practice a healthy eating and physical exercise are the two fundamental stones to protect the brain from this sicknessguaranteeing a higher quality of life and autonomy in case of suffering it, which is very important to take into account in countries like Spain, where life expectancy It is growing.
BDNF: the key against Alzheimer’s
BDNF, the English abbreviation for brain-derived neurotrophic factorwhich is a protein that acts as an element of growth of the family of neurotrophins, associated with nerve growth compound in the brain.
brain
Max Delson Martins Santos
“BDNF has been shown promising in animal models, but pharmacological interventions they have failed to realize their potential brain shield safely on humans” says Travis Gibbons, lead author of the study. For this reason, “we explored new non-pharmacological approachescapable of preserving the ability of the human brain to increase naturally the production of BDNF and being able to experience an ehealthy aging”.
Prevent Alzheimer’s: the essential six minutes a day
as a way of enhance BDNF productionthe useful protein to fight this disease, it would suffice with perform a short six minute session of exercise of high intensity per day, for delay onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms, even though the disease has already manifested itself in patients. This is according to a recent study published in the journal The Journal of Physiology.
What does the exercise consist of?
A suggested exercise is practice cyclingsince it would increase the production of BDNF in a large percentage, since this protein promotes neuroplasticity and the survival of neurons. Also, It’s fundamental in the formation and storage of memories, improving learning and increasing cognitive performance.
Changes in the brain substrate
To reach this conclusion, scientists combined factors as the light exercise practice (low intensity cycling for 90 minutes), high intensity exercise (HIIT cycling for 6 minutes), the 20 hour fast and the fasting combined with exercise. All this, to see the possible influence that could have in the production of BDNF.
According to the results, the brief but intense exercise, increased the amount of BDNF by 4 to 5 times versus fasting or prolonged light exercise activity. The reasons are still unknown, but the idea is being considered that it is due to brain substrate change and metabolism of glucose, which is the main source of fuel for the brain.
When performing intense exercise, the predominant form of energy becomes the lactate and not glucose. This transition would cause, apparently, an increase in BDNF production in blood. However, the increase in BDNF could also be due to amount increase platelets, which store large amounts of this factor. The number of platelets increased up to 20% thanks to intense exercise, but not so much with fasting.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
