Exercise is Great for Your Brain!
We all know that exercise is good for our bodies, but did you know about the brain benefits of regular exercise? Doctors recommend at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity workouts 3-5 times a week as a way to ensure optimum cardiovascular health, and you know that you feel better when you’re getting your body in motion.
In addition, you might use exercise as a way to tone or build muscle, increase strength, flexibility, coordination, and endurance, lose weight, or even address the symptoms of chronic illness (like pain or arthritis).
Depending on the type of activity you choose, you could gain a wide variety of physical benefits from your exercise routine. But for college students enmeshed in their studies, the pursuit of physical perfection can be a hard sell.
Luckily, exercise also provides plenty of advantages on the mental front, as well. And for students seeking ways to boost brain power, the brain benefits of regular exercise could be a major boon.
Need a Mood Boost?
As you may know, exercise can stimulate the release of both endorphins and serotonin, those handy mood boosters and stabilizers that leave you feeling great after a particularly intense workout. For students dealing with high-stress levels, this is practically a necessity.
Now, you might think this has more to do with your emotional state than your mental one, but the hormones and nerve signals that control (or at least affect) your moods originate in your brain. And if you can utilize exercise to sway them in your favor, why wouldn’t you?
A student who is fatigued, depressed, and anxious is not going to perform as well during any kind of mental challenge. But the one that feels calm and happy is bound to do significantly better, all things being equal.
Build a Bigger Brain
Of course, exercise could do a lot more than put you on cloud nine. It can make your brain bigger, according to a 2009 study conducted by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign detailing the brain benefits of regular exercise.
Head researcher Kirk Erickson set out to observe the effects of an active lifestyle on the brain activity of elderly patients. And what he discovered was rather shocking. Seniors who practiced regular aerobic fitness tended to have a larger hippocampus than those who were sedentary. This area of the brain is responsible for spatial memory, or the type of data that allows people to navigate within their environment.
The findings of the study suggest that growth of the hippocampal region could be linked to exercise. So good news for students: exercise could help your brain to grow!
Experience Better Sleep
In truth, the main brain benefits of regular exercise start as physical gains. When you regularly set aside time for exercise you’ll find that you’re more relaxed and you sleep better. This is good news for your brain since it means that you can fight the fatigue that plagues most college students, as well as increase your focus, comprehension, retention, and so on.
Benefit From Increased Clarity
In addition to the above, exercise can also help to clear your brain, as anyone who jogs, bikes, hikes, or swims regularly can tell you. And of course, yoga can take it to the next level by adding a component of meditation to the mix. The brain benefits of regular exercise range from self-esteem and confidence, to better sleep and clarity – this is a win-win-win-win situation!
Whether you’re going for a health information management degree online or you’re interested in law, accounting, or film production, regular exercise can help you optimize your brain power and make the most of your college experience.
The fact that it helps you fight the freshman fifteen is just icing on the cake.
Tags: brain, college, education, exercise, fitness, intelligence, school, students