SURE, we knew about the improvements it can provide to aerobic capacity, not to mention muscles and joints, but two recently released studies show that walking can enhance brain function, too.
Walking or other repetitive exercise can change the brain in a number of ways, says Dr. Gary Small, professor of psychiatry and aging at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, at the University of California, Los Angeles. The heart pumps more blood, affecting not only muscles but also the brain. “Your brain needs blood, because in the blood are nutrients and oxygen, which are good for the cells and will make the brain healthier,” he says. “The vessels that deliver the nutrients also branch out and become more effective.”
The act of doing a movement over and over also can stimulate the brain’s neurocircuits, he adds, resulting in activity in various regions of the brain. That activity may decrease over time as the body becomes more efficient at the activity. But other stimulation can have an effect — when a person walks outside with a friend, for example, the brain is guiding a number of activities, such as talking and observing.
In one study, stroke patients put through a walking program could walk better and faster afterward, and the repetitive movements activated different areas of their brain. About half of 71 study subjects with some movement disability were asked to walk on a safety-rigged treadmill three times a week for up to 40 minutes, increasing intensity to a moderate level as the study progressed. The others did assisted stretching exercises for the same amount of time. Functional MRI tests revealed intensified activity in the subcortical region in the walking group, which surprised the researchers (the stretching group showed no change). “We found that change can not only happen in the superficial layers of the brain, but in the deeper brain levels as well,” said Luft, professor of neurorehabilitation at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.
