A collection of studies from a number of resources have all proven the unseen benefits of exercise on the human brain. While benefits such as weight loss and a reduction in a number of physical problems are obvious, other, less commonly realized benefits are just as important. In 2000, for instance, Dutch researchers found that men who were already at higher risk for developing Alzheimer's disease based on a particular gene that they possessed could reduce that risk simply by increasing exercise. Those who remained sedentary were as much as four times more likely to develop the disease.

Michelle Voss, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Iowa is the author of a 2011 review on the effects of various types of exercise on human cognition and the overall physical health of the brain. After reviewing the data of more than one hundred studies, Voss discovered that the brain had different positive effects between aerobic exercise and others, such as resistance training.

According to Voss, people who focused on aerobic type exercises, such as running, cardio dance or others had an increased ability to concentrate on a task. They also had the ability to handle multiple things at one time and to do long term planning. The exercisers who chose resistance training had more concentration and were able to focus amid distractions. Experts in sports psychology believe that people choose their exercises based on the way their brain already works, while others disagree saying that the exercises might strengthen these skills in the brain.

But, Voss has more than speculation in the review. A number of MRIs of people, mostly in their sixties, showed that there was a definite increase in both gray and white matter after just six months of exercise. Those increases happened in two key areas, the prefrontal and temporal lobes of the brain where shrinkage tends to start happening in the late fifties to early sixties. Another area, the hippocampus typically shrinks by as much as two percent in this same time period but exercisers not only stopped loss but had brain growth in that area. The hippocampus is vital for mental formation.

In another study performed by Colombia University researchers, exercise was shown to be effective in reducing the risk of transient ischemic attacks, which are also called silent strokes. These attacks are an early indicator of an increased risk of major strokes. Those who were more physically active reduced their risk by fifty percent. That study was published in the journal, Neurology.