Aerobic Exercise, But Not Resistance Training, Promotes Neurogenesis in Rat Brains

Both animal and human studies have shown that regular aerobic exercise is healthy for the brain. Finnish investigators asked whether the type of exercise matters.

These researchers developed strains of rats that responded either robustly or poorly to aerobic exercise. Individual rats of both strains were trained in one of four exercise programs: sustained aerobic exercise, high-intensity interval training (HIT; defined as short-duration, intense anaerobic exercise), resistance training, or sedentary. Upon completion of the assigned programs, hippocampal neurogenesis was significantly greater in rats that performed sustained aerobic exercise — but not HIT or resistance training — than in sedentary rats. These results were noted in both strain…