Exercise and the Brain Why Physical Exercise is Essential to Peak Cognitive Health

This book focuses on the benefits of exercise for prevention and treatment of chronic brain disorders.  It is a guide for finding the right exercise routine for each individual.  The goal is to show the reader why everyone needs to exercise, especially as we get older.  The brain needs physical exercise both for normal health and for preventing and treating diseases common with aging.

How much exercise is needed?  As we see throughout the book there is no one fits all rule with regard to the amount of exercise required.  The key is to make exercise a part of one’s daily routine.  The beneficial effect of exercise is transient, lasting days to weeks, so it must be a lifelong pursuit.  Can we exercise too much?  Anything done in excess can potentially be dangerous but with the common sense approach outlined in this book anyone, regardless of underlying health condition, can find some type of exercise that is safe and effective.

Chapter 1. Exercise is good medicine

Physicians and the “exercise pill”

Exercise for health in early America

Exercise and early neurology

Early ideas on physical education

Thomas Cureton and the science of physical education

Physical fitness and sports

Kenneth Cooper and aerobics

Physical inactivity and poor health

Physical fitness and longevity

Public Health implications of physical inactivity

Exercise, physical activity and physical fitness

Body weight and energy metabolism

Physical fitness, obesity and cardiovascular disease

Aerobic versus Anaerobic Exercise

Oxygen utilization and fitness

Exercise training for improving fitness

Before beginning exercise training

In Brief

References

Chapter 2. Physical activity and brain evolution

Hunter-Gatherer Societies

Energy consumption in primitive societies

The Hazda

The Aché

Physical activity in hunter-gatherers

Napoleon Chignon popularizes anthropology

Physical activity and the Thrifty Gene Hypothesis

The APOE gene and late onset chronic diseases

The Agricultural revolution

Hunter-gatherer versus agricultural lifestyle

The Old Order Amish

The Canadian Inuits

Hunter-gatherers didn’t have it so bad

The industrial revolution

Physical inactivity and chronic diseases

In Brief

References

Chapter 3. A healthy body for a sound mind

Chinese martial arts

Yoga and the melding of the mind and body

Sparta and physical fitness

Herodicus of Cnidos

Hippocrates of Cos

Athens and the Greek gymnasium

The Olympic Games

The Romans

Galen

The Middle Ages and the soul rules the body

The age of chivalry

The Renaissance

John Locke

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Thomas Jefferson

Early exercise equipment

In Brief

References

Chapter 4. Exercise and the developing brain

Link between upright posture and increasing brain size

Brain growth after birth

Cerebellar expansion

Human brain development

Neuroplasticity and Brain Development

Physical activity and brain development

Exercise versus rest during pregnancy

Exercise during pregnancy is beneficial to mother and child

Effect of maternal exercise on fetal brain development

Exercise in preadolescent children

Physical fitness and academic performance

Exercise in adolescent children

Physical fitness and academic performance in adolescents

Physical education and academic performance

How does exercise influence brain development?

Exercise for treating abnormal brain development

In Brief

References

Chapter 5. Exercise, the Elixir for Learning

Physical education and learning

Basic mechanisms of learning

Exercise and the Body-Brain Connection

Research studies of exercise on learning and memory

Sleep, exercise and learning

Exercise “High”

Green exercise

Serotonin, emotions and learning

Serotonin drugs and learning

In Brief

References

Chapter 6. Exercise and the Aging Brain

Energy consumption and the aging brain

Early life experiences and the aging brain

Genes and cognitive aging

Telomere length, physical activity and aging

White matter abnormalities with aging

Shrinkage of the brain with aging

Muscular strength and aging

Exercise for prevention of falls in older people

Exercise for improving cognition in older people

Combining Interventions to Prevent Cognitive Decline

In Brief

References

Chapter 7. Exercise For Stress, Anxiety and Depression

What exactly is stress

Neurobiology of stress

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Exercise for treating PTSD

Anxiety

Exercise for treating anxiety

Depression

Animal models of depression

Exercise for preventing depression

Exercise for treating depression

In Brief

References

Chapter 8. Exercise and Chronic Pain

Perception of pain

Opioids and chronic pain

Central sensitization and chronic pain

Chronic pain and fear avoidance

Overview of exercise for chronic pain

Chronic low back pain

Current approach to treating chronic low back pain

Exercise for treating chronic low back pain

Chronic neck pain

Current approach to treating chronic neck pain

Exercise for treating chronic neck pain

Headaches

Exercise for tension-type headaches

Exercise for treating migraine headaches

Fibromyalgia

Tender points

In Brief

References

Chapter 9. Exercise and Cerebrovascular Disease

Cerebral blood flow and exercise

Types of strokes

Exercise and stroke prevention

Exercise and rehabilitation after stroke

Illustrative case

How does the brain recover from a stroke

Delayed recovery

Factors that influence recovery after stroke

Goals for stroke rehabilitation

In Brief

Chapter 10. Exercise and Dementia

Alzheimer disease

Exercise and Alzheimer disease pathology

Exercise for prevention of Alzheimer disease

Exercise for treating Alzheimer disease

Vascular dementia

Exercise and vascular disease pathology

Exercise for preventing vascular dementia

Exercise for treating vascular dementia

Lewey body/Parkinson disease dementia

Exercise and Lewey bodies

Exercise for Prevention of Parkinson disease

Dementia due to tau protein aggregation

Exercise for preventing and treating tauopathies

In Brief

References