Thought this was quite interesting. If the research is correct, and exercise can generate platelets of different sorts, logic would seem to suggest that an issue with that process could have an adverse affect - but obviously there is a lot of ifs, buts and maybes to be answered there. https://qbi.uq.edu.au/article/2019/03/blood-cells-missing-link-post-exercise-boost
A tenuous correlation could be that in both cases there are likely some kind of repairs going on? I think exercise results in some kind of material depletion that has to be recovered from? But just a wild guess, given I have no medical expertise whatsoever!
Are they saying that exercise promotes neurogenesis via neural stem cells? If so, that does not portend well for us.
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is: There is uncertainty about whether humans have any significant capacity to grow new neurons at all. See: https://www.americanscientist.org/article/no-evidence-for-new-adult-neurons I think you make a good observation, @Barry. The platelets are probably being recruited to deal with the tissue damage we do every time we exert ourselves. My platelet counts have been excessively high for some years now - which is apparently common in some kinds of inflammatory diseases. And I certainly haven't noticed any intellectual benefits Also, reading this, I was reminded of what Hilda Bastian said here about exercise - she described it as "a sacred cow" to many. This whole article sounds okay only because everyone buys into the idea that exercise is "good for you". So sure, maybe amazing stuff really does happen when we do it? But imagine if they were talking about some other intervention - a drug or something. We'd be much more suspicious. Its like exercise research gets a free pass.
