There are times when the best course of action to carry out when you are lethargic and down is to exercise. Doing so certainly has the power to help you stay in physical shape. However, the mental benefits of exercise are often overlooked. If you want to enhance your mind, engaging in a form of exercise that you enjoy will boost your emotional wellness and brain fitness.
Spending time exercising in natural surroundings like the countryside can make people feel good. Additionally, we are aware that performing exercises, in any environment, increases feel-good hormones that flood the system, which is why people can feel high from working out. Nonetheless, until recently, people were not aware of just how greatly exercise could improve and maintain the functioning of their brains.
A study involving mice showed that regular exercise increased brain cells, which is good news, since there is reason to think that the same is true for humans. Scientists now believe that exercising could help stave off Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s, while helping people think clearly and feel less mentally fatigued than if they were couch potatoes.
Perhaps, you have spent the odd day or too lounging indoors in the past, especially if it was the festive season and the weather was bad outdoors. Resting and relaxing for a while probably felt good. However, there will have come a point when you just felt lethargic, bored, and frankly, a little brain-dead. Lack of physical movement over a long period can weaken your mental state as well as your muscles if you are not careful. Getting off the couch and exercising enlivens your mind.
Another study, this time involving monkeys as subjects, revealed that exercise increased blood vessels in the brain. Not exercising regularly, however, resulted in the number of blood vessels that the monkeys had gained decreasing once more. Therefore, if you want to keep your brain fit, you have to exercise each day.
In case you are wondering, thirty minutes of exercise per day has proven to be sufficient for enhanced brain plasticity. Workout or walk vigorously, for half-an-hour regularly and your brain’s ability to heal after trauma will increase along with your memory. Additionally, if you are trying to become skilled at something new, exercise is beneficial since it aids the learning process.
Whether you hope to avoid mental decline as you age, improve mental functioning, or enhance your ability to absorb and process information, exercise could be your panacea.
References:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/how-exercise-can-strengthen-the-brain/?_r=0
