New article: Walking increases the flow of blood to the brain read more at here http://www.spinonews.com/index.php/medical-news/item/3351-walking-increases-the-flow-of-blood-to-the-brain

A new study found the impact of a foot while walking sends pressure waves through the arteries that increases blood supply to the brain.

Researcher Ernest Greene and his colleagues at New Mexico Highlands University, said, Activities such as bicycling, walking and running may optimize brain function and overall sense of well-being during exercise. The new data strongly suggest that brain blood flow is very dynamic.

The blood supply to the brain, cerebral blood flow (CBF), was thought to be involuntarily regulated by the body and relatively unaffected by changes in the blood pressure caused by exercise or exertion.

In previous research, the foot's impact while running is associated with backward-flowing waves in the arteries that help regulate circulation to the brain. These waves are in sync with the runner's heart rate and stride.

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In the new study, using ultrasound technology scientists calculates the internal carotid artery blood velocity waves and arterial diameters of 12 healthy young adults to calculate the blood flow to their brains as they walked at a steady pace. Researchers examined the effects of walking, which involves a lighter foot impact than running.

Researchers said, the new data strongly suggest that brain blood flow is very dynamic and depends directly on cyclic aortic pressures that interact with retrograde pressure pulses from foot impacts.   

There is a continuum of hemodynamic effects on human brain blood flow within pedaling, walking and running. These activities may optimize brain perfusion, function, and overall sense of well-being during exercise.

 

Ernest Greene said, there is an optimizing rhythm between brain blood flow and walking. Stride rates and their foot impacts are within the range of our normal heart rates when we are briskly moving along.