02 Jun EXERCISE does more to boost thinking than THINKING does

We’re all aware of the groundbreaking evidence neuroscientists and physiologists have been gathering on the incredibly beneficial relationship between exercise and brainpower.

But new findings are making it clear that this isn’t just A relationship – it’s THE relationship…

And it could be the key to fully unlocking your intellectual potential.

In just the past few months, using sophisticated technologies to examine the inner workings of neurons and the makeup of brain matter, scientists have discovered that exercise helps to literally BUILD a brain that resists physical shrinkage and enhance cognitive flexibility, even with age.

It’s becoming clear that EXERCISE does more to boost thinking than THINKING does.

How can exercising build brainpower in ways that thinking can’t?

The brain, like all muscles and organs, is a tissue, and its function declines with underuse and age. Beginning in our late 20s, most of us will lose about 1 percent annually of the volume of the hippocampus, a key portion of the brain related to memory and certain types of learning.

That is, UNLESS we exercise.

Regular exercise seems to slow and even reverse the brain’s physical decay, just as it does with muscles.

Scientists used to think that humans were born with a certain number of brain cells and would never generate more, but today, they know better.

Recent findings indicate that exercise jump-starts neurogenesis (or the creation of NEW brain cells).  

In multiple experiments, mice and rats that ran regularly for a few weeks generally had about TWICE as many NEW neurons in their hippocampi as sedentary animals. Their brains, like other muscles, were bulking up.

But if growing new brain matter and boosting cognitive capabilities isn’t enough to get you moving, we have even more incentive to stay fit.

When you exercise you think more clearly, perform better, and approach life with a totally different attitude (which creates a positive feedback loop in itself).  And it’s no mystery why… it’s pure and simple science.  When you stimulate your nervous system, you function at a higher level.

Tal Ben Shahar said, “By not exercising, you might as well take a depressant.”

And this couldn’t be more true.  We’ve all felt it – the incredible high we get from a really killer exercise, and the lousy low we feel from not being active when we know we should.

But lack of proper movement affects much more than just your mood…

Depression slows the brain’s ability to process information and makes it more difficult for us to concentrate and reach decisions.

Exercise cranks up the body’s production of serotonin and dopamine – brain chemicals crucial to that ‘feel fantastic’ positive mood. It boosts levels of endorphins – helping us to clear the mental fog, and enabling us to process information, concentrate, and make decisions more quickly and effectively.

Once you understand the massive effect exercise has on your mind, mood, vitality, alertness, and feelings of well-being, you begin to realize that exercise may be more for the MIND that it is for the BODY.

The big takeaway here is this…

YOU can control your physiology.

You do it everyday, whether consciously or unconsciously, through the choices you make.

In order to maximize ourselves in ANY capacity, we have to master ourselves at the very foundation of our being – within our physical bodies.

Brian Johnson said, “We need to be good animals before we can be exceptional human beings.”

Improve the quality of your physical experience, and you directly improve the quality of the contents in your mind.