According to a new study, just six minutes of high-intensity exercise could extend the lifespan of a healthy brain and delay the onset of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The research found that a short but intense bout of cycling increases the production of a protein that is essential for brain formation, learning, and memory, and could protect the brain from age-related cognitive decline.
Lead author Travis Gibbons from University of Otago, New Zealand said, “BDNF has shown great promise in animal models, but pharmaceutical interventions have thus far failed to safely harness the protective power of BDNF in humans. We saw the need to explore non-pharmacological approaches that can preserve the brain’s capacity which humans can use to naturally increase BDNF to help with healthy aging.
The observed increase in BDNF during exercise could be due to the increased number of platelets which store large amounts of BDNF. The concentration of platelets circulating in the blood is more heavily influenced by exercise than fasting and increases by 20%.