Is exercising good for your brain?

We have been hitting the gym for losing weight, attaining our fitness goals, shaping a chiseled body, or simply preventing health conditions like obesity, diabetes, etc. 

How often do we think about our brain while exercising?  Do we realize how stretching muscles for a toned body may impact the neurons inside our brain?

All forms of physical and mental exercises exert a profound effect on our brain. 

Whether you do mediation like a yogi or run like an athlete, your brain gets influenced by it.

Let’s explore the mysterious and complex world of the brain and its neurons to understand the effects of exercise on it.

When you exercise regularly it improves memory and cognitive functioning. It also enhances mental health by reducing the stress, depression, and social anxiety.  

Moreover exercise also prevents the development of certain neurological conditions and contributes towards the positive neurological condition.

As per the neuroscientific theories presented by Ploughman, physical activity exerts positive effects on cognitive functions. 

During exercise, the areas of the brain responsible for social and physical behavior, rational thinking, and intellectual actions witness remarkable oxygen saturation and growth of blood vessels.

Exercise reduces the stress hormones and increases neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine, which result in speedy information processing.

Moreover, exercise improves the neurotrophins regulation that is responsible for the survival and differentiation of neurons, synapses, and dendrons in developing brains and adults. 

Overall, exercise prevents unhealthy conditions and improves or optimizes brain associated functions.

Neurological Benefits of Exercise

The neurological benefits of exercise are attributed to its positive influence on the brain’s neurogenesis, neuroplasticity, and neurochemistry.

Neurogenesis refers to the creation of new neurons, neuroplasticity is associated with improving the functioning of existing neurons, and neurochemistry is concerned with the release of neurotransmitters that accelerates the brain functions.

Some common neurological benefits of physical activity include reduced stress and anxiety levels, improved memory and blood circulation, enhanced energy, focus, and attention.

Exercise also slows down the aging process, improves the processing of emotions, reduces brain-fog, and prevents neurological disorders.

Exercise is found to increase the number of stem cells that are converted into new neurons. It improves other activities like meditation, laughing, or learning; in this respect. 

Brain reprogramming through exercise

Our brain exhibits neuroplasticity as it creates new neurons to continuously regenerate itself.

Exercise leads to the strengthening of synaptic communications between the neurons and promotes the growth of neurons in the ventral hippocampus as per the study by Schoenfeld et al. (2013).   

During physical activity, the growth of specific neurons that release GABA neurotransmitters takes place in the hippocampus region. These GABA neurotransmitters serve as anti-anxiety molecules. 

The healthy neural connections in the hippocampus prepare you to handle stress and control emotions in a relaxed and calm manner. 

Regular exercise equips you to handle stressors and emotions in better ways. Thus, it results in the reprogramming of the brain.

Exercise enhances cognitive functions

An intense workout session immediately causes the flood of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, and noradrenaline within your brain. 

These three neurotransmitters in conjunction led to hyperstimulation of the mind, which results in enhanced focus, attention span, and reaction time for at least two hours.

Regular exercise causes a remarkable improvement in cognitive functions. 

These three main neurotransmitters produce a ‘feel-good’ sensation immediately after exercise. 

This temporary euphoric state generates feelings of happiness and a general sense of well-being.

With regular exercise, a person can experience this euphoric state for much longer.

Exercise prevents brain aging

With regular intense workout sessions, the hippocampus and prefrontal region of your brain get bigger and stronger.

During brain aging, these two areas show a cognitive decline and they are most prone to neurodegenerative diseases. 

Exercise acts as a preventive shield against degenerative diseases and slows down the aging process.

The hippocampus strengthening causes improvement in cognitive functions and brings positive changes in the lives of people by enabling them to do their daily living activities with ease.

Exercise improves learning and memory

Regular exercise leads to an increase in the size of the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. These two brain areas interact for strengthening the memory-related cognition.

Exercise enhances the spatial memory of people that allows them to recall the information quickly. The aerobic workout also reinforces the stored long-term memory in the brain. 

Even with a single workout session, you can see a marked improvement in long-term retention skills. 

Exercise improves concentration and reduces brain-fog

Various reasons may contribute to a lack of concentration and cloudy thinking, also known as brain-fog. 

This condition of cognitive impairment causes a lack of focus and difficulty in remembering things. 

Even though you can’t completely treat brain-fog by exercise, you can certainly reduce its symptoms.

With regular exercise, you can increase the release of neurotransmitters that are responsible for improving concentration, alertness, and energy levels.

Exercise improves symptoms of neurological disorders

Exercise plays a crucial part in improving the symptoms of neurological problems by managing depressive symptoms. 

Exercise gives better results than even psychosomatic treatments in alleviating depression without any side effects of antidepressants.

The regular workout causes increased neural plasticity that accelerates your brain recovery after injuries. 

Moreover, as per American Journal of Psychiatry (Harvey et al., 2018), the exercise also reduces the symptoms of several neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, insomnia, dyslexia, ADHD, etc. 

Exercise enhances the blood circulation

Exercise vastly improves the blood circulation within your brain and the rest of the body. The enhanced blood circulation improves the availability of nutrients to the brain, skin, and vital organs.

All the diseases related to the reduced or restricted blood circulation such as stroke, kidney disease, and varicose veins, show improvement in symptoms with regular exercise.

With reduced blood flow your hippocampus loses its ability to store and recall information. Regular exercise improves blood circulation and overcomes this issue by contributing to a healthy, firm, and strong hippocampus.

Best exercises for a healthy brain

You need not adopt an intense workout session for reaping the benefits of a healthy brain. Even any type of mild to moderate physical exercise or workout session exerts positive effects on your brain health. 

You may also target specific health issues by a specific set of exercises. 

• To treat a lack of concentration and brain fog, practice Yoga, and aerobic workout.
• For treating memory ailments, practice aerobics, jogging, and cycling.
• For treating stress and anxiety, try yoga breathing exercises and meditation postures.
• Treat your depression with aerobic and resistance training.
• Improve blood circulation using a set of various cardio activities such as running, cycling, swimming, kickboxing, etc. 

Our brain is one of the most important organs of our body. It is paramount to keep it healthy and there is no better way to do so other than exercising. 

The neurological benefits of exercising are plenty. You need to adopt a regular exercise schedule in your busy life to nurture a healthy brain, mind, and body.

So, next time you are looking for motivating reasons for doing a workout, don’t only think about your body; also give a thought about a healthy brain and its unparalleled benefits.