Core muscles directly control brain blood flow, study finds

Michigan State University and Penn State researchers discovered that contracting core muscles trigger rapid changes in brain blood flow. Abdominal muscle engagement increases pressure in blood vessels connected to the brain, causing major veins to constrict within a tenth of a second, boosting circulation faster than previously understood arterial mechanisms.

Veins are not simply passive pipes. Our results highlight the other side of circulation. What happens to blood as it leaves the brain can be just as dynamic and physiologically important.