For all the addicted runners out there, it's a downer hearing how hard running can on our joints, body, etc. No other workout seems gives you that same high! Well, here's a great study that shows how running has a super healthy one up on other exercise.
A very recent 2016 study from the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland),
performed on rats, found that running led in the production of the most new
brain neurons (neurogenesis). Researchers compared the
effect on the brain of running, weight training (rats climbed walls with
weights attached to their tails) and high-intensity interval training
(sprinting on treadmills/slowing/repeating). A substance was injected in the
rats’ brains to track the creation of new brain cells and the runners showed by
far the most neurogenesis: their hippocampus teemed with new neurons, while the
high-intensity interval training showed far fewer neurons created, and the
weight training showed no neurogenesis.
This study was done over a period of 6 - 8 weeks so don't think you can get smart after just one run! It also suggests that physical exercise promotes neurogenesis most effectively
if the exercise is aerobic and sustained. So, go forth and do your spin class, step class, long distance cycle or swim. Get that heart rate up (safely), keep it there and see if you feel smarter after 6 - 8 weeks!
