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March 6, 2023
Margit Hiebl
Regular exercise not only helps to halt physical deterioration, but recent research shows that our brain also becomes fitter and younger through sports.
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Sport is the best training for the brain. Exercise creates new nerve cells in the hippocampus, improves concentration and memory, and keeps the mind fit into old age. Just three times 30 minutes a week shows measurable effects.
The brain is often compared to a muscle. The analogy isn't entirely accurate. However, it is true that it can be trained, and not just through brain exercises. Studies have found that teenagers can concentrate better after physical education or after playing during breaks.
Research on top athletes shows that they respond to stress more calmly than the untrained. These positive effects are not limited to the young and athletes. Physically fit seniors have also been observed to have executive functions, which control actions, less affected by aging processes than their couch-potato peers of the same age.
Why does exercise benefit the mind so much? It's likely due to several components. It increases blood flow to the brain, providing it with more oxygen. The concentration of neurotransmitters, like serotonin, which is considered memory-enhancing and mood-lifting, also improves. And something very crucial happens: exercise generates new nerve cells and connections in the hippocampus.
This is the brain's working memory – it decides what is transferred from short-term to long-term memory and can be recalled. It is also responsible for spatial awareness, without which we couldn't orient ourselves. It regulates, processes, and connects emotions. The new nerve cells are an update that can integrate new information into existing contexts without forgetting the old ones.
Until the 1990s, it was believed that we are born with a set number of nerve cells and must make do with them for life. The discovery that the brain is not a static structure, but that there are structures in the hippocampus that constantly change and reconnect was groundbreaking. Equally groundbreaking was the discovery that exercise is a key factor in forming new structures. This means that the brain is not only capable of regeneration but also capable of learning – at any age, throughout life.
This is a huge opportunity because each and every one of us can actively contribute to it. For this principle of neuroplasticity is based on demands. "Use it or lose it," as the saying goes – what is not used is lost. The human organism is designed to move and to overcome adverse circumstances. Metabolic and regeneration processes are stimulated by stress and resistance. That's how evolution has planned it. This means: An active and challenged organism is a living organism, and this in every area – also in the cognitive.
Not all sports have been scientifically analyzed yet. But endurance training has proven particularly effective in studies. A word that makes notorious couch potatoes cringe. But it's not about aiming for a triathlon: Just 30 to 40 minutes of brisk walking, cycling, or swimming three times a week can help keep your mind sharp.
This, for example, also coincides with the recommendations for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. And positive results should not take long to show. A study by the University of Miami states that measurable cognitive improvements appear after about four to six months. So you could say that sports can reverse aging processes to some extent.
But not only endurance sports have an effect: So-called mobility exercises can optimize memory regarding movement sequences. The exercises prescribe a proper sequence of joints, muscles, and tendons, often combined with visual stimuli, allowing the brain to relearn how to tap into its full physical potential. What sounds like rehab is also used by top athletes as a training unit to counteract their often one-sided movements.
For desk athletes, this means: The body is perfect in sitting, but has forgotten other movements because the permanent one-sided posture signals the brain that it doesn't need to do anything else but sit. The result is known to most: stiffness, overload, and even painful blockages. No trace of balance, coordination, and agility.
How quickly and well the principle of mobility can work is shown by the following small exercise example: The position is the upright stand. First, determine the current state: Spread both arms to the side and turn the upper body as far as possible to the left and then to the right - please remember the points. Now stretch both arms forward, look forward, and open and close both hands. Then move the left arm and then the right arm outward until they disappear from the field of vision, then both arms simultaneously. Five times each.
Now compare: Slowly turn the upper body in both directions as at the beginning. And? Exactly, it should go noticeably better and further, even though you actually only moved your hands in front of your eyes. The trick here is: The brain recognizes through the visual system how far you can move and how much space there is.
Through these impulses, the head and body were better interconnected, and both have learned something. Mobility training is offered in many fitness studios and recommended as a warm-up before sports or for regeneration. But endurance in terms of regularity also counts here. The more often you do such exercises, the better the brain learns to control movements with less effort and make them more effective. And that also helps in old age by strengthening fine motor skills, stability, balance, and reducing the probability of injury.
But beyond sports, a lot can also bring movement into the mind on the side: climbing stairs, gardening, house cleaning, dancing. And sex: Researchers from the universities of Oxford and Coventry found that sexually active people perform better in tests of syntactic fluency - the ease with which someone can construct complex sentences with linguistically complex structures - and in terms of the ability to visually perceive objects and the spaces between them than sexually abstinent subjects.
Every physical activity thus represents a cognitive stimulus. However, the more complex the movement sequences are, the more brain areas are involved. However, the goal should always be to challenge the body, but not to overwhelm it - because you don't do the little gray cells any good if they are no longer sufficiently supplied with oxygen.
So it is quite easy to keep the memory fit with a moderate exercise program or to make it fitter again in a manageable period. However, the positive effect diminishes again if you stop exercising. So it's worth sticking with it. Ideally, you should start early – before cognitive decline sets in. It might even be possible to delay the progression of Alzheimer's – since even protein deposits and the shrinkage of the hippocampus region can be influenced by exercise, as some studies show.
The question remains whether mental fitness also makes you smart? Well, at least the brain can work at maximum capacity. Can you win a Nobel Prize with that alone? Rather unlikely. However, making smarter decisions with more exercise – that's for sure.
Exercise increases blood flow to the brain and improves oxygen supply. It also increases the concentration of neurotransmitters like serotonin, which enhances memory and mood. Most importantly: New nerve cells and connections in the hippocampus, the brain's working memory, are created through movement.
Neuroplasticity means that the brain is not a static entity but constantly changes, forms new connections, and even creates new neurons. This ability remains throughout life and follows the principle "use it or lose it" – what is used is preserved.
Endurance training has been proven particularly effective in studies. Walking briskly, cycling, or swimming for 30 to 40 minutes three times a week is enough to achieve measurable cognitive improvements. But mobility exercises and complex movements also train the brain.
According to a study by the University of Miami, measurable cognitive improvements are evident after about four to six months of regular training. The positive effect diminishes if you stop exercising.
Mobility exercises optimize movements by ensuring the proper functioning of joints, muscles, and tendons, often combined with visual stimuli. They help the brain make full use of the body's potential and are used even by top athletes.
By sitting constantly, the body learns to unlearn other movements because the brain is signaled that only sitting is necessary. The result: stiffness, overstrain, and painful blockages. Mobility training can reverse these limitations.
Exercise may potentially delay the progression of Alzheimer's. Studies show that even protein deposits and the shrinkage of the hippocampus region can be influenced by exercise. Ideally, one should start regular exercise early on – before cognitive decline begins.
Yes, everyday activities like climbing stairs, gardening, house cleaning, dancing, or sex provide cognitive stimulation. The more complex the movements, the more brain areas are involved. However, it is important to challenge the body without overexerting it.
The hippocampus is the brain's working memory. It decides what moves from short-term to long-term memory. Exercise creates new nerve cells there that function like an update and can integrate new information into existing contexts.
Exercise ensures that the brain can work at its maximum capacity. It doesn't guarantee a Nobel Prize, but with more exercise, you definitely make smarter decisions. Exercise improves memory, concentration, executive functions, and stress resistance.
