Metabolic Myelin Plasticity: The Brain’s Energetic Trade-off During Endurance Exercise
- Healing_ Passion
- Mar 25
- 1 min read
A new study in Nature Metabolism (Ramos-Cabrer et al., 2025) shows that brain myelin content drops by up to 30% in key white matter regions after a marathon—but recovers in 2 months.
Why?
Under extreme energy demand, the body may tap into myelin lipids as a fuel reserve, prioritizing performance over protection.
🧠💥 This flips the script on brain-body energy conservation. Instead of safeguarding structure, the brain sacrifices insulation (temporarily) to keep motor and cognitive function online. It’s a bold trade-off: function over form.
This phenomenon—called metabolic myelin plasticity—might redefine how we understand brain-body energy dynamics in stress, disease, or high performance.
Ramos-Cabrer, P., Cabrera-Zubizarreta, A., Padro, D., Matute-González, M., Rodríguez-Antigüedad, A., & Matute, C. (2025). Reversible reduction in brain myelin content upon marathon running. Nature Metabolism. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-025-01244-7
#Neuroscience #MarathonRunning #BrainHealth #Metabolism #NatureMetabolism #Myelin #EnduranceTraining #EnergyMetabolism #BrainBodyConnection
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