Exercise For Your Brain

Contributor Andrew Merle
Few would argue against exercise being an important part of a healthy life and daily routine. It isn’t important whether you use your exercise to keep fit, sleep better, build strong bones, maintain an optimal weight or just use it to keep a healthy heart and lungs.
But the effects of exercise are perhaps most significant on the brain.

I have always been an exerciser. If there are times when I don’t exercise I very quickly feel the difference in how I manage day to day stress. For the most part I hate sitting at a desk doing my business administration. I would rather be moving. When I find my attention and focus waning, I know it is time to exercise.
This can be in any number of ways. I may take a short stretch and strength refresh during our Gymnastrix programs lunch break; doing a few push ups, chin ups or a quick abdominal workout. It doesn’t matter if it is a walk, run, swim or kicking a ball with the kids in the backyard. It doesn’t need to be any more than 5 minutes long and my brain is firing. It is fuelled up with oxygen and glucose, it is revved up and ready for action once more. 

My logic​ is simple. The better my focus and attention, the faster I get through doing something I don’t like and get to do some fun things that I do! It is easy to turn it into a game – pushing myself against mini goals or lists of tasks against the clock. Finish it faster, get the reward of a longer exercise and water break.
Andrew Merle writes in the Huffington Post <link> “I swear by my morning run because it makes me sharper mentally all day long. And I am convinced that my morning running routine has changed my life and career more than any other habit.
The effects of exercise on my cognitive performance are so strong that I feel compelled to encourage others to take up a similar routine. But of course running isn’t for everyone, so I wanted to research the overall best types of exercise for the brain.”

In his book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. John Ratey M.D.  Great read) calls exercise “the single most powerful tool you have to optimize your brain function.”
For a brief synopsis, read more >