Having good muscle tone as you age your vitally important for your heart health as well as your longevity. Exercise is one of the best fountains of youth that we have for our bodies for stop but what about for our brain health?
Irisin is a chemical hormone released from our muscles when you undergo strenuous activity such as weightlifting and resistance training. This magical hormone goes around our body and even crosses our blood brain barrier. Once it gets into your brain it does all sorts of things to improve the health of your brain such as increasing brain derive near a trophic factor. This has been shown in Clinical studies too improve memory and even alleviate neuros psychiatric symptoms such as depression.
One of the most amazing things about this chemical is that can improve your memory and in fact help a part of your brain called the hippocampus. The hippocampus is a part of the brain that is involved in forming new memories. A recent clinical study found that in 65-year-old individuals that exercised, had their hippocampus grow simply by increasing Irisin levels when they exercise which is a critical part of the brain that is involved in memory and has been associated with benefits for conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.
So, while you should exercise for your heart health think of your brain and in fact your exercise can significantly grow very important parts of your brain.
Reference: Pace T, Levenstein JM, Quigley BL, Houston R, Bouças AP, Andrews SC. The Myokine Irisin Represents an Indirect Pathway Linking Exercise to Hippocampal Subfields Relevant to Alzheimer’s Disease and Neurogenesis. Aging Cell. 2026 May;25(5):e70497. doi: 10.1111/acel.70497. PMID: 42033046; PMCID: PMC13109656.
About the Author, Stephen Eddey
Stephen Eddey is a qualified health practitioner, educator, and consultant with extensive training in chemistry, naturopathy, and health science. He holds an Associate Diploma in Chemistry, a Diploma of Applied Science (Naturopathy), a Bachelor of Complementary Medicine, and a Master of Health Science, with postgraduate research focused on the treatment of obesity using low-carbohydrate diets. Stephen has held senior technical roles within the natural health industry, including Technical Consultant at Metagenics, and has over 10 years’ experience teaching Naturopathy. He currently works as a Consultant with ATP Science in Brisbane and is an accredited member of the CMA, applying an evidence-based, preventative approach to health and education.