This repository contains the data, analysis scripts, and results from my research on how aerobic and anaerobic exercise acutely affect brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in healthy adults.
BDNF is a neurotrophin involved in neuroplasticity, memory, and learning. Increasing BDNF before learning activities may enhance knowledge retention and cognitive performance.
Our work leverages meta-analysis techniques to compare the acute effects of the two exercise modalities on circulating BDNF concentrations.
“When taking a break, what type of exercise is most effective at increasing productivity afterward?”
We address this by evaluating whether aerobic or anaerobic exercise produces a significantly greater acute increase in BDNF.
- Dataset Source: Dinoff, Adam, et al. (2017) meta-analysis dataset on acute exercise and BDNF.
- Added Data: Supplemented anaerobic studies to improve statistical power.
- Statistical Tests: Welch two-sample t-tests on both ΔBDNF and Cohen’s d (effect size).
- Outlier Sensitivity Check: Removal of ±3 SD outliers to verify robustness of results.
- No statistically significant difference between aerobic and anaerobic modalities in ΔBDNF or effect size (p > 0.05).
- Both exercise types acutely elevated BDNF.
- Adding 12 anaerobic studies roughly doubled statistical power for detecting between-group differences.
- Exercise—regardless of modality—can be used acutely to elevate BDNF levels.
- Overlap in energy systems (aerobic phases in anaerobic training, and vice versa) may reduce observed differences.
- Mechanisms may involve lactate production, catecholamine release, and increased cerebral blood flow, but are not fully established.
- Expand dataset with underrepresented anaerobic protocols.
- Explore alternative outcome measures (e.g., BDNF mRNA expression, other neurotrophins).
- Investigate moderating variables like age, sex, fitness level, and training status.
- Assess time-course changes in BDNF post-exercise.
If using this repository or data in your work, please cite:
Dinoff, Adam; Herrmann, Nathan; Swardfager, Walter; Lanctôt, Krista L. (2017). Dataset for: The effect of acute exercise on blood concentrations of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in healthy adults: A meta-analysis. Wiley. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4980764.v1
This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.