We all know the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” but what it should really say is that “an apple and a squat a day keeps the depression, doctors, and weight away!” While I am not suggesting one squat a day will work miracles, I am suggesting that at least an hour of exercise a day will work wonders on your brain, health, and midsection.
Exercise potentially improves all areas of cognitive function, including thinking, learning, and memory, especially with age. In children, exercise is incredibly important for memory development.
Yet, our overall ability to think and understand through intellectualizing and shifting through our thoughts is improved with exercise, regardless of our age. Physical activity increases blood flow to the anterior cingulate cortex (deep inside the middle of the brain), which is activated when we shift between thoughts in a flexible manner. Not only are we better able to form memories when we move, but we also improve communication between these memories, facilitating deep understanding. Adding to these benefits, certain hormones, which are increased during exercise, help improve memory and thinking. These hormones are growth factors called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1).
In fact, research shows that people who exercise often improve their memory performance and show greater increase in brain blood flow to the hippocampus, the key brain region that deals with converting short- to long-term memory and is particularly affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
A growing body of research indicates that it is aerobic exercise such as power walking and cardio, not just physical activity in general, which specifically leads to improved and flexible cognition. Unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as the processed and refined diet with little or no exercise, will actually speed up the process of senescence (cell death) and, in turn, the release of damaging substances from dying cells. These substances, unfortunately, increase the toxic load in the body and brain and are responsible for early aging. Exercise, on the other hand, can help prevent or delay cell death. Exercise is medicine!
Physical activity essentially changes our DNA for the better. The epigenetic pattern of genes that affect fat storage in the body actually changes with exercise. The more we move, the better our bodies get at using and storing fat. Researchers have found that when we exercise, epigenetic changes occur in 7,000 of the 20,000 to 25,000 genes, with positive changes in genes linked to type 2 diabetes and obesity! Other studies have shown that when we exercise, our body almost immediately experiences genetic activation that increases the production of fat-busting proteins.
Exercise can be fun! Below are some tips to help make exercising easier and more exciting:
- Workout with friends. Not only does it make working out more fun, but it also gives you an accountability partner.
- Try different workout classes. There are so many different ways of working out, from yoga to running to Pilates to swimming. Find out what works well for your body type, and maintain a disciplined exercise schedule.
- Have a positive attitude. The mind dominates over everything. So when you exercise, put your mind behind it.
- Reward yourself. Get a nice massage after an intense workout, or splurge on that fancy new pair of sports shoes.
- Make chores a workout! Did you know you shopping burns calories? Next time you find yourself at a Costco, take a few extra laps and get those steps in!
- Find some great music. Music can help motivate you to run that extra mile and help distract you while you work out.
- Sign up for local events. Why not sign up for that local charity race? Or the annual Turkey Trot? Most of these events are either free or come at a small price.
Although exercise fads come and go, the main thing to remember is to stay off your bottom as much as possible and make exercise an important part of your daily routine. Remember, your brain and your body loves exercise!
Dr. Caroline Leaf is a communication pathologist and cognitive neuroscientist with a Master's and Ph.D. in Communication Pathology and a BSc Logopaedics, specializing in cognitive and metacognitive neuropsychology. Since the early 1980s, she has researched the mind-brain connection, the nature of mental health, and the formation of memory. She was one of the first in her field to study how the brain can change (neuroplasticity) with directed mind input.
During her years in clinical practice and her work with thousands of underprivileged teachers and students in her home country of South Africa and in the USA, she developed her theory (called the Geodesic Information Processing theory) of how we think, build memory, and learn, into tools and processes that have transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), learning disabilities (ADD, ADHD), autism, dementia and mental ill-health issues like anxiety and depression. She has helped hundreds of thousands of students and adults learn how to use their mind to detox and grow their brain to succeed in every area of their lives, including school, university, and the workplace.
Dr. Leaf is also the bestselling author of Switch on Your Brain, Think Learn Succeed, Think and Eat Yourself Smart, and many more. She teaches at academic, medical, and neuroscience conferences, churches, and to various audiences around the world.
Dr. Leaf is currently conducting clinical trials using the 5-step program she developed while in private practice to further demonstrate the effectiveness of mind-directed techniques to help relieve mental ill-health problems such as anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts. The primary aim of these trials is to make mental health care more affordable, applicable, and accessible worldwide, and to reduce the stigma around mental health.
