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This article looks in detail about the benefits exercise has on someone's mental health. And goes into the research development, and process of writing the paper.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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This article is another advocate for mental health and exercise. Comparing the effects working out will have on improving your brain. It talks about exercise as a treatment, and even compares it to psychotherapy for a short and long term improvement method. But with all the good, the article does also say that becoming overly dependent, or too reliant on exercise may have adverse effects.

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Physical exercise is increasingly being advocated as a means to maintain and enhance good mental health. In general, findings from research indicate that exercise is associated with improvements in mental health including mood state and self-esteem, although a causal link has not been established. Research on acute exercise indicates that 20 to 40 minutes of aerobic activity results in improvements in state anxiety and mood that persist for several hours. These transitory changes in mood occur in both individuals with normal or elevated levels of anxiety, but appear to be limited to aerobic forms of exercise.

In the case of long term exercise programmes, improvements in the mental health of 'normal' individuals are either modest in magnitude or do not occur, whereas the changes for those with elevated anxiety or depression are more pronounced. Evidence from studies involving clinical samples indicates that the psychological benefits associated with exercise are comparable to gains found with standard forms of psychotherapy. Hence, for healthy individuals the principal psychological benefit of exercise may be that of prevention, whereas in those suffering from mild to moderate emotional illness exercise may function as a means of treatment.

Exercise may also result in detrimental changes in mental health. Some individuals can become overly dependent on physical activity and exercise to an excessive degree. This abuse of exercise can result in disturbances in mood and worsened physical health. In the case of athletes the intense training, or overtraining, necessary for endurance sports consistently results in increased mood disturbance. Extreme cases of overtraining may result in the staleness syndrome; a condition associated with deteriorating performance and behavioural disturbances including clinical depression.

Exercise can result in either beneficial or detrimental changes in mental health, and the outcome appears to be largely dependent on the 'dosage' employed. Although recent studies have provided promising findings regarding the efficacy of exercise in clinical samples, additional research is clearly needed. The influence of various programmatic aspects of exercise (i.e., mode, duration, frequency, intensity, setting) on changes in mental health have not been systematically investigated, and the proposed mechanisms by which exercise acts to affect mental health remain largely unsubstantiated.

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Exercise and Mental Health - Sports Medicine

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Physical exercise is increasingly being advocated as a means to maintain and enhance good mental health. In general, findings from research indicate that exercise is associated with improvements in mental health including mood state and self-esteem, although a causal link has not been established.

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The relationship of physical activity and exercise to mental health

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The relationship of physical activity and exercise to mental health

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This is a very in depth and detailed article reviewing, researching, and going over many different mental health issues, and the affect exercise has on them. It talks about how detrimental and significant these illnesses are, but then in detail shows the positive effects exercise can have on such cases.

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The relation of physical activity and exercise to mental health.

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Mental disorders are of major public health significance. It has been claimed that vigorous physical activity has positive effects on mental health in both clinical and nonclinical populations. This paper reviews the evidence for this claim and provides ...

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This charming little animation is a narrated video that is the perfect beginners guide to understanding the relationship between the brain and exercise. It touches on fundamental ideas that go beyond muscles. Things like people who exercise are less likely to depressed, more motivated, and cognitive benefits.

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What happens to our brain when you exercise and why it makes you happier.

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What happens to our brain when you exercise and why it makes you happier.

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This article helps the reader understand not just how the brain gets happier, or how it improves mood, but what you should do and focus on while working out, to get the best experience. It also tells about how your going to be happier in the beginning and after a workout, and what really triggers the happiness by what we do.

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Most of us are aware of what happens to the body when we exercise. We build more muscle or more stamina. We feel how daily activities like climbing stairs becomes easier if we exercise regularly. When it comes to our brain and mood though, the connection isn't so clear. Leo Widrich, co-founder of social media sharing app Buffer, set out to uncover the connection between feeling happy and exercising regularly.

What triggers happiness in our brain when we exercise?

"Yes, yes, I know all about it, that's the thing with the endorphins, that makes you feel good and why we should exercise and stuff, right?" is what I can hear myself say to someone bringing this up. I would pick up things here and there, yet really digging into the connection of exercise and how it effects us has never been something I've done. The line around our "endorphins are released" is more something I throw around to sound smart, without really knowing what it means.

Here is what actually happens:

If you start exercising, your brain recognizes this as a moment of stress. As your heart pressure increases, the brain thinks you are either fighting the enemy or fleeing from it. To protect yourself and your brain from stress, you release a protein called BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor). This BDNF has a protective and also reparative element to your memory neurons and acts as a reset switch. That's why we often feel so at ease and like things are clear after exercising.

At the same time, endorphins, another chemical to fight stress, are released in your brain. Your endorphins main purpose are this, writes researcher MK McGovern:

"These endorphins tend to minimize the discomfort of exercise, block the feeling of pain, and are even associated with a feeling of euphoria."

There is a lot going on inside our brain and it is oftentimes a lot more active than when we are just sitting down or actually concentrating mentally:

So, BDNF and endorphins are the reasons exercise makes us feel so good. The somewhat scary part is that they have a very similar and addictive behavior like morphine, heroin, or nicotine. The only difference? Well, it's actually good for us.

Don't do more, but focus on when

Now here is where it all gets interesting. We know the basic foundations of why exercising makes us happy and what happens inside our brain cells. The most important part to uncover now is, of how we can trigger this in an optimal and longer lasting way?

A recent study from Penn State shed some light on the matter and the results are more than surprising. They found that to be more productive and happier on a given work day, it doesn't matter so much, if you work-out regularly, that you haven't worked out on that particular day:

"Those who had exercised during the preceding month but not on the day of testing generally did better on the memory test than those who had been sedentary, but did not perform nearly as well as those who had worked out that morning."

New York Times bestselling author Gretchen Reynolds wrote a whole book about the subject matter called The First 20 Minutes. To get the highest level of happiness and benefits for health, the key is not to become a professional athlete. On the contrary, a much smaller amount is needed to reach the level where happiness and productivity in every day life peaks:

"The first 20 minutes of moving around, if someone has been really sedentary, provide most of the health benefits. You get prolonged life, reduced disease risk - all of those things come in in the first 20 minutes of being active."

So really, you can relax and don't have to be on the lookout for the next killer work out. All you have to do is get a focused 20 minutes in to get the full happiness boost every day:

"On exercise days, people's mood significantly improved after exercising. Mood stayed about the same on days they didn't, with the exception of people's sense of calm which deteriorated."( University of Bristol)

Make it a habit

Starting to exercise regularly or even daily is still easier said than done. At end of the day, there is quite a lot of focus required to get into the habit of exercising daily. The most important part to note is that exercise is a keystone habit. This means that daily exercise can pave the way not only for happiness, but also growth in all other areas of your life.

In a recent post from my colleague Joel, he wrote about the power of daily exercise for his every day life. Coincidentally, he follows the above rules very accurately and exercises daily before doing anything else. He writes:

"By 9:30am, I've done an hour of coding on the most important task I have right now on Buffer, I've been to the gym and had a great session, and I've done 30 minutes of emails. It's only 9:30am and I've already succeeded, and I feel fantastic."

I've spoken lots to Joel about his habit of exercising and here are some of the most important things to do in order to set yourself up for success and make your daily exercise fun:

Put your gym clothes right over your alarm clock or phone when you go to bed: This technique sounds rather simple, but has been one of the most powerful ones. If you put everything the way you want it for the gym before you go to sleep and put your alarm under your gym clothes, you will have a much easier time to convince yourself to put your gym clothes on.

Track your exercises and log them at the same time after every exercise: When you try to exercise regularly, the key is to make it a habit. One way to achieve this is to create a so called "reward", that will remind you of the good feelings you get from exercising. In our big list of top web apps, we have a full section on fitness apps that might be handy. Try out Fitocracy or RunKeeper to log your work outs. Try to have a very clear logging process in place. Log your work out just before you go into the shower or exactly when you walk out of the gym.

Think about starting small and then start even smaller: Here is a little secret. When I first started exercising, I did it with 5 minutes per day, 3 times a week. Can you imagine that? 5 minutes of timed exercise, 3 times a week? That's nothing you might be thinking. And you are right, because the task is so easy and anyone can succeed with it, you can really start to make a habit out of it. Try no more than 5 or 10 minutes if you are getting started.

The highest level of happiness happens at the beginning

As a quick last fact, exercise, the increase of the BDNF proteins in your brain acts as a mood enhancer. The effects are similar to drug addiction one study found. So when you start exercising, the feeling of euphoria is the highest:

"The release of endorphins has an addictive effect, and more exercise is needed to achieve the same level of euphoria over time." ( McGovern)

So, if you have never exercised before (or not for a long time), your happiness gains will be the highest if you start now.

What happens to our brains when we exercise (and how it makes us happier) | Buffer
Leo Widrich is the co-founder of Buffer, a smarter way to share on Twitter and Facebook. Leo writes more posts on efficiency and customer happiness over on the Buffer blog. Hit him up on Twitter @LeoWid anytime; he is a super nice guy. Image remixed from Julien Tromeur (Shutterstock). Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email <a href="mailto:tessa@lifehacker.com".

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What Happens to Our Brains During Exercise (and Why it Makes Us Happier)

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Most of us are aware of what happens to the body when we exercise. We build more muscle or more stamina. We feel how daily activities like climbing stairs becomes easier if we exercise regularly. When it comes to our brain and mood though, the connection isn't so clear.

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Article Exercise, Depression, And The Brain

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Article Exercise, Depression, And The Brain

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This article treats a day of blues and long term depression with a deserved workout. Showing the complicated relationship your mental health has with exercise. And goes into detail about the brain chemisty that goes on when you workout, as well as other mental changes.

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Whether you're experiencing a simple case of the Monday blues or more persistent symptoms of depression, exercise can help boost your mood.

Getting regular exercise is important for good physical and mental health. Exercise can help stimulate parts of your brain that aren't as responsive when you're feeling depressed. It also promotes the release of feel-good brain chemicals. It may also help distract you from your worries and improve your confidence.

Exercise and brain chemistry

Depression is a mood disorder that causes persistent feelings of apathy and sadness. It's a complex condition, with several contributing factors. Changes in your brain biochemistry likely play a part.

"Simply put, most people who are depressed have something wrong with their brain chemistry," says William Walsh, Ph.D., president of the Walsh Research Institute, a nonprofit mental health research institution in Illinois. "Life experiences can make things worse," he adds, "but usually the dominant problem is chemistry."

Exercise can help relieve symptoms of depression in several ways. Among other benefits, it helps stimulate the release of feel-good brain chemicals.

Endorphins and other neurotransmitters

The first thing you might think of when it comes to exercise and depression is what is commonly known as "runner's high." This describes the release of endorphins that your brain experiences when you physically exert yourself. Endorphins are a type of neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger. They help relieve pain and stress.

Endorphins are only one of many neurotransmitters released when you exercise. Physical activity also stimulates the release of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. These brain chemicals play an important part in regulating your mood.

For example, regular exercise can positively impact serotonin levels in your brain. Raising your levels of serotonin boosts your mood and overall sense of well-being. It can also help improve your appetite and sleep cycles, which are often negatively affected by depression.

Regular exercise also helps balance your body's level of stress hormones, such as adrenaline. Adrenaline plays a crucial role in your fight-or-flight response, but too much of it can damage your health.

Other mental health benefits of exercise

Exercise can have other mental health benefits too. For example, focusing on your body's movements during exercise may help distract you from upsetting thoughts. Setting and meeting exercise-related goals may also boost your confidence and sense of control.

When you exercise with other people, it can provide mood-boosting social benefits. For example, consider walking in the park, taking a yoga class, or joining a recreational sport team with a friend or family member. Exercise classes can also be a good place to meet new people. You can enjoy the physical stimulation of a workout, while getting social stimulation too.

Developing an exercise routine

While any amount of exercise can help relieve the symptoms of depression, regular exercise is best. Some types of exercise may be more beneficial than others.

Aerobic workouts are most associated with positive results in treating depression. Aerobic exercise elevates your heart rate, which improves circulation in your brain. This helps promote healthy brain function and balanced brain chemistry. Aerobic exercise also provides many physical health benefits.

The encourage most adults to get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week. You can reach this goal by taking a brisk 30-minute walk around your neighborhood, five days a week. Other examples of aerobic activity include swimming, bicycling, and playing basketball.

You should also schedule at least two sessions of muscle-strengthening activities per week. Weightlifting, yoga, and Pilates are examples of activities that strengthen your muscles.

Eating a healthy diet

Eating a well-balanced diet is also important for good mental health. For example, complex carbohydrates and protein-rich foods can help improve your mood and concentration. They also provide the energy and nutrients needed to fuel your workouts.

For a nutritious diet, eat a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, and lean proteins. Don't eat a lot of foods that are high in refined sugar, saturated fats, or salt. Only drink alcohol in moderation.

The takeaway

A range of factors can contribute to depression. Your brain chemistry is an important one. In many cases, you can improve your brain chemistry with something as simple as regular exercise. Getting 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity per week is an important part of staying healthy. It can boost your mood and energy, while strengthening your muscles, lungs, and heart.

If you suspect you have depression, speak to your doctor. They may recommend a variety of lifestyle changes, including changes to your exercise routine. They may also prescribe other treatments, such as medications, therapy, or a combination of both.

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Whether you're experiencing a simple case of the Monday blues or more persistent symptoms of depression, exercise can help boost your mood. Getting regular exercise is important for good physical and mental health. Exercise can help stimulate parts of your brain that aren't as responsive when you're feeling depressed.

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Youtube The brain-changing benefits of exercise

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Youtube The brain-changing benefits of exercise

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In this video, the speaker tells us the story of her self experiment, to find out the science behind why exercise improves mood, focus, and attention. She goes over her personal experience, and the personal impact, working out has done to her both long term, and immediately after a workout

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Wendy Suzuki: The brain-changing benefits of exercise | TED

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This book is an in depth look at many different aspects of the brain we take advantage of, or never notice. The Neuroscientist explores the "inner most cosmos" of our mind, the actions we take, and the people we are.

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This is a very subjective question. Meaning it always depends on who you're asking. Because none of this has yet to be "proven" people will argue forThis is a very subjective question. Meaning it always depends on who you're asking. Because none of this has yet to be "proven" people will argue for whoever's research and theories they agree with. I can give you some of my own personal (and I try really hard to be objective and steer clear of opinions, but that will always have a role so that's just my warning label of sorts, ha) but because this is such a big topic today it'd help if you were more specific... do you mean subconscious mind just basically like how we make decisions, fears, etc or do you want to go deeper meaning the abnormal subconscious mind and/or subconscious mind of trauma, etc. there are so many good out there. If you want recs let me know, but another good way to find is to do a bit of research online and/or going to a book store and looking at several books that deal with your specific questions... I hope this helps! ...more (less)

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This is a very subjective question. Meaning it always depends on who you're asking. Because none of this has yet to be "proven" people will argue forThis is a very subjective question. Meaning it always depends on who you're asking. Because none of this has yet to be "proven" people will argue for whoever's research and theories they agree with.

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This article touches on the topic of exercise, being a sort of “all natural” cure for depression. It goes over what triggers happiness in our head, and how it works. Exercise is described as a cleaning process, that can resets our brains after each workout. That, paired with confidence, balanced brain chemistry, and a feeling of accomplishment aid in elevating one’s mood. The article in my opinion touches perfectly on this subject, in making it understandable for all.

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Exercise has been touted to be a cure for nearly everything in life, from depression, to memory loss, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's and more. At the same time, similar to the topic of sleep, I found myself having very little specific and scientific knowledge about what exercise really does to our bodies and our brains.

"Yes, yes, I know all about it, that's the thing with the endorphins, that makes you feel good and why we should exercise and stuff, right?" is what I can hear myself say to someone bringing this up. I would pick up things here and there, yet really digging into the connection of exercise and how it effects us has never been something I've done.

Inspired by a recent post from Joel on what makes us happy I've set out to uncover the connection between our feeling of happiness and exercising regularly.

Most of us are aware of what happens to the body when we exercise. We build more muscle or more stamina. We feel how daily activities like climbing stairs becomes easier if we exercise regularly. When it comes to our brain and mood though, the connection isn't so clear.

The line around our "endorphins are released" is more something I throw around to sound smart, without really knowing what it means. Here is what actually happens:

If you start exercising, your brain recognizes this as a moment of stress. As your heart pressure increases, the brain thinks you are either fighting the enemy or fleeing from it. To protect yourself and your brain from stress, you release a protein called BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor). This BDNF has a protective and also reparative element to your memory neurons and acts as a reset switch. That's why we often feel so at ease and things are clear after exercising and eventually happy.

At the same time, endorphins, another chemical to fight stress, is released in your brain. Your endorphins main purpose is this writes researcher McGovern:

These endorphins tend to minimize the discomfort of exercise, block the feeling of pain and are even associated with a feeling of euphoria.

Overall, there is a lot going on inside our brain and it is in fact oftentimes a lot more active than when we are just sitting down or actually concentrating mentally:

So, BDNF and endorphins are the reasons exercise makes us feel so good. The somewhat scary part is that they have a very similar and addictive behavior like morphine, heroine or nicotine. The only difference? Well, it's actually good for us.

Now here is where it all gets interesting. We know the basic foundations of why exercising makes us happy and what happens inside our brain cells. The most important part to uncover now, is of course how we can trigger this in an optimal and longer lasting way.

A recent study from Penn State university shed some light on the matter and the results are more than surprising. They found that to be more productive and happier on a given work day, it doesn't matter so much, if you work-out regularly, if you haven't worked out on that particular day:

"Those who had exercised during the preceding month but not on the day of testing generally did better on the memory test than those who had been sedentary, but did not perform nearly as well as those who had worked out that morning."

New York Times best-selling author Gretchen Reynolds has written a whole book about the subject matter titled "The first 20 minutes". To get the highest level of happiness and benefits for health, the key is not to become a professional athlete. On the contrary, a much smaller amount is needed to reach the level where happiness and productivity in every day life peaks:

"The first 20 minutes of moving around, if someone has been really sedentary, provide most of the health benefits. You get prolonged life, reduced disease risk - all of those things come in in the first 20 minutes of being active."

So really, you can relax and don't have to be on the look-out for the next killer work-out. All you have to do is get some focused 20 minutes in to get the full happiness boost every day:

"On exercise days, people's mood significantly improved after exercising. Mood stayed about the same on days they didn't, with the exception of people's sense of calm which deteriorated." ( University of Bristol)

Now, that's all nice to hear you might say, starting to exercise regularly or even daily is still easier written than done. At end of the day, there is quite a lot of focus required to help you get into the habit of exercising daily. The most important part to note first, is that exercise is a "keystone" habit according to Charles Duhigg, New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. This means that daily exercise can pave the way not only for happiness, but also growth in all other areas of your life.

In a recent post from Joel, he wrote about the power of daily exercise for his everyday life. Coincidentally, he follows the above rules very accurately and exercises daily before doing anything else. He writes:

By 9:30am, I've done an hour of coding on the most important task I have right now on Buffer, I've been to the gym and had a great session, and I've done 30 minutes of emails. It's only 9:30am and I've already succeeded, and I feel fantastic.

I've spoken lots to Joel about his habit of exercising and here are some of the most important things to do, in order to set yourself up for success and make your daily exercise fun:

Put your gym clothes right over your alarm clock or phone when you go to bed:
This technique sounds rather simple, but has been one of the most powerful ones. If you put everything the way you want it for the gym before you go to sleep and put your alarm under your gym clothes, you will have a much easier time to convince yourself to put your gym clothes on.

Track your exercises and log them at the same time after every exercise: When you try to exercise regularly, the key is to make it a habit. One way to achieve this is to create a so called "reward", that will remind you of the good feelings you get from exercising. In our big list of top web apps, we have a full section on fitness apps that might be handy. Try out Fitocracy or RunKeeper to log your work-outs. Try to have a very clear logging process in place. Log your work-out just before you go into the shower or exactly when you walk out of the gym.

Think about starting small and then start even smaller: Here is a little secret. When I first started exercising, I did it with five minutes per day, three times a week. Can you imagine that? Five minutes of timed exercise, three times a week? That's nothing, you might be thinking. And you are right, because the task is so easy and anyone can succeed with it, you can really start to make a habit out of it. Try no more than five or 10 minutes if you are getting started.

There are lots more great ideas for how you can create a habit from Joel in his post on the exercise habit, be sure to check it out, it might be a lot of help here. I am sure that if you dedicate just very little time, you can get into an awesome exercise routine that makes you happier, more productive and relaxed than ever before.

As a quick last fact, exercise, the increase of the BDNF proteins in your brain acts as a mood enhancer. The effects are similar to drug addiction one study found. So when you start exercising, the feeling of euphoria is the highest:

"The release of endorphins has an addictive effect, and more exercise is needed to achieve the same level of euphoria over time." ( McGovern)

So this means that if you have never exercised before or not for a long time, your happiness gains will be the highest if you start now.

Exercise and how it affects our level of happiness is an absolutely exciting topic for me. Have you played around with this too and seen any results? I would love to hear your thoughts on how exercise and happiness work together.

Photo credit: katapulsemusic

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What Happens To Our Brains When We Exercise And How It Makes Us Happier

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Exercise has been touted to be a cure for nearly everything in life, from depression, to memory loss, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's and more. At the same time, similar to the topic of sleep, I found myself having very little specific and scientific knowledge about what exercise really does to our bodies and our brains.

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This article focuses on the different effects exercise has on your brain. Effects like alertness, perception, mental health, and sleep. The article focuses on positive aspects, giving the reader incentive to workout, while educating them on what it does to your brain.

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News flash: Exercise isn't all about your body. In fact, building muscles and conditioning your heart and circulatory system are side effects. Exercise is really about your brain.

Humans evolved to move, and that movement - hunting, foraging, running, climbing - spurred brain growth, especially in the prefrontal cortex, which differentiates us from other animals. "Thinking is the evolutionary internalization of movement," explains New York University neuroscience professor Rodolfo Llinás, MD, PhD, author of I of the Vortex: From Neurons to Self.

When you're exercising, your brain is usually not what's on your mind. But that activity is building your gray matter in myriad ways, making you more alert, creative, motivated, and perceptive, says John Ratey, MD, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. It's helping you learn better, remember more, and combat stress. It's boosting your mood while helping you overcome anxiety and depression.

In sum, exercise keeps your brain healthy.

"The real reason we feel so good when we get our blood pumping is that it makes the brain function at its best," says Ratey, author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. "The point of exercise is to build and condition the brain."

The reverse is also true, however: "What virtually no one recognizes," he warns, "is that inactivity is killing our brains."

Build a Better Brain

Scientists long believed that we're born with all the neurons we're ever going to get, and that our brains are hardwired once we pass adolescence. In the last few decades, research has challenged those views.

"We now know that the brain is flexible, or plastic, in the parlance of neuroscientists - more Play-Doh than porcelain," Ratey explains. Our brains are constantly growing; they can even be rewired. And exercise is the key.

Scientists understand that physical activity stresses our brains similarly to how it works our muscles. Neurons break down, then recover and become stronger and more resilient. "Aerobic exercise can change the brain's anatomy, physiology - and function," says New York University neural science professor Wendy Suzuki, PhD, author of Healthy Brain, Happy Life.

Numerous recent studies have revealed just how those changes occur. What's becoming clear are the many neurological factors that activity positively influences, including the following.

Alertness and Perception

The brain is all about communication. It's composed of 100 billion neurons that confer with each other, governing every thought and action. Synapses are the connections between neurons; they fire electrical signals that neurotransmitters carry to the next neuron's dendrite branch. Neurotransmitters are thus key to brain function - and they're strengthened by exercise.

"Exercise is potent," Ratey says. "More nerve cells fire when we're exercising than when we're doing anything else. This activates the brain as a whole. It turns on arousal, attention, the frontal cortex, the executive functioning area - so we're all set to participate in the world."

Among these neurotransmitters are norepinephrine, which sparks attention, perception, motivation, and arousal; serotonin, which directs "traffic," influencing mood, impulsivity, anger, and aggression; and dopamine, which governs attention and learning, plus our sense of contentment and reward.

Movement and Coordination

As we move, our brains learn how to move better the next time. Exercise stimulates the cerebellum, which coordinates all the body's motor movements, like standing upright, hitting a hockey puck, and performing a plié.

The prefrontal cortex is the brain's CEO, explains Ratey; it's in charge of executive functions, controlling physical actions, receiving input, and issuing instructions to the body. Managing short-term working memory, judging, and planning are also its responsibility.

"When we exercise, particularly if the exercise requires complex motor movement, we're also exercising the area of the brain involved in the full suite of cognitive functions," he explains. "We're causing the brain to fire signals along the same network of cells, which solidifies their connections."

Attention and Concentration

Our brains become more active when we are active; this causes neurons to fire in unison, creating brain waves. When we're on autopilot - sleeping, brushing our teeth, watching TV - low-frequency waves prevail. High-frequency waves called beta waves dominate when we're focused and processing information.

Using electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring to track electrical pulses, researchers discovered that exercise intensifies brain-wave amplitude and frequency, and more beta waves propel you into a more alert state. "The most common finding in studies on exercise is that increased aerobic exercise will improve your ability to focus attention and your ability to shift your attention," Suzuki explains.

Experts believe this enhanced focus comes from the bump in dopamine, which calms the mind. Ratey, for example, is convinced physical activity can ease attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in kids and adults alike.

Learning

The functions of learning and memory are concentrated in the hippocampus, a small region tucked in the brain's center. But we wouldn't be able to learn without aid from the prefrontal cortex - part of the reason communication within the brain is so vital.

Neurotrophins build and maintain the brain's basic cell circuitry. Key among these in the hippocampus is the recently discovered brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that incites neuron growth.

"BDNF works in many ways," Ratey explains. "It makes brain cells work better; it grows them; it prevents them from eroding; it helps deal with stresses; it provides the right environment for brain cells to prosper." BDNF is released when neurons fire, causing the brain to produce more BDNF. When we exercise, those neurons fire like crazy, elevating BDNF levels.

Physical activity also prompts other hormone factors into action: Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), vascular endothelial growth factor, and fibroblast growth factor all push through the blood-brain barrier and work with BDNF to enhance the molecular machinery of learning. In addition, the hormone IGF-1 delivers the brain's primary fuel - glucose - to neurons to spur learning.

So, while going for a run won't transform us into geniuses, Ratey says exercise certainly boosts our potential for learning and increases our rate of learning. Both Ratey and Suzuki believe that kids need physical education integrated into classrooms to optimize how they learn.

And for adults? "We don't have to be looking for that magic pill to make us smarter," says Suzuki. "We really should be looking for that magic exercise regimen that will optimize all these different brain areas."

Memory

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Columbia University researchers discovered that BDNF helps the brain create new neurons (a process called neurogenesis) in just two regions: the hippocampus, which is crucial for long-term memory, and the olfactory bulb, the area responsible for smell and taste. This process affects our perception of the world.

In tests on rodents, exercise doubled the rate of neurogenesis in the hippocampus, Suzuki reports. Plus, it increased the number of dendritic spines on the neurons as well as their length - all of which improve neuronal communication.

These physiological changes are called long-term potentiation (LTP), and in further rodent studies, researchers found that exercise-induced LTP improved hippocampal function as measured by a broad range of memory tests.

Other studies have shown similar memory gains for people. In a 2016 report published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, researchers conducted MRI scans of cross-country runners and identified "significantly greater connectivity" between parts of their brains associated with attention, decision-making, multitasking, processing sensory input, and memory, compared with a control group of nonrunners.

Creativity and Imagination

The hippocampus - which lights up with electrical activity during exercise - also fuels imagination, or thinking about the future and other possibilities. A 2014 study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology divided 176 college students and adults into two groups, one of which walked while taking a creativity test; the other was sedentary during the test. The walkers scored 81 percent higher.

"We're not saying walking can turn you into Michelangelo," says study coauthor Marily Oppezzo, PhD, a Stanford University psychologist. "But it could help you at the beginning stages of creativity."

Suzuki believes that such a boost in creativity and imagination could help build a better world. "This also raises the possibility that increased exercise might enhance our ability to imagine the future in a new way," she says.

Exercise and Mental Health

Beyond our cognitive abilities, exercise plays a profound role in our mental health. Some theorize that depression is caused at least in part by depleted levels of a category of neurotransmitters called monoamines, which include serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine - all of which are magnified by exercise.

"Going for a run is like taking a little bit of Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin because, like the drugs, exercise elevates these neurotransmitters," says Ratey.

In the process, exercise helps our brains balance hormones. Ratey believes that, along with alleviating depression, this harmonizing of our hormones also inoculates us against toxic stress and eases anxiety. "Keeping your brain in balance can change your life," he says.

Exercise has other effects on mood, as well. Just as our muscles demand more energy during exercise, our brains gobble up glucose. In a 2016 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, researchers discovered what the brain was doing with all that fuel: making more neurotransmitters.

MRI scans found that levels of glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) swelled in participants after a stationary-bike session. This may aid in tempering depression, according to lead researcher Richard Maddock, MD, MS, because the stores of glutamate were centered in regions of the brain where the neurotransmitter had been depleted in depressed individuals.

Keeping the Brain Young

All the processes that physical activity induces in the brain add up to one sum: Exercise keeps our brains young. "Everything we've learned continues to confirm that exercise helps prevent cognitive decline as we age," Ratey says. "All the antiaging protocols include exercise in a big way - it's often the No. 1 lifestyle change to help people prevent aging and cognitive decline."

Exercise not only makes our brains stronger; it also protects them. Physical activity induces the brain to create enzymes that chew up the amyloid beta-protein plaque that triggers Alzheimer's by strangling neurons, explains Harvard neurology professor Rudolph Tanzi, PhD, coauthor of Super Brain, a New York Times bestseller.

A new study by Tanzi's research team suggests exercise also battles inflammation in the brain. A basic immune-system response to injury, inflammation can become chronic as we age, and studies have identified it as a primary agent in Alzheimer's. Exercise - along with lifestyle changes such as solid nutrition and good sleep - may actually help reverse Alzheimer's and cognitive decline, Tanzi says.

Finally, among the flurry of research over the past decade is a 2009 study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, published in the American Journal of Neuroradiology, that used magnetic resonance angiography on 14 participants between the ages of 60 and 74. Those who exercised weekly significantly increased the number of capillaries in their brains compared with a control group. This contributes to optimum brain function - similar to the effects of exercise on healthy muscles.

Lead study author Elizabeth Bullitt, MD, writes, "Our findings suggest that aerobic activity appears to be associated with a 'younger-appearing brain.'"

This originally appeared as "Your Brain on Exercise" in the May 2018 issue of Experience Life.

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exercise helps the brain balance hormones

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spark: the revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain

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News flash: Exercise isn't all about your body. In fact, building muscles and conditioning your heart and circulatory system are side effects. Exercise is really about your brain. Humans evolved to move, and that movement - hunting, foraging, running, climbing - spurred brain growth, especially in the prefrontal cortex, which differentiates us from other animals.