The Link Between Exercise and Brain Health
As the weather starts to change this fall we may be more inclined to turn inside and exercise less. With restrictions tightening again as well as we weather the storms of another COVID-19 wave, many of our options for fitness may be limited again. But for certain we need exercise in our lives for the benefits that it provides.
Today let’s talk about some of the most important benefits of regular exercise and how you can keep going this fall and winter in spite of the circumstances
Most of us are familiar with the benefits of exercise when it comes to cardiovascular health. It’s good for our heart and our lungs to get our heart rate up and sweat.
What’s just as helpful and important to know about is that exercise improves many factors related to brain health as well. Right now as we combat the pandemic we need to stay as healthy as possible and keeping our brains sharp is part of that.
Feel Good Neurotransmitters
The first beneficial effect of exercise on the brain is one that we often associate with long-distance runners and the Runner’s High effect but the release neurotransmitters that boost our mood come from any type of exercise.
Movement and increasing circulation is something we’ve evolved to do and so our brains naturally light up during exercise to release neurotransmitters that make us feel good.
Pushing hard during a workout does provide additional results as the hormones released during harder exercise further stimulates the release of endorphins which will then give us the euphoric effects of the Runner’s High.
Our brain’s reward systems also feel a lot of satisfaction from these hard workouts and will also give us a boost of dopamine.
Get an accountability partner or set up regular sessions on your calendar to exercise. During this pandemic, we need to stay positive and keep our brains healthy.
Boosting Memory
In addition to making us feel good, research shows that we can improve our memory through regular exercise. The increase in blood flow to the brain is the first reason why exercise has been linked to improving memory. It is often recommended that students take regular breaks from school work to exercise and help with memory consolidation when studying or between different assignments. The same practice has also been used by many of the greatest writers and thinkers, including Darwin, Thoreau, Emerson, Einstein, Steve Jobs, and countless more.
If there’s something important for you to study and remember, after going through the practice of reading through it, get out for a walk or do some sort of exercise to give your brain some time to process it and let it set in.
Higher Performance
The vast majority of individuals who perform at a high level in their lives are regular exercisers. On average, the people we see making the biggest difference in our communities and around the world are incorporating exercise into their routine at least four times per week as a way to stay healthy and keep stress under control.
Maybe you don’t see yourself currently as a high-performance individual but whatever goals you have for yourself if you start to treat exercise as a more important part of your routine you are going to automatically see a rise in your productivity and quality of life.
Preventing Aging and Cognitive Decline
Well-exercised brains are healthy brains. As we age we start to see declines in memory and cognitive performance but research shows that regular exercise is one of the best things that we can do to slow down this process. Often exercise along with brain training activities can completely halt cognitive decline for several more decades than where we usually see it begin and in some cases, reverse certain conditions.
Stress can be one of the conditions that lead to more rapid cognitive decline, including drastically affecting memory and so now more than ever we want to use the power of exercise to help us in fighting off stress.
Sometimes We Just Need The Reminder
We all know that exercise is good for us and important to get regularly but sometimes we just need that reminder of all the benefits it is providing for us. So to keep your brain and your body this fall, get your workout routine set. It’s going to help to boost your mood and stay positive during these challenging times and help to fight off stress while keeping your brain functioning at a higher level.
If you want more ideas on how to make exercise routines easy to stick to, read this here: