Keeping fit into our later years is not just good for our muscles and heart, but it also helps our brain function better as well as we age. Myokines apparently is the reason behind this as movement improves muscle strength but also positively affects the brain too. Myokines have the ability to affect cognition, mood, and emotional behavior. This is just part of the growing evidence proving that we need good physical fitness to help our brains work better too. Perhaps, this is why it's important to stay physically active as we age for our brain's sake. Check out this article in MIT Technology Review. How do strong muscles keep your brain healthy? There’s a robust molecular language being spoken between your muscles and your brain. By Bonnie Tsuiarchive We’ve often thought about muscle as a thing that exists separately from intellect—and perhaps that is even oppositional to it, one taking resources from the other. The truth is, our brains and muscles are in constant conversation with each other, sending electrochemical signals back and forth. In a very tangible way, our lifelong brain health depends on keeping our muscles moving. Skeletal muscle is the type of muscle that allows you to move your body around; it is one of the biggest organs in the human body. It is also an endocrine tissue, which means it releases signaling molecules that travel to other parts of your body to tell them to do things. The protein molecules that transmit messages from the skeletal muscle to other tissues—including the brain—are called myokines. Read more