Could Treadmill Running Reverse Cognitive Decline?

Time on the treadmill may reverse cognitive declines due to Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

Cross-sectional studies have consistently found a link between physical exercise and cognitive performance, but researchers haven’t yet been able to establish a cause and effect relationship between the two.
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Hyunsik Kang, PhD, of the College of Sport Science at Sungkyunkwan University in Suwon, Korea, and colleagues investigated the effect of treadmill running on cognitive declines in mice with early and advances stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

At the early stage of Alzheimer’s, the mice had impaired short- and long-term memory, along with higher cortical Aβ deposition, higher hippocampal and cortical tau pathology, and lower hippocampal and cortical PSD-95 and synaptophysin. In the more advanced stage of Alzheimer’s, the mice had impaired short- and long-term memory, along with higher levels of Aβ deposition, soluble Aβ1–40 and Aβ1–42, tau pathology, and lower levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, PSD-95, and synaptophysin in the hippocampus and cortex.

After following a prescribed 12-week treadmill running program, the mice showed signs of improved cognitive performance in short- and long-term memory and significant improvements in tau and Aβ pathology regardless of whether they were in the early or advanced stage of Alzheimer’s.

“The current findings suggest that treadmill running provides a nonpharmacological means to combat cognitive declines due to Alzheimer’s disease pathology,” the authors concluded.

There’s been significant evidence-based research published about the benefits of regular exercise for cardiovascular health, but this study highlights the need for continued research regarding the impact of exercise on cognitive health as well.

—Colleen Mullarkey

Reference

Cho J, Shin MK, Kim D, Lee I, Kim S, Kang H. Treadmill running reverses cognitive declines due to Alzheimer disease. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2015 Sep;47(9):1814-24.