Work out long enough and hard enough, and your body will change getting leaner and stronger. Now, theres growing evidence that exercise changes your brain, too in ways that researchers can actually see.

Thanks to advances in brain-imaging technology, new research is shedding light on how exercise not only affects but physically alters the brain making the mind sharper and more resistant to the effects of aging. And some of the most exciting work is under way in Dallas.

Read on for three ways that exercise affects your brain.

Better blood flow

Until now, medical experts werent sure whether exercise increased blood flow to the brain. To test that, a three-month study tracked a group of previously sedentary women, ages 60 or older, who walked briskly for 30 to 50 minutes three or four times per week. Researchers used Doppler ultrasonography to measure blood flow to the brain at the beginning and end of the three-month period and found that blood flow increased an average of 11 percent to 15 percent.

Bottom line: Whats good for your heart is also good for your brain. Exercise is medicine, said Rong Zhang, director of the Cerebrovascular Lab at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine. When you increase blood flow, that increases the oxygen supply, glucose and other nutrients to the brain, and that makes your neurons happier.

SOURCE: Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, Texas Health Presbyterian of Dallas, in conjunction with UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Center for Vital Longevity at UT Dallas

Improved memory

Researchers tracked a group of healthy adults, ages 55 to 75, who previously had been sedentary. After participants worked out for 60 minutes three times a week for 12 weeks, MRI scans compared changes in the brains of the exercisers with those of a control group that didnt exercise. The exercisers showed improved memory, caused by improved blood flow to the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls memory.

Bottom line: Forget about miracle elixirs and quickie brain games. Physical exercise improves memory, says Sandra Chapman, founder and chief director of the Center for BrainHealth. It is one thing you can do to keep your brain healthier and help you think better.

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The key to brain health? Get moving, experts say