Exercise Boosts Glycogen Levels In Brains

OK, we’ve known for some time that exercise appears to boost our brain power. Now, thanks to researchers at the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Neuroscience at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, we know how, chemically speaking.  Tara Parker-Pope reports in the New York Times Well column that scientists at the lab studied the level of glycogen, the stored carbohydrates that fuel the brain, in two groups of rats; one group that ran on treadmills, and another group that did not.  The study, published in  The Journal of Physiology, revealed that rats that ran for four weeks had baseline levels of glycogen showing substantial increases compared with the sedentary animals. The increases were especially notable in the parts of the brain critical to learning and memory formation — the cortex and the hippocampus. Read more from Tara Parker-Pope.