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Neurobiology of Exercise
Author(s) -
Dishman Rod K.,
Berthoud HansRudolf,
Booth Frank W.,
Cotman Carl W.,
Edgerton V. Reggie,
Fleshner Monika R.,
Gandevia Simon C.,
GomezPinilla Fernando,
Greenwood Benjamin N.,
Hillman Charles H.,
Kramer Arthur F.,
Levin Barry E.,
Moran Timothy H.,
RussoNeustadt Amelia A.,
Salamone John D.,
Hoomissen Jacqueline D.,
Wade Charles E.,
York David A.,
Zigmond Michael J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
obesity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.438
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1930-739X
pISSN - 1930-7381
DOI - 10.1038/oby.2006.46
Subject(s) - neuroscience , medicine , neurochemical , central nervous system , dementia , physical exercise , neuroplasticity , spinal cord injury , neurotrophic factors , neuroprotection , stroke (engine) , neurochemistry , cognition , disease , neurology , spinal cord , physical medicine and rehabilitation , psychology , physical therapy , mechanical engineering , receptor , engineering
Voluntary physical activity and exercise training can favorably influence brain plasticity by facilitating neurogenerative, neuroadaptive, and neuroprotective processes. At least some of the processes are mediated by neurotrophic factors. Motor skill training and regular exercise enhance executive functions of cognition and some types of learning, including motor learning in the spinal cord. These adaptations in the central nervous system have implications for the prevention and treatment of obesity, cancer, depression, the decline in cognition associated with aging, and neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's dementia, ischemic stroke, and head and spinal cord injury. Chronic voluntary physical activity also attenuates neural responses to stress in brain circuits responsible for regulating peripheral sympathetic activity, suggesting constraint on sympathetic responses to stress that could plausibly contribute to reductions in clinical disorders such as hypertension, heart failure, oxidative stress, and suppression of immunity. Mechanisms explaining these adaptations are not as yet known, but metabolic and neurochemical pathways among skeletal muscle, the spinal cord, and the brain offer plausible, testable mechanisms that might help explain effects of physical activity and exercise on the central nervous system.