3 replies to this topic

[resveratrol_guy]

As has been known for a long time in the realm of cardiovascular health, high-intensity training has proven more beneficial than sustained lower-intensity exercise. But a large scale Danish study recently concluded that the latter was more strongly associated with longevity, as I've previously mentioned.

It's logical to think that the reason is simply that high-intensity training incurs a brief but very elevated risk of cardiovascular catastrophe or stroke. Indeed, I've had 2 transient ischemic attacks in my life, and both of them came within several minutes of cooling down from a fast run. But now a new rat study out of Finland suggests another reason which may be more important: jogging creates much more hippocampal neurogenesis than brief intense sprints, such that more jogging is always better, up until some point where overexertion increases imminent morbidity as underlined in the Danish study.

The Finnish team concluded that distance jogging is superior to short sprinting, and both of them are superior to weight training, for such neurogenesis. Based on previous studies correlating exercise habits to longevity, I would further speculate that cycling is superior to jogging, and endurance swimming is superior to both. (Obviously I'm referring to cycling in clean air and swimming in properly disinfected pools, which is simply not possible for billions of people, unfortunately.)

The worst "exercise" practice, unsurprisingly, turned out to be a sedentary lifestyle. But what about such a lifestyle in a calorically-restricted, carb-restricted, or protein-restricted regime? The study is uninformative in this regard. Moreover, the question is clouded by the conflict between the extra calories required to support robust low-intensity exercise and the metabolic havoc wreaked by those calories, on top of whatever insults might result from doing so outdoors.

In any event, the study is remarkable for drawing a clear contrast between optimal cardiovascular health and optimal brain health -- a distinction which appears to be unprecedented otherwise.

[Mr Serendipity]

Thanks for the study man, I know which direction I'm going to go in for my exercise now. A++

[platypus]

There are more benefits to sprinting or weighlifting than just neurogenesis. 

[Mr Serendipity]

I understand that, I use to be an avid weight lifter and did interval training sprints, and always shunned long low intensity cardio like jogging as I didn't think it was healthy (easy to overexercise).

But now I have a reason to do some. I'll never be someone who does it for hours and miles,as i still don't think it's healthy, and will never plan or train for marathons. But 30-60 mins, 5 days a week should be plenty enough to benefit my brain, without exhausting my body.

Edited by manny, 26 October 2016 - 06:17 PM.