ArticleFrontiers in aging neuroscience2016
Impact of Long-Term Endurance Training vs. Guideline-Based Physical Activity on Brain Structure in Healthy Aging.
Article in Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Brain-Derived neurotrophic factor and inflammatory biomarkers are unaffected by acute and chronic intermittent hypoxic-hyperoxic exposure in geriatric patients: a randomized controlled trial.Annals of medicine · 2024Trial
- 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
- Can aerobic exercise really improve factors related to decision-making capacity in aging? What has been measured, what has been assumed, and what needs to change.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Review
- Subcortical gray matter aging and attentional control in amateur musicians and nonmusicians.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Article
- Stage-Dependent Brain Plasticity Induced by Long-Term Endurance Training: A Longitudinal Neuroimaging Study.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Relationship Between Physical Activity and Non-Modifiable Risk Factors on Alzheimer's Disease and Brain Health Markers: A UK Biobank Study.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2024Review
- Sex-specific relationships between obesity, physical activity, and gray and white matter volume in cognitively unimpaired older adults.GeroScience · 2023Article
- Article
- Physical activity, sedentary time, and fitness in relation to brain shapes in children with overweight/obesity: Links to intelligence.Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports · 2023Article
- Potential Long-Term Health Problems Associated with Ultra-Endurance Running: A Narrative Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2022Review
- Aerobic exercise, cardiorespiratory fitness, and the human hippocampus.Hippocampus · 2021Review
- Cortical and Subcortical Brain Volume Alterations Following Endurance Running at 38.6 km and 119.2 km in Male Athletes.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2021Article
- Structural and functional brain signatures of endurance runners.Brain structure & function · 2021Article
- Associations Between Physical Fitness and Brain Structure in Young Adulthood.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
- Fitness Level Influences White Matter Microstructure in Postmenopausal Women.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2020Article
- Adaptation of brain functional stream architecture in athletes with fast demands of sensorimotor integration.Human brain mapping · 2019Article
- Exercise Improves Vascular Function, but does this Translate to the Brain?Brain plasticity (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2018Review
- The cortical structure of functional networks associated with age-related cognitive abilities in older adults.PloS one · 2018Article
- Motor learning in a complex balance task and associated neuroplasticity: a comparison between endurance athletes and nonathletes.Journal of neurophysiology · 2017Article
- High cardiorespiratory fitness in early to late middle age preserves the cortical circuitry associated with brain-heart integration during volitional exercise.Journal of neurophysiology · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Brain structure is a fundamental determinant of brain function, both of which decline with age in the adult. Whereas short-term exercise improves brain size in older adults, the impact of endurance training on brain structure when initiated early and sustained throughout life, remains unknown. We tested the hypothesis that long-term competitive aerobic training enhances cortical and subcortical mass compared to middle to older-aged healthy adults who adhere to the minimum physical activity guidelines. Observations were made in 16 masters athletes (MA; 53 ± 6 years, VO2max = 55 ± 10 ml/kg/min, training > 15 years), and 16 active, healthy, and cognitively intact subjects (HA; 58 ± 9 years, VO2max = 38 ± 7 ml/kg/min). T1-weighted structural acquisition at 3T enabled quantification of cortical thickness and subcortical gray and white matter volumes. Cardiorespiratory fitness correlated strongly with whole-brain cortical thickness. Subcortical volumetric mass at the lateral ventricles, R hippocampus, R amygdala, and anterior cingulate cortex, correlated with age but not fitness. In a region-of-interest (ROI) group-based analysis, MA expressed greater cortical thickness in the medial prefrontal cortex, pre and postcentral gyri, and insula. There was no effect of group on the rate of age-related cortical or subcortical decline. The current data suggest that lifelong endurance training that produces high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, builds cortical reserve early in life, and sustains this benefit over the 40-70 year age span. This reserve likely has important implications for neurological health later in life.
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