How Exercise Benefits Your Brain Function
Have you ever had to jog your mind? Or pick someone’s brain? Perhaps, some days, your mind feels like a sieve! Or you can’t wrap your brain around something? Exercise can benefit your brain!
As young as 8, we know exercise benefits brain development. But across our lifespan, physical activity is so vital for our brains to help with cognition, reduce anxiety and depression, and improve our quality of life and sleep patterns. Here are three reasons exercise is a no-brainer!
Exercise Reduces Risk of Dementia
Despite its small size, the brain consumes 20% of the body’s oxygen and draws a lot of metabolic energy to function. Exercise has been shown to improve this function by altering the brain’s neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain’s neural networks to change through growth and reorganization. We want to keep our brains flexible and adaptable. Picture a squishy plastic ball that gently flexes and subtly bends to the environment around it. Exercise benefits our brains by increasing this plasticity, inducing alterations to the brain so that as we age, the brain continues to perform in processing speed, memory, and executive function. It has been linked to being the most effective way to prevent and counteract neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.
Exercise Reduces Risk of Stress-Induced Anxiety
As early as 1984, studies have shown that exercise benefits brain function and overall health by reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety. More recently, research shows exercise increases concentrations of the hormone and neurotransmitter norepinephrine in the stress response center of the brain. The chemical helps tune other neurotransmitters involved in the stress response, in a sense, working out the body’s communication systems. Exercise benefits our brain by giving it practice in responding to stress. Our brain can develop and communicate better with various physiological systems through this practice session. Just as we may have different ways to communicate with each of our various friends and family members, our brain needs to practice that healthy correspondence throughout the years. Said another way, exercise for the body is the phone call, email, Thinking of Of You card, or in-person visit we extend to our loved ones.
Exercise Gives Good Vibes from Achieving a Goal
By actively pursuing a purposeful activity, you can help reset your thinking and work towards strengthening your mental growth skillset. As talked about, any exercise benefits the brain by stressing the body out in a controlled environment. Through such a practice session, you try something new, struggle with it, bounce back, and test your mind, body, and emotional agility. You are preparing yourself for future, possibly stressful, situations. Such a sense of accomplishment from testing your mind and mastering a new exercise can also cascade into other parts of life!
How Does Pilates Help?
All types of exercise benefit brain function and improve mental health! For a bigger mental refresher, a workout like Pilates adds mindfulness to your exercise benefits. Mindfulness trains your mental state towards calm concentration, and positivity. It does this by training your attention to be more aware of your body’s sensations, thoughts, and feelings. Such awareness circles right back to the exercise benefit of improving your brain’s communication! Now you are exercising to reduce stress-induced anxiety and thoughtfully dialing down your body’s response to stress through breathing, control, rhythm, concentration, and whole-body movement. We are all for exercising to keep one’s mind, body, and spirit sharp!
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THE INFORMATION EXPRESSED ON THIS SITE IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. WE DRAW ON OUR EXPERTISE AS PILATES AND MOVEMENT SPECIALISTS BY EXPANDING OUR PROFESSIONALISM THROUGH CONTINUING EDUCATION AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. WE AIM TO PROVIDE VALUABLE INFORMATION CONCERNING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PILATES, FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT, AND FITNESS. YOU TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL DECISIONS NOW OR IN THE FUTURE CONCERNING YOUR HEALTH, LIFE, AND WELL-BEING. THIS INFORMATION IS NOT TO BE USED AS MEDICAL ADVICE EITHER TO DIAGNOSE, TREAT, CURE, OR PREVENT ANY DISEASE OR AILMENTS. YOU SHOULD CONSULT A PHYSICIAN BEFORE BEGINNING ANY EXERCISE PROGRAM.
Citations
Bernardo TC, Marques-Aleixo I, Beleza J, Oliveira PJ, Ascensão A, Magalhães J. Physical Exercise and Brain Mitochondrial Fitness: The Possible Role Against Alzheimer’s Disease. Brain Pathol. 2016 Sep;26(5):648-63. doi: 10.1111/bpa.12403. PMID: 27328058; PMCID: PMC8029062.
American Psychological Association. (2020, March 4). Working out boosts brain health. https://www.apa.org/topics/exercise-fitness/stress
Zhao JL, Jiang WT, Wang X, Cai ZD, Liu ZH, Liu GR. Exercise, brain plasticity, and depression. CNS Neurosci Ther. 2020 Sep;26(9):885-895. doi 10.1111/cns.13385. Epub 2020 Jun 3. PMID: 32491278; PMCID: PMC7415205.
Mayo Clinic, Mental Fitness https://careinfo.mayoclinic.org/mh-understanding-mental-health-us
