It is no secret that exercise is good for your health.
But now, for the first time, Bay Area researchers have been examining human brains to learn exactly how physical activity could help prevent diseases such as Alzheimer's.
The study followed older adults, who wore activity monitors and then donated their brains after they passed away. Doctors were especially interested in examining their synapses – the critical connectors for nerve transmission.
"We saw a linear relationship between levels of activity and levels of these synaptic proteins, which essentially suggests to us that the more you engage in these behaviors, the better your outcomes," said Dr. Kaitlin Casaletto, assistant professor of neurology at UCSF and lead author of the study.
Casaletto was a guest on KCBS Radio's "As Prescribed" on Thursday.
Beyond just prescribing more exercise, she's analyzing the biological findings in the hope of bottling them.
"We've thought a lot about trying to understand the molecules that get up-regulated when we exercise and then promote brain health," Casaletto explained. "We've identified some that could be promising and so we're kind of trying to pursue those molecules and figure out if these could be treatment targets in the future."
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