Six minutes of high-intensity exercise could extend the lifespan of a healthy brain and delay the onset of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, new research has revealed.
The study shows that a short but intense bout of cycling increases the production of a specialised protein that is essential for brain formation, learning and memory, and could protect the brain from age-related cognitive decline.
The specialised protein named brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) promotes neuroplasticity and the survival of neurons. Animal studies have shown that increasing the availability of BDNF encourages the formation and storage of memories, enhances learning and overall boosts cognitive performance.
These key roles and its apparent neuroprotective qualities have led to the interest in BDNF for ageing research.
Lead author Travis Gibbons, from University of Otago, New Zealand, said: “BDNF has shown great promise in animal models, but pharmaceutical interventions have thus far failed to safely harness the protective power of BDNF in humans.
“We saw the need to explore non-pharmacological approaches that can preserve the brain’s capacity which humans can use to naturally increase BDNF to help with healthy ageing.”
The research team compared the following factors to study the isolated and interactive effects of BDNF:
- Fasting for 20 hours,
- Light exercise (90-minute low intensity cycling),
- High-intensity exercise (six-minute bout of vigorous cycling),
- Combined fasting and exercise.
They found that brief but vigorous exercise was the most efficient way to increase BDNF compared to one day of fasting with or without a lengthy session of light exercise, building on previous research which links exercise and the reversal of cognitive decline.
BDNF increased by four to five-fold (396 pg L-1 to 1170 pg L-1) compared to fasting (no change in BDNF concentration) or prolonged activity (slight increase in BDNF concentration, 336 pg L-1 to 390 pg L-1).
The observed increase in BDNF during exercise could be due to the increased number of platelets which store large amounts of BDNF. The concentration of platelets circulating in the blood is more heavily influenced by exercise than fasting and increases by 20 per cent.
Further research is underway to delve deeper into the effects of calorie restriction and exercise to distinguish the influence on BDNF and the cognitive benefits.
Travis Gibbons added: “We are now studying how fasting for longer durations, for example up to three days, influences BDNF. We are curious whether exercising hard at the start of a fast accelerates the beneficial effects of fasting.
“Fasting and exercise are rarely studied together. We think fasting and exercise can be used in conjunction to optimise BDNF production in the human brain.”
