Exercise has been tied to many health benefits–but, did you know it improves your brain health? Exercise has been shown to lower your symptoms and risk of mental health disorders and to improve your overall brain functionality.
Exercise decreases symptoms of mental health disorders such as: depression, anxiety, PTSD, and more. Researchers are finding that those who also exercise less, have greater symptoms of mental health disorders. According to Knowable Magazine, “exercise buffs up the brain as well as the body. Physical exercise triggers the release of a protein known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF is one of the key molecules that encourage the growth of new brain cells — including, possibly, in the hippocampus, a brain region important in memory and learning. Since the hippocampus tends to be smaller or distorted in people with depression, anxiety and schizophrenia, boosting BDNF through exercise may be one way physical activity might help manage these conditions.” This is groundbreaking new evidence! When we think we have no control over our mental health without medicinal intervention, we couldn’t be more wrong. Exercise was actually shown to outperform the effects of medicine when regularly implemented into one’s routine.
Exercise has also been shown to improve your overall focus, ability to learn and memory. According to Harvard Health Publishing, “In a study done at the University of British Columbia, researchers found that regular aerobic exercise, the kind that gets your heart and your sweat glands pumping, appears to boost the size of the hippocampus, the brain area involved in verbal memory and learning. Resistance training, balance and muscle toning exercises did not have the same results.” Furthermore, “Many studies have suggested that the parts of the brain that control thinking and memory (the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal cortex) have greater volume in people who exercise versus people who don’t. ‘Even more exciting is the finding that engaging in a program of regular exercise of moderate intensity over six months or a year is associated with an increase in the volume of selected brain regions,’ says Dr. Scott McGinnis, a neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School.” So, we see that exercise is absolutely critical when it comes to our cognitive performance, brain size and brain health.
Your brain health may just depend on how often you move. So, what’re you waiting for?
