If you want to improve and more importantly save your brain, there may be nothing better that you can do than exercise. It shouldn’t surprise us that the brain, which is a physical organ, is directly impacted by the physical health of our bodies. There is a lot of truth in the adage “healthy body, healthy mind.” We tend to think of thoughts as something separate from our physical self, but they are not. Here are some of the benefits of exercising on the brain:
- Increases blood vessels and blood flow through the brain.
- Increases levels of oxygen in the blood.
- Speeds up the removal of waste products produced by your brain.
- Increases neurogenesis (new brain cells) in the hippocampus This area of the mind is critical to memory and learning.
- Synaptic plasticity is increased in the hippocampus.
- Spine density (used in synaptic connections) increase in the dentate gyrus (part of the hippocampus).
- Reduces stress and the effects of stress which is a potent brain killer.
- Improves sleep and sleep improves all kinds of mental functioning including memory and learning.
- Increases NGF (nerve growth factor)
- Increases the levels neurotransmitters in your mind.
- Increases the levels of hormones in your brain.
- Slows age related atrophy of some areas of the brain.
Nothing yet known will create growth of new brain cells that can become a cognitive reserve as you age better than exercise. No one really knows to what degree physical inactivity is related to decreased cognitive function as we age. But at this point they know enough to say that sitting is the new smoking. In fact, it is becoming widely accepted in scientific circles that the long term effects of a sedentary lifestyle are more damaging than those of smoking. It’s time to get up off the couch and run.
Most of the studies on the effects of exercise have been done with aerobic exercise, BUT some have been done with anaerobic exercise (weight lifting or sprinting). The results are that it too has these beneficial effects on the mind. Combining aerobic and anaerobic exercising produces maximum benefit.
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