GENEVA (Dispatches) -- If sport is good for the body, it also seems to be good for the brain, report neuroscientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE).
 Very often, right after a sporting exercise -- especially endurance such as running or cycling -- one feels physical and psychological well-being. This feeling is due to endocannabinoids, small molecules produced by the body during physical exertion. "They circulate in the blood and easily cross the blood-brain barrier. They then bind to specialize cellular receptors and trigger this feeling of euphoria. In addition, these same molecules bind to receptors in the hippocampus, the main brain structure for memory processing,” says Kinga Igloi, lecturer in the laboratory of Professor Sophie Schwartz, at UNIGE Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Basic Neurosciences, who led this work.
The scientists observed changes in the activation of brain structures with functional MRI and performed blood tests to measure endocannabinoid levels. The different analyses concur: the faster individuals are, the more they activate their hippocampus (the brain area of memory) and the caudate nucleus (a brain structure involved in motor processes). Moreover, their endocannabinoid levels follow the same curve: the higher the level after intense physical effort, the more the brain is activated and the better the brain’s performance.