Mental Health

Exercise in Early Life Boosts Your Adult Brain and Metabolism

By R. Siva Kumar | Update Date: Dec 30, 2015 09:55 AM EST

Exercising early in life can help you to develop a healthy heart, mind and metabolism, says research.

"Exercise affects many aspects of health, both metabolic and mental, and people are only now starting to look at the plasticity of these gut microbes," said Monika Fleshner, one of the researchers, in a news release. "That is one of the novel aspects of this research."

Once you're born, microbes shift into the house in your intestines. They are very important for developing your immunity as well as various neural functions. They can easily add about 5 million genes to your overall genetic profile, with a massive power to influence various aspects of the human physiology.

While this friendly microbial community stays malleable right through the time you're an adult, they can also be aspected by environmental factors such as diet and sleep.

Still, gut microorganisms are "plastic" when you are young, according to scienceworldreport.

Researchers also found that "juvenile rats" who exercised regularly developed a helpful microbial structure, which included expansion of probiotic bacterial species in their gut, when pitted against sedentary adult rats, even when the adults picked up exercise. Scientists also found that a "robust, healthy community of gut microbes" can boost the brain to perform well.

Hence, the exercise in early age is important for brain function, and may even boost its activity in the long run.

The findings are published in the journal Immunology and Cell Biology.

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