Physical activity and brain development

Abstract

Brain development is a complex process, and stimuli during this developmental period may modulate the brain’s functional maturation and determine its lifelong integrity. Human and animal studies have shown that environmental stimuli such as physical activity habits seem to have a favorable influence on brain development. Research on humans has demonstrated improvement in cognitive performance in the children of women who exercised regularly throughout pregnancy and in individuals who were physically active during childhood and adolescence. Investigations using animal models have also reported that physical activity improves the cognitive function of developing rats. In this review, we will present the neurobiological mechanisms of such effects.

Keywords:

• adolescent
• brain-derived neurotrophic factor
• brain
• development
• exercise
• fetus
• learning
• memory
• neurogenesis
• physical activity

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This research was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP; Process 14/00035-1, 09/06953-4) and Instituto Nacional de Neurociência Translacional (INNT) (Brazil). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Key issues

• Physical activity habits seem to have a favorable influence on pre- and postnatal brain development.

• Maternal exercise improves babies’ cognitive performance in childhood.

• Physical exercise in infancy and adolescence enhances learning and intelligence scores.

• Physical exercise induces profound effects on cell proliferation and survival in the progeny of exercised mothers and rodents trained during the adolescent period.

• High levels of neurotrophic factors are found in the progeny of exercised mothers and young rats trained in adolescence.

• Early physical exercise results in more complex neural circuitry.

• Exercise at earlier ages may result in sustained health benefits.

• Exercise-induced effects may occur because neural plasticity is greater in the developing brain than in the adult brain.