Body exercises and movements may increase brain function and subsequent learning in people of all ages. Your brain learns by interacting with the surrounding world through perception, stimulation and physical actions. Exercise may enhance parts of your brain involved in cognitive, or intellectual abilities, such as memory and reasoning. Increasing your daily physical activities may promote learning skills, such as acquiring new vocabulary words, and help prevent age-related cognitive decline.
Brain Factors
Your brain and body work in conjunction to build new neurons, or cells, which transmit learning information to other neurons. Neurons communicate across narrow spaces, called synapses, through the use of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. Low levels of neurotransmitters, such as acetylcholine and dopamine -- along with weak synapses -- prohibit the transfer of brain messages required for learning. The movement produced by exercise builds learning molecules, called growth factors, which are propelled by neurons and the flow of neurotransmitters across a synapse, according to neurobiology specialist Dr. Bernard J. Baars. Growth factors, such as neurotropins, help maintain your cognitive abilities, keep your synapses healthy, promote the growth of new neurons and aid in blood vessel function.
Involved Regions
Movement may activate several regions your brain involved in memory and learning. Increased neurogenesis, or neuron production, is associated with improved cognitive skills, and exercise greatly stimulates neurogenesis, according to neuroscientist Henriette van Praag in the May 2009 edition of the journal, "Trends in Neurosciences." Exercise stimulates the hippocampus -- a region in the brain highly associated with memory and learning -- to produce a multitude of new neurons. In addition, scientific observations of aerobically fit, elderly subjects, when compared to sedentary subjects, indicate that the cerebrum -- which plays a key role in memory, intelligence and language -- exhibits an increase in volume after physical activity.
Vocabulary Skills
High-intensity exercises may help improve your vocabulary. Research published in the May 2007 edition of the journal, "Neurobiology of Learning and Memory" assessed the effects of exercise on the vocabulary skills of 27 healthy subjects. Participants completed sprints, low-impact aerobic running or a period of rest. After participating in high-intensity sprints, subjects learned new vocabulary words 20 percent faster than after low-impact running or resting. Researchers also noted that neurotransmitters and growth factors appeared to play a role in the relationship between exercise and improved learning.
Cognitive Decline
Physical activities may help prevent cognitive decline in older individuals. A study published in the journal, "Archives of Internal Medicine" measured the effects of physical activity on cognitive decline in 5,925 women of age 65 or older over an eight-year period. Women who walked the most -- 17 miles per week -- had a 17 percent decline in cognitive functioning. Whereas, women who walked the least, only a 1/2 mile per week, experienced a mental decline of 24 percent. Also, every extra mile walked per week yielded a 13 percent less risk of cognitive decline, according to study author Dr. Kristine Yaffe.
References
- The Franklin Institute Online; The Human Brain; 2004
- "Trends in Neurosciences"; Exercise and the Brain: Something to Chew On; Henriette van Praag, Ph.D.; May 2009
- "Cognition, Brain, and Consciousness: Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience"; Bernard J. Baars, Ph.D., et al.; 2010
- "Neurobiology of Learning and Memory"; High Impact Running Improves Learning; B. Winter, et al.; May 2007
- "Archives of Internal Medicine"; A Prospective Study of Physical Activity and Cognitive Decline in Elderly Women: Women Who Walk; Kristine Yaffe, M.D., et al.; July 2001
