Exercise Good for Muscle and Brain

Has long been known that exercise is not only physically, but also psychologically healthy, e.g, eliminate depression and increase the memory capacity of the brain. The exact mechanism of the relationship of exercise and brain function became known only recently. 

Researchers at the University of South Carolina found evidence that regular exercise can increase mitochondria in the brain, which is useful for treating psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Mitochondria are the main energy-producing organelles of the cell. 

Increased number of mitochondria in muscle cells in turn also contributes to the strength or increase endurance. 

The findings are based on observation of rats given an exercise program, such as running on a treadmill six times a week with a time of one hour. After eight weeks, the researchers examined the brains and muscle tissue from several rats to test for signs of increasing mitochondria. 

Results of analysis showed that mice that entered the exercise program experienced an increase in mitochondria in muscle tissue than mice not given an exercise program. They also found that in mice that received an exercise program seen positive signs such as an increase in brain mitochondria.

Researchers concluded that exercise not only increases the number of mitochondria in muscle, but also on the brain.