Exercise Builds Strong Synapses

Looking for a way to pump up those synapses in your hippocampus? Try exercising any other part of your body. A new study by an Oregon Health & Science University researcher suggests that exercise increases the chemical BDNF – brain-derived neurotrophic factor. As this story in Science Daily reports, BDNF is involved in protecting and producing neurons in the hippocampus, a curved, elongated ridge in the brain that controls learning and memory.