The famous Roman sentence "Mens sana in corpore sana" has more and more scientific arguments in its favor. In an article published in the journal PLOS One , researchers from the University of Granada reveal that people who practice sports regularly have greater cognitive performance than those who lead predominantly sedentary lives. Specifically, the data from this research indicate that athletes show better sustained attention , and therefore react more quickly to an external stimulus presented in an unpredictable way during the execution of a monotonous task.
In addition, among the many benefits of regular physical activity, the authors of the study highlight an improvement in vagal tone, that is, a more efficient functioning of the autonomic nervous system and greater heart rate variability . It even seems that the activity is related to structural and functional adaptations on the central nervous system: sport prevents neurodegeneration, promotes neurogenesis and the growth of blood capillaries in areas such as the hippocampus, cortex, cerebellum and basal ganglia.
