From Science Daily:
Exercise clears the mind. It gets the blood pumping and more oxygen is delivered to the brain. This is familiar territory, but Dartmouth’s David Bucci thinks there is much more going on.
“In the last several years there have been data suggesting that neurobiological changes are happening — [there are] very brain-specific mechanisms at work here,” says Bucci, an associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.
From his studies, Bucci and his collaborators have revealed important new findings:
The effects of exercise are different on memory as well as on the brain, depending on whether the exerciser is an adolescent or an adult.
A gene has been identified which seems to mediate the degree to which exercise has a beneficial effect. This has implications for the potential use of exercise as an intervention for mental illness.
- Dartmouth researchers are learning how exercise affects the brain (eurekalert.org)
- This Is Your Child’s Brain on Exercise; How to Make Schools Healthier (theatlanticwire.com)
- Exercise and the Brain – A Scientific Summary (expsychlab.com)
- Brain Health (innerenginefitness.com)