How Different Types of Cardio Affect Blood Flow to Your Brain
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We all know that regular exercise is good for your body—but it’s also great for your brain. Aerobic exercise improves circulation, sharpens thinking, and may even help prevent cognitive decline. But does the type of cardio you do—interval training vs. continuous exercise—make a difference for brain health?
A new study from researchers in New Zealand and Japan took a closer look at this question. They tested how two popular exercise styles affect blood flow and the health of blood vessels in the brain.
Why Brain Blood Flow Matters
Your brain needs a steady flow of blood to function properly. That blood carries oxygen and nutrients to brain cells and helps remove waste. If blood flow is disrupted, your risk for cognitive decline and conditions like dementia goes up.
One important marker of brain blood vessel health is something called cerebral flow-mediated dilation (cFMD). It’s a measure of how well blood vessels in the brain expand and contract in response to changes—kind of like a "flexibility test" for your arteries.
Interval vs. Continuous Exercise: What’s the Difference?
- Continuous exercise means keeping a steady pace—like cycling or jogging without stopping—for a set time.
- Interval exercise alternates between harder bursts and easier recovery periods. Think sprinting for one minute, then walking for one minute, repeated several times.
Both are good for heart and lung health, but they challenge the body differently. Some past research suggested that interval training might give a stronger boost to brain blood flow. This study tested that idea directly.
The Study Setup
Researchers recruited 14 healthy young men, all around 21 years old. Each participant completed two types of cycling workouts on separate days:
- Continuous workout: 32 minutes of steady cycling
- Interval workout: 8 rounds of 2 minutes at low intensity and 2 minutes at high intensity (total time also 32 minutes)
Both workouts used the same total energy output, so the only real difference was the intensity pattern. Before and after each session, the scientists used ultrasound and special breathing tests to measure cerebral blood flow and vessel flexibility (cFMD).
What They Found
Here’s what the results showed:
- Interval training increased blood flow shear stress—a good sign that blood was flowing strongly through brain arteries.
- However, this didn’t lead to better blood vessel function (as measured by cFMD) when compared to continuous exercise.
- In fact, cFMD stayed about the same after both workouts, meaning neither type of exercise had a short-term advantage for brain vessel flexibility.
What Does This Mean for You?
Even though interval training caused stronger blood flow during and after the workout, it didn’t translate into a measurable difference in artery health—at least right away.
This suggests a few things:
- Both types of cardio are equally effective in the short term when it comes to supporting healthy brain blood vessels.
- The benefits of exercise for your brain may come more from long-term consistency rather than one workout.
- Other factors—like workout intensity, timing, and overall health—may influence results more than exercise style alone.
Why the Results Still Matter
Understanding how exercise affects the brain at a deeper level helps researchers design better workouts for brain health—especially for older adults or people at risk for stroke or cognitive decline.
This study also shows that more isn’t always better: pushing yourself harder (as in interval training) doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get faster results.
What matters most? Moving regularly, in a way you enjoy.
Takeaways for Everyday Exercisers
- Do what you enjoy. Whether it’s intervals or steady-paced cardio, both benefit your brain and body.
- Consistency beats intensity. One session won’t change much—but doing it regularly will.
- Pay attention to recovery. Even intense workouts need time to show full effects on the brain.
- Stay balanced. Combine cardio with strength, flexibility, and mental training for the best brain support.
Conclusion
Interval training gets a lot of attention for its time-saving and fat-burning benefits, but when it comes to brain blood vessel health, it’s not clearly better than steady cardio—at least in the short term. This study in Physiological Reports highlights that both workout styles can support brain circulation, so the best choice is the one you can stick with.