A fresh look at fitness and the brain

The latest experiment, carried out by scientists from University Hospital Muenster in Germany, attempts to fill in some of the gaps. Using a large sample of healthy people, the scientists retested the links between physical fitness, brain structure, and a wide range of cognitive domains.

They also wanted to ensure that they accounted for as many confounding variables as possible. Additionally, the scientists wanted to understand whether the link between cognitive ability and physical fitness was associated with white matter integrity.

White matter in the brain relays messages between disparate parts of the brain and coordinates communication throughout the organ.

To investigate, the researchers took data from the Human Connectome Project, which includes MRI brain scans from 1,206 adults with an average age of 28.8.

Some of these participants also underwent further tests. In total, 1,204 participants completed a walking test in which they walked as quickly as they could for 2 minutes. The researchers noted the distance.

A total of 1,187 participants also completed cognitive tests. In these, the scientists assessed the volunteers’ memory, reasoning, sharpness, and judgment, among other parameters.

‘Surprising’ results

Overall, the researchers showed that individuals who performed better in the 2-minute walking test also performed significantly better in all but one of the cognitive tasks.

Importantly, this relationship was significant even after controlling for a range of factors, including BMI, blood pressure, age, education level, and sex.

The researchers also associated this cognitive improvement with higher levels of fitness with improvements in the structural integrity of white matter. The authors conclude:

“With the present work, we provide evidence for a positive relationship between [physical fitness] and both white matter microstructure as well as cognitive performance in a large sample of healthy young adults.”

“It surprised us to see that even in a young population cognitive performance decreases as fitness levels drop,” says lead researcher Dr. Jonathan Repple.

Dr. Repple continues, “We knew how this might be important in an elderly population, which does not necessarily have good health, but to see this happening in 30-year-olds is surprising.”

“This leads us to believe that a basic level of fitness seems to be a preventable risk factor for brain health.”