Exercise increases brain function.
In the past, perhaps because of a lack of understanding about exercise, people who were able to exercise were sometimes perceived as being unable to study, on the other hand. This may have been the reason why sports were relatively neglected in the educational process.
However, recent brain science research has revealed that this is a big mistake.
In fact, brain function improves with exercise.
Brain functions that improve with exercise, for example, are called higher-order functions.
These functions are carried out by the prefrontal cortex.
Specifically, they include many functions that may be useful in both work and private life, such as allocating time for work, making plans, short-term memory, improving multitasking functions to perform several tasks simultaneously, and making decisions under ambiguous conditions.
This higher-order function jumps about sevenfold with exercise.
In addition to this, the speed at which you get things done increases by a factor of about 3.
The saying “All work and no play makes Jack a doll boy” makes a valid point.
These benefits of exercise are beneficial not only for healthy people, but also for those who are older and beginning to experience cognitive decline, such as those with Alzheimer’s disease.
Furthermore, the mechanism by which exercise increases brain function is also becoming clearer.
A study on the relationship between the amount of exercise and the size of the brain’s hippocampus, which is related to memory, found that people who exercise regularly have a hippocampus that is 2% larger than that of people who do not exercise regularly and actually have a better memory.
It also found that BDNF, a brain substance that grows brain cells, is secreted in greater amounts with exercise.
The more BDNF, the more brain cells proliferate, which makes the hippocampus bigger.
In addition, when people who had never exercised before started exercising, they saw a difference in the size of their hippocampus in just seven weeks.
If we look at the differences found at the cellular level, we see that quite large changes are occurring.
Exercise here is about a fast walk for 10 minutes with aerobic exercise.
As your body gets used to it, you increase the amount of exercise a little each week.
Even a little aerobic exercise increases brain activity and improves memory.
In addition, the latest brain science has shown that continued exercise has considerable positive effects on the brain, such as reducing amnesia and increasing the number of brain cells that have been depleted by excessive alcohol consumption.
In fact, it is said that half of the training time of the world’s memory champions is devoted to aerobic exercise.
People who exercise have a strong mental attitude.
We don’t want to make mistakes if we can help it, but after all, we are human beings and we make mistakes inadvertently.
Some people dwell on their mistakes, while others do not mind at all.
Some people are not bothered by their mistakes, while others are not bothered at all.
These things are in a person’s nature, so “aren’t you born this way?” But apparently that is not all.
There was a study on how people who exercise and those who do not exercise at all react when they make a mistake.
How they react can be made to look temporarily better by what they say and do at the time, so we measured brain waves and looked directly at how their brains reacted.
People have special brain waves when they make mistakes. One is, “Oh shit!” It is a brain wave of regretful emotions.
The other is when you think, “I’ll do better next time! The brain waves are positive brainwaves that make you think, “I can do this.
People who exercise on a regular basis tend to have weaker negative brain waves and stronger positive brain waves. This means that when they make a mistake due to exercise, they are less depressed and more motivated to improve.
On the other hand, people who do not exercise tend to have strong negative brain waves and weak positive brain waves.
When they make a mistake, they may repeat the same mistake because they are more focused on worrying about it and less focused on trying to improve.
Looking at these brain science studies, it seems that people who exercise on a regular basis tend to be more positive and have a stronger desire to improve.
If you think that you are a person who usually dwells on things, perhaps you are not exercising enough.
It is important to note that whether you are positive or negative when you make a mistake can be changed through training.
That training is actually aerobic exercise.
If taking a little time out of your day to exercise can improve your brain function and help you get more done, what could be better? If you have not been doing aerobic exercise, why not make it a habit today?
Many people may be too busy to find time for exercise.
In such cases, you can simply try to run lightly or walk briskly when you move around for a little while.
This way, you can get an aerobic workout even if you don’t take the time to exercise.
Even a small exercise routine in your daily life can improve brain function.
