Just six minutes of daily exercise can improve brain health and delay Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, study finds

Just six minutes of intense exercise each day can increase brain lifespan and delay the onset of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, according to a new study.

The research, published last week in The Journal of Physiology, found that a short but intense cycle can increase the production of a special brain protein linked to brain formation, learning and memory.

Scientists, including those at the University of Otago in New Zealand, claim that the special protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) can protect the brain from age-related cognitive decline.

Previous studies have shown that increasing the availability of BDNF in the brain encourages the formation and storage of memories, improves learning, and also boosts overall cognitive performance.

“BDNF has shown great promise in animal models, but pharmaceutical interventions have so far failed to safely harness the protective power of BDNF in humans,” said the lead author of the University of Otago Travis Gibbons study in a statement.

“We saw the need to explore non-pharmacological approaches that can preserve brain capacity that humans can use to naturally increase BDNF to aid in healthy aging,” Dr. Gibbons said.

In the new study, researchers analyzed the influence of fasting and exercise on BDNF production in 12 physically active participants – six men and six women aged 18 to 56.

They evaluated the contributory role played on the production of this protein by factors such as fasting for 20 hours, light exercise, a vigorous six-minute high-intensity cycle and the combined effects of fasting and exercise.

Scientists found that brief but vigorous exercise was the best way to increase BDNF compared to a day of fasting with or without a long bout of light exercise.

The researchers say that BDNF was increased four to five times compared to fasting or prolonged activity.

“Six minutes of high-intensity cycling intervals increased each circulating BDNF metric by 4-5 times more than prolonged low-intensity cycling,” the researchers wrote in the study.

However, the cause of these differences remains unknown, they say, adding that more research is needed to understand the biological mechanisms involved.

Scientists suspect that the brain may switch its preferred fuel source during exercise to another to ensure that the body’s energy demands are met.

“We are now investigating how fasting for longer durations, for example up to three days, influences BDNF. We are curious whether intensive exercise at the start of a fast accelerates the beneficial effects of fasting,” said Dr. Gibbons.

“Fasting and exercise are rarely studied together. We believe that fasting and exercise can be used together to optimize BDNF production in the human brain,” he added.