Someone Once Said...
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"Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity."
--John F. Kennedy
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Does Exercise Make You Smarter?
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The human body is designed for action: hinging and rotating joints that support movement in every direction; strong, elastic ligaments and tendons that encourage play while keeping bones and muscles in their proper place; skeletal muscles that facilitate every movement from explosive jumping to flowing Tai Chi; cardiac muscle that tirelessly pumps nourishment to every cell in the body.
The human body thrives with regular cycles of activity and recovery. Active bodies are at lower risk for heart disease, obesity, various cancers, diabetes, and hypertension; and active people generally have more stamina, lower resting heart rates, more muscle tone and less body fat.
It doesn't take a smarty to figure out that exercise is good for your body, but if it did, it turns out that exercise would be your brain's ticket to that "smarty-dom."
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Miracle-Gro For Your Brain
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For years scientists suspected that exercise and brain functioning were connected, but until recently, the only link researchers could assert with certainty was that aerobic activity increases the level of well-oxygenated blood pumping to body and brain, which leads to nourished body and brain cells. Makes sense... and it's true. But, as new discoveries in the field of neuroscience are illustrating, the impact of exercise on the brain is far more complex--and more powerful--than just oxygenating brain cells.
According to recent research in the field of neuroscience, here's a breakdown of what happens when you head out for that lunchtime run:
- Muscles contract =>
- Release of chemicals, including a protein called "IGF-1" =>
- IGF-1 travels to the brain and stimulates the release of several chemicals, including "BDNF"*=>
- Regular exercise increases levels of BDNF =>
- BDNF stimulates neurons (brain cells) to branch and connect in new ways=>
- New junctions between neurons is the basis of learning
(*BDNF = "brain derived neurotropic factor")
Take home message?
Bodies that exercise regularly stimulate brains to have higher levels of BDNF;
brains with higher levels of BDNF have greater capacity for learning and retention.
So, in the words of John Ratey, Harvard psychiatrist and author of Spark: The Revolutionary Science of Exercise and the Brain, BDNF is like "Miracle-Gro for your brain."
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Smarts Tomorrow, Focus Today
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Not sure you have the patience to wait for all those new neural-connections to validate your efforts to become a "regular exerciser"? Good news! Studies have shown higher circulating levels of thought-facilitating and mood-stabilizing neurotransmitters (namely, dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine) within an hour of a bout of exercise.
Feeling antsy? Frustrated? Having trouble concentrating? Get up from your desk and get moving! It'll help you focus today, and, string enough days of activity together and before you know it, you'll be in BDNF-city.
Mensa application anyone? |
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