How To Exercise For A Healthy Brain
Need motivation to exercise? Do it for your brain! After age 40 our brains tend to shrink, losing roughly 5% per decade until age 70 when the shrinking increases. As our brains shrink, we process information slower and our memory is often not as good. On top of this we have to worry about Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia and cognitive decline.
The good news is there are steps you can take to slow or halt cognitive decline and protect your brain. Exercise in midlife has been shown to significantly decrease the risks of both dementia and mild cognitive decline. “Studies have shown that women from age 40 to 60 who exercised regularly were seen to have a dramatic reduction in memory loss and cognitive decline.” Another meta-analysis found that with regular physical activity there was a 45% reduction in risk of getting Alzheimer’s.
Ryan Glatt, a trainer and brain health coach, believe a combination of 3 types of exercise will best protect your brain, aerobic, resistance and neuromotor training. Keep reading to learn more.
Aerobic and Resistance Training for Brain Health
Most people are familiar with aerobic and resistance training. Aerobic exercise elevates your heart rate and induces a sweat. This includes running, biking, swimming, brisk walking, and high intensity interval training. Resistance training uses weights, bands or body weight to strengthen the muscles. When it comes to brain health both are important and impact the brain differently.
Historically aerobic exercise was touted as best for brain health and is where most research has been conducted. Aerobic exercise can increase the size of your hippocampus which is linked to memory and learning. It also helps the brain deal with anxiety and depression and reduces inflammation. Furthermore, aerobic exercise stimulates the release of growth factors, chemicals which play a major role in brain health.
More recently, research including by academics at Australia’s Sydney University “found that cognitive brain function can improve exponentially as a result of strength training.” Research has also found a link between resistance training and the frontal lobe, which positively impacts executive function. Executive function is the mental skills needed to plan, focus and govern self-control. Resistance training also releases critical brain chemicals, like IGF1. This chemical is important for neuroplasticity, which is how the brain’s neural pathways change and reorganize as a result of new experiences or information.
Neuromotor Training
Neuromotor training is achieved through activities such as dance, sports, martial arts and leisure activity which requires you to focus and learn something new. Focus is important, it can’t be an activity you can do on autopilot.
This type of training involves motor skills like balance, gait, hand/eye or foot/eye coordination, proprioception (the body’s ability to perceive its own location in space) and agility. Activities that meet these criteria include mind/body activities such as yoga, tai chi, or pilates and more physically demanding activities such as sports, martial arts and dance. Remember, once you have mastered a new skill, you must look for new ways to challenge yourself.
How to Do This In Real Life
Current US Department of Health & Human Services physical activity guidelines state adults should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week. Past exercise recommendations for brain health focused on aerobic exercise. However, current research suggests a combination of resistance and aerobic exercise is most beneficial. And still others, like Ryan Glatt suggest the optimal exercise program for your brain is a combination of aerobic, resistance and neuromotor training.
To achieve this optimal program, Ryan suggests aerobic and resistance training 2 to 3 times per week and skill-based training 1 to 2 times per week. If this seems overwhelming, take baby steps. From my perspective anything is better than nothing.
Aerobic exercise is often the easiest for people because it is easiest to access. Good options include running, brisk walking, swimming, biking, or jumping rope. And while resistance training might seem daunting, the good news is you don’t have to join a gym to do it. For example, I use resistance bands at home and not because of Covid! I love Aaron Alexander’s Total Strength Kit as well as his Ultimate Align Band Exercise Vault, a series of videos to help you work out at home. Keep in mind you want to maximize your resistance training for building strength, which means pushing yourself.
And for neuromotor training, find something you like to do as there is a better chance you will stick with it! Try a Tai Chi class or maybe a Zumba class and get your neuromotor training and aerobic exercise in at the same time.
Parting Thought
What we do now, in our 40s and 50s, sets the stage for the later years of our lives. Challenge yourself today to do something for your brain...your 75 year-old self will thank you.
See you next week…
