Scientists have long known that regular exercise can lower your heart rate and strengthen your cardiovascular system.
However, new research on rats suggests that aerobic workouts may also reshape part of the body’s nervous system.
The study, published on September 23 in Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic & Clinical, examined the stellate ganglia, a pair of nerve clusters in the neck that help control the heart’s activity.
After 10 weeks of moderate treadmill training, the rats’ right-side ganglion showed a large jump in neuron numbers but a shrinkage in neuron size, while the left-side ganglion saw the opposite, with fewer changes in number but an increase in neuron size.
