哪種運動最能增強腦力?

哪種運動最能增強腦力?

What's your favorite way to sweat? Running? Lifting weights? Cardio? There are lots of ways you can exercise that will benefit your body.

你最喜歡的流汗方式是什么：跑步?舉重?有氧運動?有很多方法可以使你的身體受益。

A recent study finds that not only is exercise good for your physical health, but it's good for your brain too. Researchers working with mice found that short bursts of exercise creates an increase in activity in the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with learning and memory. Early studies almost all looked at the connection between long-term exercise and brain health. This study focuses on short-term activity — the human equivalent to 4,000 steps or a weekly game of pickup basketball.

最近的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，鍛煉不僅對你的身體健康有好處，而且對你的大腦也有好處。研究人員對老鼠進行了研究，發(fā)現(xiàn)短時間的運動可以增加海馬狀突起的活動，海馬狀突起是大腦中與學習和記憶相關(guān)的部分。早期的研究幾乎都著眼于長期鍛煉和大腦健康之間的聯(lián)系。這項研究關(guān)注的是短期活動——比如人類每天走4000步或每周打一場籃球。

Short bursts of exercise — like a game of pickup basketball — is good for your brain. (Photo: Liderina/Shutterstock)

Researchers discovered that when a specific gene in the brain is activated by brief spurts of exercise, it promotes small growths on neurons, which prime the brain for learning.

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，當大腦中的某個特定基因被短暫的運動激活時，它會促進神經(jīng)元的微小生長，而神經(jīng)元正是大腦學習的主要動力。

This isn't the first time researchers have looked at the effect of exercise on the brain. Past studies have shown that exercise improves cognitive ability in seniors and reduces the brain shrinkage that often coincides with aging.

這并不是研究人員第一次研究運動對大腦的影響。過去的研究表明，鍛煉可以提高老年人的認知能力，并減少大腦萎縮。

Researchers investigated whether running, strength training or interval training had the biggest impact on the brain. (Photo: lzf/Shutterstock)

Researchers gathered a large group of male rats, injected them with a substance that marks new brain cells as they form, and divided them into four groups based on the type of workout they would perform — running, strength training, intervals and the sedentary group that acted as a control.

研究人員召集了一大群雄性老鼠，給它們注射一種物質(zhì)，這種物質(zhì)能在腦細胞形成時標記出新的腦細胞，然后根據(jù)它們將進行的鍛煉類型將它們分成四組——跑步、力量訓練、間歇運動和作為對照組的久坐組。

The runners were given a wheel and allowed to run whenever they chose. The weightlifters were taught to climb a wall with tiny weights attached to their tails, and the mice that practiced interval training were placed on itty-bitty treadmills where they alternated between sprinting and slow jogging for 15 minutes each day.

跑步鼠有一個輪子，他們可以選擇什么時候跑。舉重鼠被要求尾巴上綁著重物爬一堵墻，而進行間歇訓練的老鼠則被放置在很小的跑步機上，它們每天在短跑和慢跑之間交替跑15分鐘。

After seven weeks, researchers found that the weightlifting mice, while stronger, had no change in neurogenesis in the brain, including the growth and development of new tissue. The mice that practiced interval training had greater levels of neurogenesis than the sedentary mice, but still far fewer than the runners. But the brains of the mice that had spent their time running were teeming with new cells. Better yet, the distance they ran each day coincided with the number of new brain cells they developed.

七周后，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，舉重鼠雖然更強壯，但大腦中的神經(jīng)沒有發(fā)生變化，包括新組織的生長和發(fā)育。進行間歇訓練的老鼠比不運動的老鼠有更高水平的神經(jīng)發(fā)生，但仍然比跑步的老鼠少得多。但是，那些整天跑步的老鼠的大腦里充滿了新細胞。更妙的是，他們每天跑步的距離與他們發(fā)育的新腦細胞的數(shù)量一致。

What happens in the brains of mice may not directly translate to what might happen in the brain of a human, but the study lends credence to the idea that sustained cardio exercise is the best way to keep your brain charged and churning. In other words, running is as good for your brain as it is for your body.

老鼠大腦中發(fā)生的事情可能不會直接轉(zhuǎn)化為人類大腦中可能發(fā)生的事情，但這項研究證實了持續(xù)的有氧運動是保持大腦充滿活力的最佳方式。換句話說，跑步對你的大腦和身體都有好處。