Exercise has many benefits but most of people associate exercise with weight loss. In a recent studies, it has been proved that, exercise doesn't correlate strongly with weight loss. Sure, it increases muscle mass, which increases mitochondria subsequently your metabolism, but if you exercise without paying attention to diet, all of that going to be a waste. What people doesn't know or focus on is exercise gives a great benefit to brain which is contributed by a protein called Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF).

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BDNF is a protein of the neurotrophin family which is encoded by the BDNF gene. It has been long thought that physical activity is not correlated with learning and memory. There are few studies which proved that exercise markedly increase BDNF gene expression in the brain which in turn increase formation of the BDNF protein and activate signaling pathway making learning more effective. Even though this is well known, but it is still unknown whether exercises really increase BDNF or there are other factors which affect the expression of BDNF gene. The mechanism were not understood.

It is not until 2016, where a group of researcher published a paper entitled "Exercise promotes the expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) through the action of the ketone body β-hydroxybutyrate". It provide information and link between exercise, production of ketone bodies and the expression of BDNF gene. Ketone bodies are produced in a large amount after fasting, low carbohydrate diet and intense exercise. During and after exercise, the concentration of ketone bodies in the brain can increase which lead to the expression of BDNF gene.

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Low level of BDNF has been associated with a few diseases such as schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and aging. It is an important component of long term memory.

References

• Noakes T, Spedding M. Olympics: Run for your life. Nature. 2012;487:295–296. doi: 10.1038/487295a.
• Isackson PJ, Huntsman MM, Murray KD, Gall CM. BDNF mRNA expression is increased in adult rat forebrain after limbic seizures: temporal patterns of induction distinct from NGF. Neuron. 1991;6:937–948. doi: 10.1016/0896-6273(91)90234-Q.
• Sleiman S. F., Henry J., Al-Haddad R., El Hayek L., Abou Haidar E., Stringer T., et al. . (2016). Exercise promotes the expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) through the action of the ketone body β-hydroxybutyrate. Elife 5:e15092. 10.7554/eLife.15092