Here's how exercising your legs can prove to be healthy for your brain

A recent study has shown that neurological health depends on signals sent by leg muscles to the brain and vice versa. Now scientists have been able to determine why motor neuron disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal muscular atrophy and other neurological diseases often rapidly decline when their movement becomes limited. “Our study supports the notion that people who are unable to do load-bearing exercises -- such as patients who are bed-ridden, or even astronauts on extended travel -- not only lose muscle mass, but their body chemistry is altered at the cellular level and even their nervous system is adversely impacted,” said a scientist.


“It is no accident that we are meant to be active: to walk, run, crouch to sit, and use our leg muscles to lift things,” the scientist continued. The researchers conducted a study on mice wherein a few of them were allowed to use only their front legs and not their hind legs while the others were allowed to use their bodies normally. The research proved that the mice who were not allowed to use their hind legs showed a 70 percent decline in neural stem activity as compared to the mice who were allowed to use their bodies completely. “Neurological health is not a one-way street with the brain telling the muscles “lift, walk, and so on,” the scientist concluded. So, go one, exercise those leg muscles.