigated the effects of a 6-month endurance training program on brain perfusion in young sedentary adults. The study found that those who engaged in regular physical exercise experienced increased blood flow to specific regions of the brain, such as the right superior temporal gyrus and the ventral striatum. These increases in blood flow were associated with improvements in maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max), a measure of physical fitness. The findings suggest that exercise not only benefits our muscles and cardiovascular system, but it also has positive effects on our brain health. The researchers speculate that these changes in brain perfusion may be due to physical exercise-induced vascular plasticity, or the ability of blood vessels in the brain to adapt and change in response to exercise. To learn more about how exercise can impact brain health and cognition, check out the full article!

Physical inactivity is documented as a health risk factor for chronic diseases, accelerated aging, and cognitive impairment. Physical exercise, on the other hand, plays an important role in healthy aging by promoting positive muscular, cardiovascular, and central nervous system adaptions. Prior studies on the effects of exercise training on cerebral perfusion have focused largely on elderly cohorts or patient cohorts, while perfusion effects of exercise training in young sedentary adults have not yet been fully assessed. Therefore, the present study examined the physiological consequence of a 6-month endurance exercise training on brain perfusion in 28 young sedentary adults randomly assigned to an intervention group (IG; regular physical exercise) or a control group (CG; without physical exercise). The IG performed an extensive running interval training three times per week over 6 months. Performance diagnostics and MRI were performed every 2 months, and training intensity was adapted individually. Brain perfusion measurements with pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling were analyzed using the standard Oxford ASL pipeline. A significant interaction effect between the group and time was found for the right superior temporal gyrus (STG) perfusion, driven by an increase in the IG and a decrease in the CG. Furthermore, a significant time effect was observed in the right middle occipital region in the IG only. Perfusion increases in the right STG, in the ventral striatum, and in the primary motor areas and was significantly associated with increases in maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max). Overall, this study identified region-specific increases in local perfusion in a cohort of young adults that partly correlated with individual performance increases, hence, suggesting exercise dose dependency. Respective adaptations in brain perfusion are discussed in the context of physical exercise-induced vascular plasticity.

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