Cambridge University neuroscientists have discovered jogging a couple of days a week stimulates the brain _leading to a big impact on mental ability.

They say a few days of running leads to the growth of hundreds of thousands of new brain cells in a region linked to the formation and recollection of memories. The discovery could lead to new ways of potentially slowing down deterioration of mental ability which can affect many people in old age.

Researchers used two groups of mice, one of which had unlimited access to a running wheel throughout, whey they clocked up an average of 15 miles (24km) a day, while the other mice formed a control group. During the brief training sessions, they were placed in front of a computer screen which displayed two identical squares side by side.

According to the study, if they nudged the one on the left with their nose they received a sugar pellet reward. If they nudged the one on the right, they got nothing. They were then subjected to a memory test where the more they nudged the correct square, the better they scored. The running mice scored nearly twice as high as the control group during the memory test, while the greatest improvement occurred in the later stages of the experiment, when the two squares were so close they nearly touched.

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