Moderate exercise such as walking can have a direct effect on retinal health and vision, according to latest research.
Mice who exercised on a mini treadmill for one hour per day, for five days a week, had double the retinal function and photoreceptor nuclei of inactive mice, found a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience last week.
Following a two-week trial, researchers at the Emory Eye Center and the Atlanta VA Medical Center exposed the mice to either toxic bright light for fours hours to induce photoreceptor degeneration or maintenance dim light.
They also found exercise increased retinal BDNF protein levels by 20 per cent compared with inactive mice, concluding that aerobic exercise was neuroprotective for retinal degeneration and that this effect was mediated by BDNF signalling. BDNF had been found to be involved in the beneficial effects of exercise in other studies, according to a statement.
Senior author Machelle Pardue said: ‘This research may lead to tailored exercise regimens or combination therapies in treatments of retinal degenerative diseases. Possibly in the near future, ophthalmologists could be prescribing exercise as a low-cost intervention to delay vision loss.
‘One point to emphasise is that the exercise the animals engaged in is really comparable to a brisk walk. One previous study that examined the effects of exercise on vision in humans had examined a select group of long distance runners. Our results suggest it’s possible to attain these effects with more moderate exercise.’
The researchers were also studying whether exercise was beneficial in other retinal diseases such as glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.
