Exercise has been shown to have many beneficial effects on the brain, including (but not limited to), increased neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus as well as improvements in spatial learning and memory. Further, running activity decreases neuroinflammation in the brain and subsequently has been shown to decreased the overall number of microglia in the brain. Synaptic plasticity, the strengthening of synapses over time, has also been shown to take place following an exercise regimen.