The maintenance or increase in anterior mid-cingulate cortex and white matter tracts observed in a study was attributed to the behavioral commitment and resource allocation required for cardiovascular training, rather than a direct physiological effect of the exercise itself on these specific brain areas.

“the specific brain areas that maintained or in some cases increased in volume as a consequence of doing these three hours per week of moderate intensity cardiovascular training included of course the anterior mid singulate cortex that was actually the primary location in which the maintenance of brain brain volume was observed and in some cases increases in brain volume were observed right this is a group of people who normally would be losing volume size of their anterior mid singulate cortex but for which 3 hours a week of moderate intensity cardiovascular training maintained the volume the size of that anterior mid singulate cortex and in some cases increased the volume the size of anterior mid singulate cortex and they also observed a maintenance or increase in the size of the anterior white m matter tracks”

“what can allow you to activate and increase the size of your anterior mid singulate cortex well it's very simple to do things that you don't want to do I should be very clear we're talking about things that can be done safely that aren't going to damage you physically or psychologically but we are talking about exercise or in some cases cognitive exercise but today we're talking about physical exercise that you would much rather not do”