Does Physical Activity Improve Learning?

Happy New Year everyone! Did you make any New Year's resolutions? What about exercising more often? This classic New Year's resolution might not only benefit your waistline, but also your brain!

 

As a teenager in high school, I spent most of my sports classes running away from the ball. Like me,

Source: Dirk Hansen via Wikimedia Commons

many of us have wondered why we deserved this torture in the shape of sports classes. When I came to think about this question later, my main answer was the value of physical activity for healthy development. However, more and more evidence has emerged suggesting that the importance of sports goes far beyond mere physical education.

The relationship between physical activity and learning was first studied in rodents. In several experiments in mice and rats, running was found to enhance neurogenesis and improve spatial learning performance. The experimental findings suggested that physical activity can regulate hippocampal neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity and learning [1,2,3]. From this, it soon became clear that physical activity has a positive effect on learning abilities in rodents. But how?

What's the Link Between Brains and Brawn?
The mechanism behind the positive effect in rodents was related to several effects in the hippocampus. Exercising was found to cause alterations in the hippocampal bound protein kinase C (PKC) activity [1]. Rats that had exercised showed enhanced hippocampal high affinity choline uptake (HACU) and muscarinic receptor binding. This enhancement in the hippocampal cholinergic functioning appeared to improve the learning performance [3]. Another effect of physical activity consisted in the induction of fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF) and its mRNA in the hippocampus. These results demonstrate that exercise regulates FGF-2 expression and suggests that growth factors are likely mediators of the positive effects of exercise on the brain [4].

The effect of physical activity on learning abilities in humans is yet under controversy. Both results from studies with animal and cross-sectional studies with humans were consistent about the positive effect of aerobic exercise on cognitive functions. However, results from studies with humans cannot be interpreted that easily since individuals who select to exercise or not may differ on other variables that could influence cognitive performance. Therefore, in order to correctly test the hypothesis with humans, long intervention studies are necessary [5].

Nevertheless, indirect evidence for the positive effect of sports on learning was demonstrated in many studies. A meta-analysis from 2010 of over 30,000 patients showed that subjects who performed physical activity showed better cognitive abilities and were protected against cognitive decline [6]. Furthermore, several interventional studies in children showed improvement in different cognitive tests when engaging in physical activity, comparing to control groups who didn’t [7,8,9]. 

What Sport Should I Start?

Aerobic training in particular seems to have a unique effect on learning compared with other types of sport. Immediately after intensive physical exercise, learning abilities are facilitated and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) catecholamines levels are elevated, implying they mediate the way physical exercise improves learning [10]. Along with the positive effect on learning, aerobic training was found to improve cognitive function and protect against brain tissue loss in elderly people [11,12]. Therefore, aerobic training seems to have an especially beneficial effect on our cognitive functions and learning.

To summarize, more and more findings support the positive effect of sports on learning abilities. Through several physiological mechanisms, involving neurotrophic factors and neurogenesis in the hippocampus, exercising mediates and enhances learning abilities and protects against cognitive decline and brain tissue loss in old age.

[1] Fordyce and Wehner, Brain Res, 1993
[2] Praag et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 1999
[3] Fordyce and Farrar, Behav Brain Res, 1991
[4] Gomez-Pinilla et al., Brain Res, 1997
[5] Dustman et al., J Aging Phys Act, 1994
[6] Sofi et al., J Intern Med, 2010
[7] Kamijo et al., Dev Sci, 2011
[8] Hilman et al., Neuroscience, 2009
[9] Pesce et al., Ment Health Phys Act, 2009
[10] Winter et al., Neurobiol Learn Mem, 2007
[11] Colcombe et al., J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci, 2002
[12] Fabre et al., Int J Sports Med, 2002

by Michelle Livne, PhD Student AG Sobesky

this article originally appeared June 2016 in Volume 09 Issue 2 "The Sporty Brain"