Exercise Good for the Body and the Brain

You know that working out is good for your body, but did you also know that hitting the gym is also good for your brain? Now you can actually say you are multitasking when you are working out. You know what hitting the gym means for your biceps and butt, but it can also help keep your brain working at a high level. So not only will you look better you will be better dare say smarter.

Regular exercise, both cardio and strength training can help and/or improve:

• Depression/Stress: Exercise has been proven to help to alleviate depression; it has even been proven to help treat major depression. Some doctors have gone as far to start prescribing regular exercise to their depression patients along with other treatments. Exercise has long been described as a stress reliever less stress better brain (and body).
• Memory: Increasing your heart rate increases the blood flow to your brain improving your memory.   With is increased blood flow you are helping to give birth to new nerve cells which is what helps improve your memory. It has been proven that the hippocampus can decrease with age, which can cause some cognitive difficulties, but exercise can stop this decrease and keep cognitive functions working properly.
• Learn Faster: All those new nerve cells will not only help you to remember, but they can also help you to learn new task faster. Great for when you have a new job or just need to learn how to use your new phone.
• Focus: Strength training can improve your focus. Think about it when you doing strength training you forced to focus on proper form, remembering to breathe, and blocking any distracting surrounding you (like the guy grunting with each set). So while you are building muscles you are also training your brain to focus, and that lesson extends beyond the gym.
• Achieve Goals: Exercise especially cardio requires long and consistent, think of a runner training for a marathon. Even running on the treadmill for 30 minutes requires you maintain a constant pace and reach your desired distance. This ability to follow through on your cardio workout helps you develop habits of follow through in your world outside of exercise therefore helping you to stick to your plans and reach the goals you set for yourself.

To recap exercise not only gives you a stronger and healthier body, but it will improve your memory, your focus, help alleviate stress and symptoms of depression all while helping your achieve goals in and out of the gym. The best part of this is that to see improvements in your brain you only need to perform low to moderate exercise no need to train for a marathon, just get your 20-30 minutes each day, even it is only a evening walk after dinner.