Think outside the cube – Can a little sweat make you more than just smelly?
by Kristen L. Phiel, MS, Freelance Medical Writer
Today is the first day of fall – have you thought about your New Year’s resolutions recently? If you were like so many of us, somewhere on that list scribbled in early January was “Workout” or “Start Exercising”. Now is the time to get your rear out of the cube and get moving. Why now? What new motivation is going to get you going? New research shows that exercise can make you smarter!
Now, not just any exercise will do. Investigators in Taiwan compared the learning and memory abilities of mice allowed to run on rodent wheels to those who were run on mini-treadmills who got a more strenuous aerobic workout. Both groups of mice were tested in a water maze to see how fast they would learn to move away from an unpleasant stimulus. Both groups of mice swam well in the maze, but only those who ran on the treadmills were better at avoiding the unpleasant response. When their brains were analyzed under a microscope, there was evidence that several portions of the treadmill mices’ brains had changes compared to only one region in the rodent wheel mice.
“So what,” you say? What does this mean in people? Studies throughout the ages have shown the many benefits of exercise. Ten years ago, groundbreaking research from scientists at the Salk Institute in California showed that exercise can stimulate the creation of new brain cells.
So what kind of exercise is best? Aerobic activity is the clear winner! A study comparing cognition tests in elderly people, who either stretched or walked briskly, showed that the walkers improved their cognitive abilities. A recent study testing the memory skills and cognitive recognition abilities of students who either sat quietly, lifted weights, or ran on a treadmill showed that the students who ran were noticeably quicker and more accurate on the test and they continued to perform better over a longer period of time.
What is it about aerobic activity that can make you smarter? One theory is that factors produced in the throughout the body and secreted into the blood are then carried to the brain where they start a molecular chain reaction that leads to the generation of new neurons and neural connections. So, unless you really get your blood pumping those important factors never reach central processing!
While the human body may not work the same as those treadmill-run mice, do you want to be the feeble-minded one left sitting in their cube? There is no better time to start a regular exercise program than right now! And don’t forget the aerobic exercise!
