Brain Mentally fit through endurance sports

The human brain benefits as much from endurance sports as the body

19/12/2014

Sport is not only good for the body but also for the brain. Norbert Smetak from the Association of Registered Cardiologists points to a recent study in conversation with the news agency „dpa“ out. According to this, mental fitness depends, among other things, on the circulation and associated oxygenation of the brain, which is significantly improved by endurance sports.

Endurance sports makes blood vessels more elastic and promotes oxygenation of the brain
Regular endurance sports not only increase physical fitness. The brain and thus the cognitive ability also benefit from the movement. Smetak refers to a study that suggests that athletic-active people aged 55 to 75 have a more elastic aorta and perform better on cognitive testing than unsportsmanlike individuals. According to the expert, the blood vessels would stiffen with age, which is the first thing in the aorta, which, among other things, the brain with blood. The stiffer and inelastic the blood vessel, the less blood is transported with oxygen to the brain. As a result, the oxygen supply deteriorates and the cognitive abilities decrease.

Endurance sport helps to maintain the elasticity of the vessels so that the brain is better supplied with oxygen. But Smetak also points out that other causes may also be responsible for the decline in mental capacity of older people.

Sport slows down the breakdown of dopamine and in this way promotes mental abilities
Another theory concerns the hormone balance. Regular physical activity leads to a slowing down of the messenger substance dopamine, which not only functions as the body's own mood lightener, but is also required for essential cognitive processes in the prefrontal cortex (part of the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex). When the level of dopamine falls, mental abilities, such as attention and concentration, decrease at the same time. (Ag)