Post #5 Exercise studies and neurogenisis

When researching how exercise might effect psychological well being, I came across a website focused on neurointerests, and found interesting new research that connects to my topic. The source explained that exercise increases chemicals in the brain that promote neurogenesis, which is the growth of new brain cells. This is very interesting as it may be a reason why exercise has been found to elevate mood and help with sleep. More active neurons might allow people to be more mentally active. The article went on to show how exercise has major implications on the aging population, who begin to lose neurons as they age, resulting in memory and motor problems. Two studies explore this question in detail:

In one study of rats, scientists measured brain activity of active and non active mice. The active mice, who were running on wheels more than the others, produced about three times more neurons than the mice that didn't exercise. These results extended to humans in a study at University of Illinois. In this research, elderly non-active people were assigned to either an aerobic exercise program or stretching program and were given MRI scans after six months. The exercise group showed significant growth through neurogenesis of several areas of the brain. Although these results do not directly relate to my research, it is a very interesting and important study. Not only can exercise help the aging with psychological problems, but also with keeping their brain active enough to maintain their cognitive ability. This may be a point to briefly go over in the research paper because it has major implications on the general public. Although many doctors already suggest exercise to the elderly, more concrete studies would influence people more to act on these suggestions. The most important part of these studies are that exercise does increase the growth of brain cells in many areas. The question to figure out is whether this connects to the increased mood, self efficacy, and decrease in anxiety that results from exercise. If anyone has found these connections, they would greatly strenghten my paper because they would show more of why exercise has psychological benefits.