- Active mice are more likely to have offspring with improved abilities to learn
- Such offspring also show advanced communication between brain cells
- Exercise boosts offsprings’ intelligence by altering DNA in their fathers’ sperm
- Previous research suggests being active boosts oxygen levels to the brain
- This may enhance people’s memories, productivity and decision-making skills
Parents who exercise may boost the intelligence of future generations, new research suggests.
Active mice are more likely to have offspring that show improved abilities to learn compared to rodents whose movement is restricted, a German study found today.
Such offspring also have better communication between cells in the regions of their brains responsible for taking on new information, the research adds, which is known as the hippocampus.
Exercise is thought to boost mice’s intelligence by altering DNA in their fathers’ sperm, according to the researchers.
Previous findings suggest being active improves people’s memories, productivity and decision-making skills by boosting oxygen levels to their brains.
Parents who exercise may boost the intelligence of future generations, study suggests (stock)
Exercise ‘results in a cognitive advantage for offspring’
The researchers found sections of DNA, known as miRNA212 and miRNA132, may be responsible for improved learning in rodents’ offspring.
These DNA sections accumulate in mice’s brains after exercise.
Previous research suggests these stimulate the production of junctions between nerve cells, which allow messages to be transferred and may boost learning.
Study author Professor André Fischer, from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease, said: ‘Presumably, [miRNA212 and miRNA132] modify brain development in a very subtle manner improving the connection of neurons.
‘This results in a cognitive advantage for the offspring.’
The researchers plan to investigate whether miRNA212 and miRNA132 accumulate in human sperm after exercise.
The findings were published in the journal Cell Reports.
Dancing makes people more intelligent
This comes after TV doctor Michael Mosley claimed last February dancing makes people more intelligent.
A single salsa class boosts people’s understanding of new information by eight per cent, focus by 13 per cent and memories by 18 per cent, according to a study broadcast on the BBC’s The Truth About Getting Fit.
Lead author Professor Michael Duncan, from Coventry University, who has never seen such a response from any other kind of exercise, believes salsa is particularly challenging for the brain to process.
The Cuban style of dance forces people to learn and remember new steps to different patterns of music while staying in time with the beat, which means they cannot lose their concentration, according to Professor Duncan.
Although many use their hectic lifestyles as an excuse not to exercise, Dr Mosley argues dancing appears to make people more focused and therefore could help them become more productive with the time they have.
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