Exercise Gives Aging Brains a Boost

A new study confirms that exercise can reverse the age-related decline in the production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus of the mouse brain, and suggests that this happens because exercise restores a brain chemical that promotes the production and maturation of new stem cells.

Neural stem cells and progenitor cells differentiate into a variety of mature nerve cells that have different functions, a process called neurogenesis. There is evidence that when fewer new stem or progenitor cells are produced in the hippocampus, it can result in impairment of the learning and memory functions. The hippocampus plays an important role in memory and learning.

As expected, the study found that neurogenesis drops off sharply in middle-aged mice, but exercise significantly slows down the loss of new nerve cells. They found that production of neural stem cells improved by approximately 200% compared to the middle-aged mice that did not exercise.

In addition, the survival of new nerve cells increased by 170% and growth by 190% compared to the sedentary middle-aged mice. Exercise also significantly enhanced stem cell production and maturation in the young mice.