14 DAY TRIAL // It is no news that a high intake of alcohol can harm a person's overall health condition and even affect their brain.
Still, a new study claims that the damage caused to one's brain by alcohol consumption can be prevented and even reversed to a certain extent with the help of regular exercise.
The University of Colorado Boulder researchers who pieced together this study maintain that those who drink a tad too much need not even force themselves into following a strict and painstaking fitness routine in order to experience said benefits.
Thus, it appears that aerobic exercise such as going for a walk, running or cycling is enough to fight back the negative consequences of a high alcohol intake.
The University's official website explains that, more often than not, alcohol causes significant damage to the brain's so-called white matter, which is made up of nerve cells whose purpose is that of facilitating the communication between distinct parts of the brain.
The damage sustained by the brain's white matter translates into the individual's having a rather difficult time processing various bits and pieces of information.
“We found that for people who drink a lot and exercise a lot, there was not a strong relationship between alcohol and white matter,” doctoral student Hollis Karoly explained.
“But for people who drink a lot and don’t exercise, our study showed the integrity of white matter is compromised in several areas of the brain. It basically means white matter is not moving messages between areas of the brain as efficiently as normal,” the doctoral student further elaborated on the matter at hand.
The researchers' assumption that regular aerobic exercise might help protect the brain against alcohol damage is based on data collected while analyzing the brains of a total of 60 volunteers who were either light or heavy drinkers.
A detailed account of this investigation and its findings was published on April 16 in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.