Healthier Brains 2024

The Importance of Exercise on Brain Health

Dr. Cindy Barha was the featured presenter for our 2024 Healthier Brains Community Presentation. Dr. Barha shared a wide range of information about the connection between exercise and brain health, including:

• Different types of physical activity
• The benefits of exercise
• Tips to incorporate more physical activity into your daily life
• Sex and gender differences relating to exercise and dementia risk
• Genetic influences on dementia and exercise

Attendee Takeaways

In a follow-up survey, we asked Healthier Brains attendees what some of their most significant takeaways were from the presentation:

• The information about more women developing the disease was very interesting. It confirmed to me how important it is to be proactive with aging well.
• To encourage listeners to start/increase physical activity, especially females. Be inventive in ways to increase physical activity (housework, dancing) and to involve others. All forms of physical activity help: Aerobic and Resistance.

Physical Activity

Dr. Barha explained what physical activity is and the difference between structured(exercise) and unstructured physical activity(lifestyle). Both can be incorporated into daily routine, based on individual abilities and needs.

“You don't need to be out there training to run a marathon or trying to look like Dwayne The Rock Johnson, even as little as 10 minutes a day of brisk walking in older age is beneficial for the brain. We know resistance training is really important for brain health.”

-Dr. Cindy Barha

The Overall Benefits of Exercise that Dr. Barha notes are:

• Improved memory and brain function
• Reduced blood pressure
• Improved cardiovascular health
• Increased energy
• Improved muscle strength and mobility  
• Decreased stress

Creative ways you incorporate more physical activity into your daily life:

Dr. Barha gave us tips to work in more exercise into your daily routine and how to encourage people who are unmotivated to purposely exercise and encourages us all to move more throughout the day, including:

• Taking the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator,
• Gardening and mowing the lawn
• Vacuuming the carpets in your house more often
• Shoveling your driveway during winter
• Park further away from stores when shopping to get more steps in

“Research shows that playing with your grandchildren, even if you're not running around after them, just interacting with them is good for your brain in different ways.”

- Dr. Cindy Barha

These types of activities may not seem like they're exercise because they don't involve you going to the gym or to a fitness facility, but combining these activities will increase your level of physical activity and benefit your brain.

Sex and Gender Differences

Dr. Barha discussed how more women develop dementia than men, with 65% of dementia cases being women. She also elaborated on how beneficial exercise is for women’s brain health after pregnancy and how the number of pregnancies a woman has can impact her risk of developing dementia. Dr. Barha further explained how sex and gender can both be risk factors for dementia.

Genetics

Dr. Barha talked about the protein brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and how it plays an important role in neuronal survival and growth, serves as a neurotransmitter modulator, and participates in neuronal plasticity, which is essential for learning and memory.

BDNF is a protein in our brains developed through exercise that's involved in neuroplasticity and neuronal health so we need it to keep our brains healthy.

She also discussed the APOE4 gene as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. This gene is known to be one of the greatest risks for developing Alzheimer's disease, if this gene is inherited from both parents. An interesting fact told by Dr. Barha, is there are sex differences in this gene as well, as women have a 12 times more likely chance to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

“Last year the great actor Chris Hemsworth AKA Thor told the world that he actually carries two copies of the APOE4 gene variant, one from each of his parents. So, he's actually four times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease as he gets older than another man.

But… if Thor was a female, she would actually be 12 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. So carrying one copy is related to two times greater risk in males and eight times greater risk in females so there really is a clear sex difference in this genetic risk factor.”

-Dr. Cindy Barha

Bio

Dr. Cindy Barha is an Assistant Professor in her second year in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary and a Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Neuroscience, Brain Health and Exercise. She completed her PhD in Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia followed by postdoctoral training in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of British Columbia that was funded by a fellowship from the Alzheimer’s Society and Brain Canada.

She has published over 58 peer-reviewed papers, and her translational research aims to promote healthy brain aging by determining who benefits from exercise by focusing on biological sex and genetics, when in the lifespan to most effectively intervene with exercise (i.e., pregnancy, midlife, older age), and how exercise exerts its influence on the brain.