Risk factors in later life- Physical activity- your brain on exercise

Exercise physically changes your brain and the more you exercise the stronger those positive changes become. After you exercise, the levels of  serotonin and dopamine increase in your brain- this is one reason why you feel amazing after you exercise- it releases those feel good neurotransmitters. Exercise also stimulates the production of a protein called Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor or BDNF for short. This amazing protein helps you to form stronger neural connections.

While you cannot 100% protect yourself from developing dementia, by exercising you can build a stronger brain, with a bigger hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (as these two brain areas are really vulnerable to age related cognitive decline *see the next topic for an very interesting study)- and in doing this you might be able to halt the progression of Alzheimer’s disease or delay it’s onset- although the jury is still out on this.