School interval training altered regional brain volumes in adolescents
A small MRI study found larger volumes in some brain regions and smaller volumes in others after a school exercise program.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
In this small adolescent study, school-based interval training changed several regional brain volumes compared with a control group. Total hippocampal volume increased more, while some other regions showed decreases. These MRI findings describe brain structure; the abstract does not demonstrate better memory, improved mental health or a uniformly beneficial pattern of brain change.
The MRI analysis involved a small subset of adolescents. The abstract reports brain structure, not demonstrated improvements in thinking or mental health, and the authors call for larger studies to replicate the findings.
What researchers found
Difference in total hippocampal volume change
Interval training versus control at 6 months, from adjusted MRI analyses.
How change was measured
Participants had MRI scans before the intervention and at follow-up. The analysis accounted for sex, weight status, overall intracranial volume and class grouping when estimating differences in regional gray matter changes.
Regions changed differently
The exercise group also retained more gray matter in a left frontal region, while nucleus accumbens and putamen volumes decreased. The abstract does not establish how this mixture of changes relates to everyday cognitive performance.
The original publication
Effects of High-Intensity Interval Training on Subcortical and Cortical Brain Volumes in Older Adolescents: Findings From the "Burn 2 Learn" Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.
Valkenborghs SR, Hillman CH, Smith JJ et al.
Psychophysiology · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41563142
- Record checked
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