Health
08 Aug 2017
Exercise in early life has long-lasting benefits
Frontiers in Physiology study demonstrates that exercise in early life counteracts some of the damaging effects of a high-fat diet.
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23 news posts in Physical activity
Neuroscience
24 Jul 2017
Elderly yoginis have greater cortical thickness
Elderly female yoga practitioners have greater cortical thickness in the left prefrontal cortex, suggesting that yoga may protect against cognitive decline.
Neuroscience
09 May 2017
Cycling while studying improves sleep quality
New research in Frontiers in Neuroscience suggests that cycling while studying may improve sleep quality.
Health
03 Mar 2017
Horse-riding can improve children’s cognitive ability
Study shows how the effects of horseback riding improve learning in children.
Neuroscience
13 Dec 2016
How physical exercises aids in stroke recovery
Engaging in voluntary physical exercise helps protect the brain from the damaging effects of a stroke, shown in mice. — By Tania Fitzgeorge-Balfour, Science Writer, Frontiersin.org The after-effects of a stroke can be life changing. Paralysis, speech problems and memory loss occur in varying degrees of severity, depending on the location and amount of brain tissue damage. How far a stroke patient can recover is largely determined by the ability of the brain to reorganize itself. Understanding what can improve this ability is therefore essential in developing the best therapies for rehabilitation. Voluntary physical exercise is known to have a positive effect on a person’s overall well-being. It delays memory loss in old age and improves cognitive ability. A new study, published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, has linked the positive effects of exercise on the brains of mice to their better recovery after a stroke. “Our study suggests that physical exercise can be used as a preventive, as well as a therapeutic approach to aid recovery after a cortical stroke,” says Dr. Evgenia Kalogeraki, who conducted this research at the in the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Siegrid Löwel, at Georg-August-University, Germany. Previous research of the Löwel […]
Health
05 Dec 2016
Healthy living equals better brain function
Research suggests feedback loop between greater executive function and healthy behavior
Health
12 Sep 2016
Eating your greens could enhance sport performance
By Fabienne Eckert, Frontiers Science Writer Nitrate supplementation in conjunction with Sprint Interval Training in low oxygen conditions could enhance sport performance a study has found. Researchers from the University of Leuven in Belgium carried out a study with twenty-seven moderately trained participants. These were given nitrate supplements ahead of Sprint Interval Training (SIT), which took the form of short but intense cycling sessions three times a week. Nitrate is commonly found in diets rich in leafy green foods, like spinach and is important for the functioning of the human body, especially during exercising. To assess differences in performance in different conditions, the study included workouts in normal oxygen conditions and in hypoxia conditions, which are low oxygen levels such as those found in high altitudes. The observations published in Frontiers in Physiology were unexpected: after only five weeks, the muscle fiber composition changed with the enhanced nitrate intake when training in low oxygen conditions. “This is probably the first study to demonstrate that a simple nutritional supplementation strategy, i.e. oral nitrate intake, can impact on training-induced changes in muscle fiber composition;” stated Professor Peter Hespel from the Athletic Performance Center at the University of Leuven. For athletes participating in […]
Health
18 Aug 2016
Just ten weeks of exercise can protect heart
— by Emily Barker, Frontiersin.org Just ten-weeks of exercise is nearly 100% effective at protecting the heart from potentially lethal changes in heart rhythms. Professor George Billman, Field Chief Editor of Frontiers in Physiology, works on preventing ventricular fibrillation, a very specific and potentially lethal change in cardiac rhythm, since 1980. In his current work, he has found that exercise could be the best non-pharmacological way to protect our hearts after sudden cardiac arrest. During ventricular fibrillation the heart does not beat in a coordinated fashion, instead it is a disorganized electrical event. “This is what you will see when they call a code blue and bring in a defibrillator to try to restore a cardiac rhythm,” he explained. The heart receives two sets of nerves, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. A change in cardiac rhythms can be found when there is high sympathetic activity and low parasympathetic activity. To find the best way to protect the heart, Prof. Billman and his research team induced animals with a sudden cardiac arrest. They then put some of the animals on a ten week training program. About 95% of those who exercised were protected at the end of the program, whereas the sedentary animals got worse over time. […]