The glorious runner’s high. The energizing feeling of exercising your worries away and crossing off milestones with each stride. The rush of endorphins through your body... Experiencing the runner’s high is just one of the many positives that come from implementing movement into your daily routine. Exercise has the power to heal not only your body, but also your mind. The physical, psychological, and emotional benefits of exercise have the potential to turn any bad day around and boost overall well-being. Let’s run through the many benefits of exercise for your mental health, how everything is connected, and why movement matters for your mind.
Benefits of exercise for your mental health
Regardless of your age or activity level, exercising can improve cognitive functioning, memory, and mental health.1 You do not have to be a marathon runner to reap the benefits of exercising! Here are some benefits of implementing exercise into your everyday routine.1 You just might be grabbing your sneakers or yoga mat (or maybe even both) in no time:
- Improved sleep
- Better endurance
- Stress relief
- Increased energy and stamina
- Increased mental alertness
- Reduced cholesterol
- Improved cardiovascular fitness
The list could go on and on. Everything pieced together ultimately puts you in a better position to succeed and to feel your best both physically and mentally. Prioritizing your movement can lead to an increase in your self-confidence, introduce you to new friends through more social interaction, and cope with whatever may come your way through a healthy and positive outlet.
How it is all connected
When you are exercising, the areas of the brain associated with things such as memory, task management, planning, and coordination are enlarged.1 There are so many moving parts in both your mind and body for all of this to get accomplished. The relationship between your brain and exercise is remarkable. So, what exactly happens in your brain when you exercise?
Exercising has the ability to change the brains anatomy, physiology, and function. One of the immediate effects on your brain during exercise is increased levels of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that carry, boost, and balance signals between neurons and target cells throughout the body.2 They are constantly working to keep the brain functioning properly. Exercising immediately increases the level of dopamine, serotonin, and noradrenaline neurotransmitters.1 Increased levels of neurotransmitters improve your ability to shift and focus your attention. This is what causes that runner’s high euphoric feeling. Luckily, this feeling can last for at least 2 hours after activity and you are likely to also experience reduced anxiety levels. Shoutout to the neurotransmitters for playing their part!
Building a stronger brain
A main player during exercise is the hippocampus. The hippocampus, found in the inner region of the temporal lobe, handles learning, memory, and emotion. When there is a decrease in blood flow, the hippocampus cannot do its job as well, such as storing and recalling key information for you.1
It is interesting to note the difference between the hippocampus in someone who lives an active lifestyle compared to the hippocampus of someone who lives a more sedentary lifestyle. Staying static and having low activity levels causes your hippocampus to house younger neurons, or “untrained” neurons.1 The younger the neuros are, the more easily excited they become. Add stressors to the environment and the neurons simply cannot handle these stressors well. This causes even greater and unnecessary stress and anxiety. These neurons make us feel more anxious than they should, resulting in higher levels of anxiety and depression.
The power of exercise comes into play here. Staying active allows not only your body to get stronger, but helps your brain to get stronger as well. Exercise helps strengthen healthy neural connections in the hippocampus.1 The healthy, strong, and older neural connections improve your ability to take on any of the new stressors that may come your way, resulting in a calmer well-being. Even more reasons to live a healthy lifestyle full of movement and exercise.
The same goes for the prefrontal cortex. In a study on how exercise intensity influences prefrontal cortex oxygenation, it was found that during low to moderate intensity exercise, there is an increase in cerebral blood flow and oxygenation. This may promote distribution of nutrients throughout the brain as well.3 The prefrontal cortex is associated with processing speed and executive function, which also appears to be influenced by exercising.3
“The more you’re working out, the bigger and stronger your hippocampus and prefrontal cortex gets. This is important because the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex are the two areas that are most susceptible to neurogenerative diseases and normal cognitive decline in aging.”1 It is straight forward – the more active you are, the stronger your hippocampus and prefrontal cortex will be, and the stronger your mind will become.
Ways to get moving
When it comes to building a stronger and sharper mind, there can be a lot of questions and confusion on what the right form of exercise is, how much one should exercise, and how long one should exercise for.4
Although it is typically recommended to exercise 150 minutes a week, there is no magic number to how much one should exercise and routines are different for every person at any age. The best way to create a habit with exercising is to start implementing it in a way that fits in your day. Over time, this structure will create a lifestyle change that you will be forever grateful for.4 Instead of feeling obligated to exercise, you will feel energized and excited about your healthy habit and lifestyle.
Yoga and meditation are a wonderful way to strengthen both your mind and body. Studies have shown that mindfulness meditation can help engage new neural pathways, which results in improved self-observational skills and an increased mental flexibility.2 These improved skills and mental flexibility are more examples to show how exercise benefits so much more than just the physical aspect for your body. Read more about yoga and meditation in our blog here.
Some other fun ways to get your body moving are cycling, kickboxing, dancing, swimming, gardening, and jogging. Aerobic exercises have been proved to reduce anxiety and depression.5 Do what works for you and what works for your mind and body. Take a 20-minute walk around the neighborhood, swim a few laps in the pool, ride a bike through the park. At the end of the day, exercise is the most transformative thing you can do for your brain today. Your future self will thank you immensely.
Make sure to check with your doctor before starting a new exercise program to ensure it is safe for you. Interested in getting your health in motion with Spooner Physical Therapy? Our movement specialists are here to help you achieve. Click here to schedule an appointment with us today!
Resources
- Tocino-Smith, Juliette. “10 Neurological Benefits of Exercise.” PositivePsychology.com, 3 Aug. 2020, positivepsychology.com/exercise-neurological-benefits/.
- Cherry, Kendra. “How Neurotransmitters Work and What They Do.” Verywell Mind, 7 Dec. 2019, www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-neurotransmitter-2795394.
- Moriarty, Terence, et al. “Exercise Intensity Influences Prefrontal Cortex Oxygenation during Cognitive Testing.” Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland), MDPI, 26 July 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6721405/.
- “The Benefits of Exercise on Brain Health.” American Physical Therapy Association, 4 Aug. 2019, www.choosept.com/radio/detail/benefits-of-exercise-on-brain-health.
- Sharma, Ashish, et al. “Exercise for Mental Health.” Primary Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc., 2006, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470658/.