Unit5-Aerobic Exercise and Brain Health

The disease-fighting, weight-controlling benefits of physical exercise, especially aerobic exercise, have long been known.

What does "aerobic" mean?

• relating to energetic exercise

• damaged or weakened

• the group of small animals that includes mice and rats

• the loss of intellectual functioning of the brain

Physical exercise has a powerful effect on brain health, and the benefits go beyond the release of endorphins, the chemical in the brain that improves mood.

What does "mood" mean?

• a feeling, a state of mind

• a large amount of something in the same place

• a disease or illness

• total amount available

Exercise affects the brain's plasticity-that is, its  ability  to  reorganize itself-and can reduce  the age-associated loss of brain tissue that decreases cognition in the elderly and in those who have disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

What does "cognition" mean?

• a disease or illness

• the use of mental processes

• the situation of becoming worse

• a large amount of something in the same place

Exercise affects the brain's plasticity-that is, its ability  to  reorganize itself-and can reduce  the age-associated loss of brain tissue that decreases cognition in the elderly and in those who have disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

What does "disorder" mean?

• a feeling, a state of mind

• a large amount of something in the same place

• a disease or illness

• the loss of intellectual functioning of the brain

Recent studies have found that exercise activates a number of factors in the brain, including a protein known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), that stimulate  the growth and development of brain cells.

What does "stimulate" mean?

• to work against

• to show

• to identify an illness

•  

  to cause a response

BDNF regulates the production of synapses, the connections between neurons that are essential for transmitting signals from one nerve cell to the next, and may also be involved in producing new nerve cells.

What does "regulate" mean?

• to show

• to work against

• to prevent

• to control

Using rodent models, researchers found increased concentrations of BDNF in the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in learning and memory and associated with dementia, after only one week of regular exercise.

What does "concentration" mean?

• the loss of intellectual functioning of the brain

• a disease or illness

• a feeling, a state of mind

• a large amount of something in the same place

Using rodent models, researchers found increased concentrations of BDNF in the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in learning and memory and associated with dementia, after only one week of regular exercise.

What does "rodent" mean?

• a large amount of something in the same place

• a disease or illness

• the loss of intellectual functioning of the brain

• the group of small animals that includes mice and rats

Using rodent models, researchers found increased concentrations of BDNF in the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in learning and memory and associated with dementia, after only one week of regular exercise.

What does "dementia" mean?

• seriousness

• the group of small animals that includes mice and rats

• connection

• the loss of intellectual functioning of the brain

A study in older humans found a correlation between aerobic fitness, the size of the hippocampus, and performance on spatial memory tests. Other human studies noted that aerobic exercise increased the volume of gray matter in some parts of the brain.

What does "spatial" mean?

• the loss of intellectual functioning of the brain

• a disease or illness

• a large amount of something in the same place

• of or relating to space