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Doctors relentlessly impress us with the many benefits of physical exercise and an active lifestyle: energy, mood, sleep and motor skills improve thanks to regular sports. But what happens in the brain?
Professor Emeritus Nick Spitzer of the University of California, San Diego, and his assistant Hui-quan Li identified key neurological changes after prolonged exercise. By comparing the brains of mice that exercised with those that did not, Lee and Spitzer found that specific neurons switched their chemical signals, called neurotransmitters, after exercise, leading to improved learning to acquire a motor skill.
"The study provides new insights into how we are able to do things that require motor skills and provides information on how skills are actually acquired."
The results of the study were published on May 4 in Nature Communications.
"Research shows that adding more plasticity through daily physical activity is beneficial for the brain," Lee says.
The meaning of discovery
Scientists say the discovery could lead to further understanding of how neurotransmitter switching leads to changes in basic motor skills. It remains to be seen whether neurotransmitters can be intentionally switched to improve motor skills, even without exercise. They also plan to conduct research on whether exercise training benefits motor skills in people with neurological disorders.
"With an understanding of the mechanism, there is an opportunity to manipulate it, to use it for useful purposes. In an injured or sick person, it can be a way to turn things around ... to give the nervous system further development."
