哪种运动最能增强脑力?
哪种运动最能增强脑力?
What's your favorite way to sweat? Running? Lifting weights? Cardio? There are lots of ways you can exercise that will benefit your body.
你最喜欢的流汗方式是什么：跑步?举重?有氧运动?有很多方法可以使你的身体受益。
A recent study finds that not only is exercise good for your physical health, but it's good for your brain too. Researchers working with mice found that short bursts of exercise creates an increase in activity in the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with learning and memory. Early studies almost all looked at the connection between long-term exercise and brain health. This study focuses on short-term activity — the human equivalent to 4,000 steps or a weekly game of pickup basketball.
最近的一项研究发现，锻炼不仅对你的身体健康有好处，而且对你的大脑也有好处。研究人员对老鼠进行了研究，发现短时间的运动可以增加海马状突起的活动，海马状突起是大脑中与学习和记忆相关的部分。早期的研究几乎都着眼于长期锻炼和大脑健康之间的联系。这项研究关注的是短期活动——比如人类每天走4000步或每周打一场篮球。
Short bursts of exercise — like a game of pickup basketball — is good for your brain. (Photo: Liderina/Shutterstock)
Researchers discovered that when a specific gene in the brain is activated by brief spurts of exercise, it promotes small growths on neurons, which prime the brain for learning.
研究人员发现，当大脑中的某个特定基因被短暂的运动激活时，它会促进神经元的微小生长，而神经元正是大脑学习的主要动力。
This isn't the first time researchers have looked at the effect of exercise on the brain. Past studies have shown that exercise improves cognitive ability in seniors and reduces the brain shrinkage that often coincides with aging.
这并不是研究人员第一次研究运动对大脑的影响。过去的研究表明，锻炼可以提高老年人的认知能力，并减少大脑萎缩。
Researchers investigated whether running, strength training or interval training had the biggest impact on the brain. (Photo: lzf/Shutterstock)
Researchers gathered a large group of male rats, injected them with a substance that marks new brain cells as they form, and divided them into four groups based on the type of workout they would perform — running, strength training, intervals and the sedentary group that acted as a control.
研究人员召集了一大群雄性老鼠，给它们注射一种物质，这种物质能在脑细胞形成时标记出新的脑细胞，然后根据它们将进行的锻炼类型将它们分成四组——跑步、力量训练、间歇运动和作为对照组的久坐组。
The runners were given a wheel and allowed to run whenever they chose. The weightlifters were taught to climb a wall with tiny weights attached to their tails, and the mice that practiced interval training were placed on itty-bitty treadmills where they alternated between sprinting and slow jogging for 15 minutes each day.
跑步鼠有一个轮子，他们可以选择什么时候跑。举重鼠被要求尾巴上绑着重物爬一堵墙，而进行间歇训练的老鼠则被放置在很小的跑步机上，它们每天在短跑和慢跑之间交替跑15分钟。
After seven weeks, researchers found that the weightlifting mice, while stronger, had no change in neurogenesis in the brain, including the growth and development of new tissue. The mice that practiced interval training had greater levels of neurogenesis than the sedentary mice, but still far fewer than the runners. But the brains of the mice that had spent their time running were teeming with new cells. Better yet, the distance they ran each day coincided with the number of new brain cells they developed.
七周后，研究人员发现，举重鼠虽然更强壮，但大脑中的神经没有发生变化，包括新组织的生长和发育。进行间歇训练的老鼠比不运动的老鼠有更高水平的神经发生，但仍然比跑步的老鼠少得多。但是，那些整天跑步的老鼠的大脑里充满了新细胞。更妙的是，他们每天跑步的距离与他们发育的新脑细胞的数量一致。
What happens in the brains of mice may not directly translate to what might happen in the brain of a human, but the study lends credence to the idea that sustained cardio exercise is the best way to keep your brain charged and churning. In other words, running is as good for your brain as it is for your body.
老鼠大脑中发生的事情可能不会直接转化为人类大脑中可能发生的事情，但这项研究证实了持续的有氧运动是保持大脑充满活力的最佳方式。换句话说，跑步对你的大脑和身体都有好处。
