• Shahid Bashir, Fahad Al-Sultan, Abdullah Abu Jamea, Abdullah Almousa, Mohammed Alnafisah, Maha Alzahrani, Turki Abualait, and Woo-Kyoung Yoo.
• Department of Neurophysiology, Neuroscience Center, King Fahad Specialist Hospital Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2021 Sep 3; 100 (35): e27015e27015.

AbstractPhysical exercise leads to structural changes in the brain. However, it is unclear whether the initiation or continuous practice of physical exercise causes this effect and whether brain connectivity benefits from exercise. We examined the effect of 6 months of exercise on the brain in participants who exercise regularly (n = 25) and in matched healthy controls (n = 20). Diffusion tensor imaging brain scans were obtained from both groups. Our findings demonstrate that regular physical exercise significantly increases the integrity of white matter fiber tracts, especially those related to frontal function. This implies that exercise improves brain connectivity in healthy individuals, which has important implications for understanding the effect of fitness programs on the brains of healthy subjects.Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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