You can feel pretty confident whenever you seek advice and information about living younger longer, you’ll learn exercise is the key.
Movement changes the shape and function of our bodies, elevates our moods, primes all our systems to work better, makes our cells happy, and increases our brain function.
That last part reeled me in. Cognitive decline scares me. I don’t want to lose my memories or be a burden to my children. Instead, I want to learn and grow until my final breaths.
So, taking care of my brain is a priority for me, and I’m sure it is for you.
What Causes A Healthy Brain to Decline?
But isn’t faltering brain function just part of aging?
Heck, no!
Well, a little maybe.
But there is so much we can do to slow, stop, and even reduce cognitive waning as the years go by.
The belief that brain decline and decay are an inevitable part of aging is a big fat lie. Yes, there are parts of aging we can only put off and lessen; the truth is we can enjoy good brain health until the end. (Learn more about the Five Truths About Your Second Half by subscribing. 😁)
A medical diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer’s, or just being less quick thinking or having memory loss, is caused by a complex concoction of causes.
Some disease precursors seem apparent, like genetics, injuries, strokes, and severe illness. Others are less obvious.
Our brains also remain healthier when we have good nutrition, reduce exposure to toxins, learn new things, and move more.
Research shows a strong connection between how long you sit during the day and how healthy your brain remains. The relationship between exercise and brain health is vital for a boatload of reasons.
Exercise and General health
You know that your body is a complex, multi-dimensional, intertwining, dynamic system of health-and-balance-seeking complexity. So as one area of your well-being improves, so is the rest of the system.
Exercise and movement are the fountain of youth for many reasons. The reasons they make your body healthy is the same reasons they make your brain healthy.
Healthy body = healthy brain.
A Few Examples
- Sleep is crucial for brain wellness, and exercise promotes better sleep.
- Stress is a brain neuron serial killer. Movement helps keep stress in check and feeds a more upbeat, positive mood that nourishes your brain.
- Inflammation is reduced throughout your body when you move more, helping keep your brain doing its thing efficiently.
- Toxins are particularly damaging to your brain wellness. So not only does sweating during exercise excrete toxins, but through the lymphatic system, moving helps your body clean up the toxic mess we experience in our world today.
- Your lymphatic system doesn’t have automatic pump mechanisms and relies solely upon movement to eliminate lymphatic waste and other fluids. If your lymphatic system gets clogged up, it’s even worse than a clogged shower drain because stuffed-up lymph circulation weakens your immunity, increases inflammation, and causes illness and disease.
- If you exercise, blood vessels in your brain are younger-looking and healthier. Who doesn’t want sexy–and efficient–blood vessels?
- Moving gets your digestive system up and running. We know enough about a healthy gut–often called our second brain–to know this is important.
- Going for a walk–and other movement of this type–is associated with increased creativity. A healthy brain is a creative brain. Learn more here.
- Again and again, research proves a strong correlation between obesity (and its related complications) and dementia and Alzheimer’s. And exercise keeps your body composition healthier.
- Learning new things, no matter your age is vital for brain health. Adding a kinesiological twist to it–such as learning a new instrument or craft–boosts your brain’s learning ability even more. If you add a cardiovascular element such as learning to dance or taking up a new sport, then wowza, you’ve earned a gold star.
Healthy Emotions and a Healthy Brain
Exercise releases a biochemical cocktail of serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins. Feel good juice on different levels, using various avenues, all adding to better mental health. When you feel more positive and content–even happier–you’ll naturally feel like moving more and taking care of yourself. Which makes you take care of yourself more. Which makes you feel better. And so on and so on.
BDNF – The Secret to a Healthy Brain
Brain-derived neurotrophic growth factor, or BDNF, is a critical protein made in your brain that enhances mental capabilities and lessens anxiety and depression.
This superstar protein lowers cortisol, making neurons stronger and promoting new growth. In addition, an increase in BDNF keeps our brains more flexible and capable of learning new things.
And remembering things we already know.
BDNF increases our hippocampus, the part of our brains where memories are stored, and nourishes it making it stronger and healthier. The hippocampus shrinks as the years go by, and I don’t want a shrinking hippocampus, thank you!
An uptick of BDNF gives your happiness a kick in the pants. But conversely, lower levels of this protein are associated with depression and hippocampal shrinkage.
BDNF helps deliver serotonin in your brain by encouraging axon growth (the communication device of neurons), much like many antidepressant drugs.
Our brains are healthier on BDNF, and exercise is essential to increasing it. And most research emphasizes prolonged aerobic exercise such as walking, running, swimming, and biking of moderate to intense exertion at least three times a week.
Brain Matter Matters
For some reason, when I hear talk of gray and white matter in our brains, I think of a goopy, gloppy brain made out of gelatin for Halloween. But aside from my weird association, gray and white brain matter work together to create powerful brain function.
Messages in our brain are passed back and forth in white matter. Gray matter is the outer region of our brains and gets the star treatment because that’s where processing, general intelligence, and problem-solving happens.
As we age, white matter integrity and gray matter health decline. Slower information processing means forgetfulness, confusion, depression, and other cognitive issues associated with aging and loss of coordination and balance.
You know where I’m going next–exercise protects, supports, and grows both gray and white brain matter. Once again, exercise has proven to help all the areas of our brains connect better and communicate more efficiently and slow the decline of the aging process. (Exercise increases everyone’s gray and white matter health no matter the age. Children thrive with more recess and outdoor play in so many ways it should be a no-brainer!)
Pump It Up for a Healthy Brain
While exercising, we get a burst of activity in our muscles and brains. Researchers using MRI measurements discovered an increase in neurotransmitters in the brain of fit people.
So far, most research shows that the increase in blood flow to the brain through aerobic exercise accounts for all the excellent benefits to our brains. Our brains get pumped up on exercise, like our muscular and cardiovascular systems.
An increase in brain activity from exercise ignites a production of growth factors, strengthening cells and promoting new neurons. Over time, exercising consistently raises your brain’s baseline of BDNF and other growth factors.
Keep Moving
Research proves, again and again, the connection between movement and brain health. And scientists are starting to understand how and why. But we don’t have to wait for them to figure out the details to take advantage of their findings.
So far, the evidence is clear: feeding our brains with increased blood flow through exercise protects our brains from deteriorating and offers protection from cognitive decline and brain disorders and disease.
We can slow and even reverse brain decay by going for a walk. That sounds like a great plan to me!
I’m sure you agree with me that it is worth a few hours a week of your time to engage in moderate to intense aerobic exercise if it means protecting brain health. How can you fit in this exercise? What changes do you need to make to make it happen?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4915811/
