As we grow older, we like to think aging increases wisdom. What everyone knows is staying physically active, by incorporating some form of exercise into their daily routine is beneficial, yet somehow most can’t find the time. Our bodies, especially once growing older needs physical activity.
The greatest benefit is remaining slim, which reduces the risk of developing heart disease. One overseen advantage is it enhances the brain, as it improves memory and the will to learn.
What working out does is increases blood and oxygen circulation to all the major organs, especially the brain, improving its cognitive functioning.
9. If It Makes You Happy
Perhaps the greatest benefit of exercising is it makes you feel happy, in multiple ways. What doing physical activity instantly does is releases the chemical dopamine, which is the feel good hormone that plays a vital role in happiness and feelings of wellness.
The more you exercise, the more dopamine you secrete into your brain, which increases joy.
Working out also activates other mood enhancing chemicals, such as serotonin and endorphins, which makes you feel positive.
What exercising is guaranteed to do, is help boost self-confidence and self-esteem, which only contributes to being happier without worry.
8. Improves Focus And Concentration
What exercise does is activates the process of clearing the mind, calms down nerves while improving focus, concentration, and attention span.
Just doing moderate exercise has a positive effect, when it comes to cognitive performance. What this does is improves mindfulness, which improves attention orientated tasks such as writing or doing exams.
The best proof that physical exercise improves attention spans, is found in children and adolescents, who may be suffering from attention deficit disorder (ADHD) symptoms.
Physical activity is helpful for learning, which improves performance in school.
7. Increases Memory And Retrieval
Just moderate exercise on a daily basis, such as walking or light jogging does is motivates learning, improves memory function, while stimulating the ability for abstract reasoning.
What oxygenation and improved nutrition to the brain does, is helps enhances better learning, faster processing, while retaining the information better. Exercising is the best known memory booster for your brain, without using stimulants.
What working out does is encourages the growth of new capillaries while enhancing blood flow.
What it leads to is the increased production of proteins, which helps grow new nerve cells, while improving better functioning of neurons in the brain.
What routine physical activity also does is improves the executive functioning of the brain, which directs organization, behaviour, planning, and problem solving.
6. Slows Down Brain Atrophy
Once you enter your thirties, what the brain naturally does is begins to lose its volume, especially in the hippocampus region.
What this affects is memory and cognitive ability, while opening the doorway to developing dementia. What studies show, is exercise increases volume in the hippocampus, while improving spatial memory.
It’s no coincidence when it comes to the relationship between an individuals exercise frequency, and increased brain volume.
The amount of exercise performed daily, increases the size of the right hippocampus. What regularly working out does is protects the brain from naturally shrinking.
5. Adds More Brain Cells
When aging, what happens is the brain tissues begin to diminish, while the growth of new cells slows down.
What’s known however is exercising, despite your age, does is reverses this function, as it increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain. This process is known as neurogenesis, which is the formation of new nerve cells.
Exercising also helps a function known as brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which accelerates the growth of new brain cells.
It does so in the hippocampus, which is the area of the brain that’s responsible for memory. The more you exercise, the more BDNF your brain produces.
4. Can Potentially Increase IQ
There’s compounding evidence exercising can make you smarter. This especially in children, and the reason why Physical Education is a core curriculum in school.
It’s proven to enhance their mental functioning, which is vital for cognitive development. It’s found especially aerobic exercise training, improves better executive functioning.
Exercising not only improves IQ levels, but also improves overall cognitive development. The key is cardiovascular exercises, which accelerates stimulation to the brain.
What’s also known is aerobic exercise increases mental speed processing.
3. Lowers The Risk Of Alzheimer’s And Dementia
What exercising does is reduces two of the most common issues, when it comes to cognitive decline once growing older, Alzheimer’s and dementia.
What physical activity does is increases the circulation of blood and oxygen to the brain, resulting in higher levels of BDNF, a nerve growth factor that’s vital for brain health.
As a result, exercising has become an important therapeutic strategy, when dealing with signs of dementia, and mild cognitive impairment in the aging.
Its been observed instilling any type of regular exercise, does is contributes to avoiding dementia by close to 60% percent.
2. Fights Off Moodiness And Depression
Moodiness leading to depression is a mental condition, that limits how the brain chemicals fosters effective communication in the brain, which eventually shuts down its ability to adapt to new situations.
What exercising does is helps fight these symptoms, by boosting the production of BDNF, which is a protein that helps the neurotransmitters perform more efficiently.
What’s found is just 30 minutes of moderate exercise, five days a week, does is reduces the symptoms of depression by close to one half.
It’s found exercising is just as helpful as therapy or medication. Exercising not only helps fight off moodiness, but also helps in preventing it as well.
1. Reduces Stress And Anxiety
Reducing stress and anxiety is one of the key benefits of physical exercise, as they damage mental health.
What exercising does is releases a variety of neurochemicals, such as endorphins, dopamine, and norepinephrine, all known to improve cognitive functioning, which elevates better mood and alertness.
What’s known is once feeling anxiety, or expecting a stressful day, it’s routine exercise and physical activity which can positively impact the pathophysiological processes, that’s related to experiencing stress and anxiety.
The recommendation is, the more stress you feel, the more exercise you need, preferably the aerobic type.