BEST EXERCISE FOR YOUR BRAIN
Want an all-natural way to lift your mood, improve your memory
& protect your brain against age-related cognitive decline?
- A wealth of recent research, including two new studies published this spring, suggests that
any type of exercise that raises your heart rate & gets you moving & sweating for a sustained period of time, known as aerobic exercise, has a significant, overwhelmingly beneficial
impact on the brain. - "Aerobic exercise is the key for your head, just as it is for your heart," write the authors of a recent article in the Harvard Medical School blog 'Mind & Mood.'
- While some of the benefits,
1. Like a lift in mood, can emerge as soon as a few minutes into a sweaty bike ride,
2. Others, like improved memory, might take several weeks to crop up.
3. That means that the best type of fitness for your mind is any aerobic exercise that you
can do regularly & consistently for at least 45 minutes at a time.
Depending on which benefits you're looking for,
you might try adding a brisk walk or a jog to your daily routine.
- A pilot study in people with severe depression found that just 30 minutes of treadmill walking
for 10 consecutive days was sufficient to produce a clinically relevant & statistically significant reduction in depression. - Aerobic workouts can also help people who aren't suffering from clinical depression feel less stressed by helping to reduce levels of the body's natural stress hormones such as adrenaline & cortisol, according to a recent study in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science.
If you're over 50
- A study published recently in the British Journal suggests the best results come from
combining aerobic & resistance exercise which could include anything from high-intensity interval training, like the 7 minute workout, to dynamic flow yoga, which intersperses strength-building poses like planks & push-ups with heart-pumping dance-like moves - Another study published recently provides some additional support to that research, finding
that in adults aged 60-88, walking for 30 minutes 4 days a week for 12 weeks appeared to strengthen connectivity in a region of the brain where weakened connections have been linked with memory loss.
Researchers still aren't sure why this type of exercise
appears to provide a boost to the brain, but studies suggest it has.
- One recent study in older women who displayed potential symptoms of dementia found that aerobic exercise was linked with an increase in the size of the hippocampusa brain area involved in learning & memory.
- Joe Northey, the lead author of the British study & an exercise scientist at the University of Canberra, says his research suggests that anyone in good health over age 50 should do 45 minutes to an hour of aerobic exercise on as many days of the week as feasible.
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