ReviewFrontiers in aging neuroscience2021
Active Life for Brain Health: A Narrative Review of the Mechanism Underlying the Protective Effects of Physical Activity on the Brain.
Review in Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 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
29 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- A dose-response meta-analysis of physical activity and the risk of alzheimer's disease in prospective studies.Journal of neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Physical activity and amyloid beta in middle-aged and older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of sport and health science · 2024Pooled it
- Effects of Chronic Physical Exercise or Multicomponent Exercise Programs on the Mental Health and Cognition of Older Adults Living in a Nursing Home: A Systematic Review of Studies From the Past 10 Years.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- Endurance training mitigates obesity-induced hippocampal impairment by enhancing neurotrophin signalling, synaptic plasticity, and cellular responses in a female rat model.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2026Article
- Association of genetic predisposition to dyslipidemia and physical activity with incident dementia.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Muscle and mind: rewiring cognitive-motor recovery through exercise-responsive neurophysiology in neurological populations.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Maternal postpartum sedentary life exacerbates the metabolic impact of moderately fat-rich diet in male mice.npj metabolic health and disease · 2025Article
- Considering the Effects of Cannabinoids and Exercise on the Brain: A Narrative Review.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Article
- Kynurenine Pathway Modulation by Exercise in Multiple Sclerosis: Implications for Neuroprotection and Inflammation.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Associations between physical activity and brain structure in a large community cohort.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Scaffolding theory of maturation, cognition, motor performance, and motor skill acquisition: a revised and comprehensive framework for understanding motor-cognitive interactions across the lifespan.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Physical Activity Component of the Greek Interventional Geriatric Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (GINGER): Protocol Development and Feasibility Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Proceedings of the 2022 "Lifestyle Intervention for Epilepsy (LIFE)" symposium hosted by Cleveland Clinic.Epilepsia open · 2024Article
- Grandfathers-to-Grandsons Transgenerational Transmission of Exercise Positive Effects on Cognitive Performance.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024Article
- Implications of vascular depression for successful cognitive aging in HIV Disease.Journal of neurovirology · 2024Article
- Change in cardiovascular health and rate of cognitive decline in older adults: a 15-year population-based study.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Associations of Physical Activity Engagement with Cerebral Amyloid-β and Tau from Midlife.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2024Article
- Various modalities of resistance exercise promote similar acute cognitive improvements and hemodynamic increases in young, healthy adults.Cerebral circulation - cognition and behavior · 2024Article
- Relationship between Serum Irisin Levels and MRI-Measured Cerebral Small Vessel Disease in Japanese Men.Journal of atherosclerosis and thrombosis · 2023Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A growing body of evidence clearly indicates the beneficial effects of physical activity (PA) on cognition. The importance of PA is now being reevaluated due to the increase in sedentary behavior in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although many studies in humans have revealed that PA helps to preserve brain health, the underlying mechanisms have not yet been fully elucidated. In this review, which mainly focuses on studies in humans, we comprehensively summarize the mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of PA or exercise on brain health, particularly cognition. The most intensively studied mechanisms of the beneficial effects of PA involve an increase in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and preservation of brain volume, especially that of the hippocampus. Nonetheless, the mutual associations between these two factors remain unclear. For example, although BDNF presumably affects brain volume by inhibiting neuronal death and/or increasing neurogenesis, human data on this issue are scarce. It also remains to be determined whether PA modulates amyloid and tau metabolism. However, recent advances in blood-based biomarkers are expected to help elucidate the beneficial effects of PA on the brain. Clinical data suggest that PA functionally modulates cognition independently of neurodegeneration, and the mechanisms involved include modulation of functional connectivity, neuronal compensation, neuronal resource allocation, and neuronal efficiency. However, these mechanisms are as yet not fully understood. A clear understanding of the mechanisms involved could help motivate inactive persons to change their behavior. More accumulation of evidence in this field is awaited.
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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.