ReviewJournal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism2015
High-intensity interval exercise and cerebrovascular health: curiosity, cause, and consequence.
Review in Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 95 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
95 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 192 citations in OpenAlex.
- Physiological influences on neurovascular coupling: A systematic review of multimodal imaging approaches and recommendations for future study designs.Experimental physiology · 2025Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of high-intensity interval training effects on cognitive function in older adults and cognitively impaired patients.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of high intensity interval exercise on cerebrovascular function: A systematic review.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- Long-Term Effects of a 5-Year Randomized Controlled Exercise Trial on Brain Volumes and Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A 4-Year Post-Intervention Follow-Up Study.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Trial
- Feasibility of superimposed supine cycling and lower body negative pressure as an effective means of prolonging exercise tolerance in individuals experiencing persisting post-concussive symptoms: Preliminary results.Experimental physiology · 2026Trial
- Maternal and Fetal Cardiovascular Responses to Acute High-Intensity Interval and Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training Exercise During Pregnancy: A Randomized Crossover Trial.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2023Trial
- Hippocampal neurochemicals are associated with exercise group and intensity, psychological health, and general cognition in older adults.GeroScience · 2023Trial
- Effect of 5 Years of Exercise Intervention at Different Intensities on Brain Structure in Older Adults from the General Population: A Generation 100 Substudy.Clinical interventions in aging · 2021Trial
- High-intensity training enhances executive function in children in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.eLife · 2017Trial
- Trial
- The Aphasia Physical EXercise (APEX) study: feasibility of a new high-intensity functional interval training for stroke survivors with aphasia.Aphasiology · 2026Article
- Cerebral blood velocity responses during and after sprint interval exercise in healthy young adults.Physiological reports · 2026Article
- Linking dynamic cerebral autoregulation and inhibitory executive function: Role of modifiable behaviours.Experimental physiology · 2026Review
- Studying exercise-induced affect in older adults: how the circumplex model could enhance theoretical and practical advances in the field.Frontiers in aging · 2026Article
- Modulation of cerebral blood flow and cognition by hyperthermia and hypoxia: An electroencephalographic event-related potentials perspective.Experimental physiology · 2025Review
- Feasibility of a Recumbent Stepper for Short-Interval, Low-Volume High-Intensity Interval Exercise in Stroke.Journal of neurologic physical therapy : JNPT · 2025Article
- Exploring the Impact of High-Intensity Interval Training on Cognitive Functions-Muscle and Brain Interaction.Advances in neurobiology · 2025Review
- Exercise-mediated cerebrovascular repair in Alzheimer's disease: from pathophysiology to therapeutic precision.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Review
- High-intensity interval exercise is more efficient than medium intensity exercise at inducing neurogenesis.The Journal of physiology · 2024Article
- Running in mice increases the expression of brain hemoglobin-related genes interacting with the GH/IGF-1 system.Scientific reports · 2024Article
35 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Exercise is a uniquely effective and pluripotent medicine against several noncommunicable diseases of westernised lifestyles, including protection against neurodegenerative disorders. High-intensity interval exercise training (HIT) is emerging as an effective alternative to current health-related exercise guidelines. Compared with traditional moderate-intensity continuous exercise training, HIT confers equivalent if not indeed superior metabolic, cardiac, and systemic vascular adaptation. Consequently, HIT is being promoted as a more time-efficient and practical approach to optimize health thereby reducing the burden of disease associated with physical inactivity. However, no studies to date have examined the impact of HIT on the cerebrovasculature and corresponding implications for cognitive function. This review critiques the implications of HIT for cerebrovascular function, with a focus on the mechanisms and translational impact for patient health and well-being. It also introduces similarly novel interventions currently under investigation as alternative means of accelerating exercise-induced cerebrovascular adaptation. We highlight a need for studies of the mechanisms and thereby also the optimal dose-response strategies to guide exercise prescription, and for studies to explore alternative approaches to optimize exercise outcomes in brain-related health and disease prevention. From a clinical perspective, interventions that selectively target the aging brain have the potential to prevent stroke and associated neurovascular diseases.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.