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Exercise is good for you — we all know that. The research is also overwhelming showing incredibly wide-ranging benefits: heart health, lower inflammation, better metabolism, lower risk of degenerative diseases, and the list goes on and on. So, all in quite simple — get exercising.
I have also reported on the multiple benefits for the brain — from exercise in childhood being able to be seen in the brain 40 year later, to general improved cognition, and brain plasticity, brain growth that is.
But most of these studies focus on long-term or bouts of exercise lasting weeks or months. What about just one session of exercise? Is it too little to have any tangible benefits apart from the short-term glow of having done something positive and having a short positive hormone boost?
Well, now a study from the Oregon Health & Science University published in July by Christina Chatzi et al. have shown that just a single bout of exercise can also have positive benefits and notably on brain plasticity, growth, itself.
This experiment was done in mice it must be noted. However, many exercise studies have translated well from mice to human beings so it is very encouraging.
What they did is put otherwise sedentary mice though a single exercise routine — this would be the…
