Health
Yes, We Can Boost Our Brain Health Through Physical Exercise
We can stay in tip-top neurological shape through regular exercise
I started my career as a technology consultant. It was a high-demanding job that requires grit, determination, never-ending commitment towards perfection of our craft, and client satisfaction.
It feeds on the excitement of meeting impossible targets on client project delivery and winning new client contracts.
The first 2 years were brilliant. The analyst cohort bonded through late nights (like 3 in the morning), 6-day work weeks, and occasional business trips.
It was fun until it was not.
Soon after, fatigue started setting in. Colleagues began falling like dominoes. It has nothing to do with heart attacks, asthma, or extreme medical conditions.
We were young enough to withstand the onslaught of such conditions, although we might be on our way there.
But that is not the point.
Mental fatigue became visible. We were no longer as sharp as we used to be.
Mental fatigue and brain health fascinate me.
I know how fast I could think on my feet at my best and how slow my responses are when I suffer from a foggy mind.
My fascination turned into an obsession.
This obsession took me through an arduous journey covering a raft of research studies covering brain health and exercise science. I will share the main points that stuck with me below.
1. Let Us Start From Our Brains.
Firstly, our brains have a life of their own.
“Every brain changes with age, and mental function changes along with it. Mental decline is common, and it’s one of the most feared consequences of aging. But cognitive impairment is not inevitable”
Picture our brains going through a different lifecycle from our biological aging. We grow white hair and wrinkled skin as we age biologically.
Our brains shrink in physical size when they age.
“Your 60-year-old brain isn’t going to function like it did at age 25 any more than your skin will look like it did at that age, but that doesn’t mean you’ll become senile. The brain’s frontal cortex, which is used for problem solving and some aspects of word processing, shrinks with age, but it also shows more activity as you get older. “So maybe you have less real estate, but you use it more,” Park says.”
In brief — Use it or lose it.
Takeaways.
- Our brains age over time.
- They shrink in size.
- Mental performance declines over time (naturally).
- We can do something about it.
2. What We Can Do About It.
Honestly, I love my brains.
I enjoy being quick on my feet and responding to complex questions on-demand. I also enjoy reading books covering intellectually demanding topics such as brain health and exercise science.
Naturally, I started searching for natural techniques that preserve brain health and mental performance. I will focus on what I know.
First and foremost — Exercise.
“Less visible, but perhaps even more important, is the profound influence exercise has on the structure of our brains — an influence that can protect and preserve brain health and function throughout life. In fact, some experts believe that the human brain may depend on regular physical activity to function optimally throughout our lifetime.”
Exercise alone is not enough. Regular exercise is the key.
Therein lies a 1st World problem I am susceptible to, and that is time and fatigue.
Many of us work long hours to put food on the table. Working from home can bring immense flexibility. We can start before 8 in the morning and end anytime after 8 in the evening.
We will be wiped out by then. Our will to exercise goes out of the window. How do we combat this?
Fortunately, we do not need to kill ourselves during exercise for our brain health.
“Another study showed that shrinkage of the hippocampus (a brain region essential for learning and memory) in older people can be reversed by regular walking. This change was accompanied by improved memory function and an increase of the protein brain-derived neutropic factor (BDNF) in the bloodstream… Positive links between exercise, BDNF and memory have been widely investigated and have been demonstrated in young adults and older people.”
If you happen to suffer from working long hours, I suggest starting your regular exercise regime with walking.
Walking 10,000 steps per day may have its purpose after all.
Takeaways.
- Regular exercise is required to preserve brain health.
- Start small. Walking is sufficient to reverse the shrinkage of our hippocampus.
- There is no need to kill ourselves during exercise for our brain health.
It turns out that I have the solutions in my hands without even knowing the science behind them.
I enjoy running and having that breeze in my hair. It makes me happy, and for reasons I never knew (before), I become mentally sharper after exercise.
I breathe better too.
When I started dragging my colleagues and business partners for walking meetings, magic happens. They initially thought they would be wiped out by physical exercise coupled with intense discussion.
They actually felt better after that and work better when they are back at their desks.
Exercise regularly. It preserves our brain health, makes us sharper, and allows us to think on our feet.
Aldric
About the Author:
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure. Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
