The enormous benefits of exercising are so incontrovertible that I now understand everyone must have an exercise routine in their lives. Here is why.
I. INTRODUCTION
My life and exercise has long been in a stormy relationship. There were times I did exercise almost each day on a regular basis. At those times, I enjoyed improved mood, quality of sleep and reduced stress. Moreover I was unlikely to experience any symptom of anxiety and depression.
In contrast, there were times I barely got up from my couch. At those times, I savored the perks of sedentary lifestyle such as binge watching Netflix and eating junk food. However, in my surprise, I also suffered from low mood, increased stress and insomnia. Furthermore, I underwent serious depression and anxiety, plus overweight problems.
I was surprised because I didn’t see any correlation between exercise routine and quality of life due to limited amounts of my knowledge. In my opinion, exercising was just a fun thing that I was doing in my leisure. However, years later I came across the importance of exercising in my studies of better learning. The enormous benefits of exercising are so incontrovertible that I now understand everyone must have an exercise routine in their lives.
The title of this article is “If you’re so smart, why don’t you exercise?”, but I have to confess that although I’d always seen myself as smart, my previous approach on exercising was plain foolishness. Accordingly, what was the reason for that?
The reason was obvious. Back then, I looked at exercising as a spare time activity. When my life rushed into busyness, I stopped exercising. There were always more important things than physical activity. I had to take the state exam in the last year of high school, get good grades on my midterm or finals in the university. Even worse, after graduation I worked 7am-9pm in a corporate law office as a lawyer. (But here’s some free advice I’m giving: When it comes to deciding what to do for a living, don’t be a lawyer!)¹
The more successful I wanted to be in the exams or in my job, the more time I had to devote to studying or working. There was just no room for exercising. However, the thing was that I always loved it. I loved taking walks on the seaside with my friends, going for jogs alone to clear my mind up, playing soccer with my colleagues from the military or hitting the gym to build some muscles. Unfortunately, I just had to focus on my exams or career and I didn’t have time. It was not exercise, it was me.²
If I told you that what I’d done back in those times had been the silliest thing on the earth, would you believe me? You would, only if you already know the immense benefits of exercising. Otherwise, you would keep lying on your sofa and watch the game of your favorite team.
In case you don’t know all the advantages of exercising yet, in this article, I explain almost all important perks of doing physical activity in the perspective of becoming a better learner by boosting your cognitive functions and reinforcing your memory.
II. EXERCISING BOOSTS COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS AND REINFORCES MEMORY
1. Short-term Positive Effects of Exercising on Cognitive Functions and Memory
First thing first. Even a single bout of exercising may enhance your memory and cognitive functions³ such as fluid reasoning, comprehension, learning efficiency and information processing speed.⁴
Scientists wanted to see how a one workout session might change the way the brain processes general knowledge (facts, ideas, meaning and concepts). For this reason, they made an experiment on a small group of people aged between 55 and 85.⁵
Researchers were not expecting any change in the brain induced by a short period of moderate physical activity. Instead, they found that there was a spike in brain activities of their subjects after 30 minutes of mild cycling. It seems neurons had been having “Halay” inside of the brain.
Chemical changes that occur in the brain after even a single workout must play a role in the increased brain activity, surmised by Carson Smith, an associate professor of kinesiology and director of the Exercise for Brain Health Laboratory at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, who oversaw the study.
Short-term positive results of exercising just comprise a very small part of physical activity’s benefits. Besides, real advantages ensue in the long-term. Regular exercise has long lasting effects on boosting cognitive functions and reinforcing memory which means make you smarter than before in the life marathon.⁶
2. Long-term Positive Effects of Exercising on Cognitive Functions and Memory
(1) Exercising Helps New Neurons Born, Survive and Thrive
Do you still think that we are born with all the neurons we’re ever going to have and we lose these neurons by aging? Surprise! Although neuroscientists used to think that, it has now been proven completely wrong. New neurons are born every day, particularly in the brain’s hippocampus, a vital area for learning and memory.⁷
Exercising increases the production of certain proteins (e.g., BDNF, IGF-1, VEGF) which skyrockets the birth of new neurons, nurtures the growth of both newly created and preexisting brain cells (helping them survive) and increases neuronal activity signaling. This effect is so powerful that it can reverse the decline of brain function in the older people. Welcome to the world of Benjamin Button.
The exercise-induced increase in neuronal activity signaling helps brain regions become more functionally interconnected. Augmented communication in the brain causes improvements in cognitive function and strengthens the memory. It is like consolidating local area network (LAN)⁸ in your home by increasing the transmission of electrical current in fibres, so you can enjoy improved connection between your computers.
(2) Exercising Expands the Volume of Brain Regions Associated with Memory Processing and Cognitive Function
Regular exercise also increases the volume of brain regions associated with memory processing and cognitive function in particular. These increments in brain volume have been shown to improve information processing speed, multitasking and memory, along with other cognitive functions such as fluid reasoning and comprehension. Naturally, these changes also prevent the shrinking of the hippocampus and memory impairment that occurs in late adulthood. The key idea is, if you exercise enough, you might shapeshift into a Talosian and enjoy the perks of being one of them.
3. Indirect Positive Effects of Exercising on Reinforcing Memory and Boosting Cognitive Functions
There are also indirect positive effects of exercising on reinforcing memory and boosting cognitive functions by improving mood and quality of sleep, allied with reducing stress and buffering from depression and anxiety. Problems in these areas frequently cause or contribute to cognitive impairment and memory loss.⁹
(1) Increasing Mood
Are you familiar with the term of “Euphoria”, a psychological state of great enthusiasm and happiness? According to Aristotle, all people — educated or uneducated — seek Euphoria, the highest good that can be achieved through the course of a whole lifetime by having all the goods — health, wealth, knowledge, friends, etc. — that leads to the perfection of human nature and to the enrichment of human life.¹⁰
Building all those life pillars sound rough, doesn’t it? It needs a great endeavour of dedicating your whole life to get all of them. If you’re lucky enough, you can indulge in having all of them for a brief moment in your life. However, there are easier and more steady ways of obtaining Euphoria. Researchers have found that continuous exercise such as running and rowing can produce a transient state of Euphoria — which is also known as a “runner’s high” in distance running or “rower’s high” in rowing.
The reason of the exercise-induced transient state of Euphoria might be releases of certain neurotransmitters, chemical substances made by the neuron specifically to transmit a message.¹¹ Because, regular exercising increases the level of mood lifting neurotransmitters; phenethylamine, endorphin and anandamide. Moreover, it appears to normalize the excessive neurotransmission of another neurotransmitter, glutamate, that occurs in drug addiction and cause unwanted reactions such as extreme sweating, pounding heart etc.
(2) Better Sleeping
Recent research indicates that exercise decreases sleep complaints and insomnia in patients. The effects of aerobic exercise on sleep appear to be similar to those of sleeping pills.¹²
Researchers have not yet anchored the exact reasons pointing out how physical activity makes us sleep better. “However, we do know that moderate aerobic exercise increases the amount of slow wave sleep you get. Slow wave sleep refers to deep sleep, where the brain and body have a chance to re-energize themselves. Exercise can also help to stabilize your mood and decompress the mind, a cognitive process that is important for naturally transitioning to sleep,” says Charlene Gamaldo, M.D., medical director of Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep at Howard County General Hospital.
(3) Reducing Stress
Excessively high exposure or prolonged exposure to high levels of stress causes impairments in cognitive control and has neurotoxic effects in the human brain. For example, chronic psychological stress decreases expression of our super protein, BDNF, which has detrimental effects on hippocampal volume and can lead to depression.
Regular exercising is one of the best tools we have for coping with the stress and stress-related malfunctions that occur in our body and brain. There is a lot of scientific research that emphasizes stress-reducing effects of physical activity.
How does regular exercise help us avoid dangerous levels of stress?
As mentioned above, stress causes decreases in levels of BDNF which leads to cognitive impairments. But low BDNF expression and synthesis in the hippocampus also causes stress. We are faced with a chicken or the egg dilemma here. Does stress cause a decrease in levels of BDNF or is stress the natural result of low BDNF?
The answer is not clearly known by the researchers yet, but what is known is that the increase in levels of BDNF induced by exercise helps reverse the stress-triggered decrease in BDNF expression which buffers against stress-related diseases in the long term. Thus, the more you exercise, the less likely you are to get stressed in general.
Decrease in the stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline, is another neurochemical change in the brain that happens as a result of exercising.¹³ Let’s remember, physical activity also stimulates the production of the brain’s natural mood elevators and painkillers; phenethylamine, endorphin and anandamide.
(4) Buffers from Depression and Anxiety
(i) Depression
Depression is a mental disorder characterized by pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, loss of interest in normally enjoyable activities, low energy, and pain without a clear cause.¹⁴ Conversely, exercise is a natural stimulant of higher mood and painkillers effects, increases self-esteem, helps one get more active and reinvigorated. Consequently, correlation between depression and exercise is apparent; exercise is a natural antidote for depression.
According to the American Psychological Association, research shows that exercise can help alleviate long-term depression.¹⁵ In 2006, Michael Otto, PhD, a professor of psychology at Boston University and his colleagues reviewed 11 studies investigating the effects of exercise on mental health. They determined that exercise could be a powerful intervention for clinical depression.
“I often recommend exercise for my psychotherapy clients, particularly for those who are anxious or depressed,” says Jennifer Carter, PhD, the counseling and sport psychologist at the Center for Balanced Living in Ohio.
(ii) Anxiety
Anxiety is an unpleasant state of inner turmoil, often accompanied by nervous behaviors such as sweating, dizziness, and a racing heart induced by the fight or flight response of the brain.¹⁶ More severe symptoms of anxiety may include feelings of apprehension or dread, trouble concentrating, extreme muscle tension, a trapped-in-your-mind feeling, irritability, restlessness, helplessness, and feeling like everything is scary. These symptoms may lead to panic disorder.
Researchers have explored exercise as a tool for treating and preventing anxiety. Besides its known effects — boosting cognitive control, increasing mood, normalizing sleep and reducing stress — regular workout might help people prevent having anxiety attacks when they experience those fight-or-flight sensations. After all, the body produces many of the same physical reactions — heavy perspiration, increased heart rate — in response to exercise. It also reduces the biological response to psychological stress in humans (e.g., reduced cortisol release and regulated heart rate response).
There is an interesting experiment that shows how effective exercising may be to cope with stressful situations and stress related diseases. Michael Lehmann, PhD, a researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health, operated an experiment on mice — animals that, like humans, are vulnerable to social stress.
Lehmann and colleagues exposed small, submissive mice to social defeat by putting them in the same environment with larger, more aggressive mice. The alpha mice regularly intimidated, bullied and tried to harm the smaller rodents. After two weeks of regular social defeat, the smaller and submissive mice explored less, hid in the shadows, and experienced symptoms of depression and anxiety.
However, one group of mice heroically stayed resilient against the stress, created by the alpha mice. These were the mice that were put in enriched environments with running wheels and tubes to explore for three weeks before the social defeat treatment. Unlike the sedentary mice in an impoverished environment, bullied mice that had been mentally and physically active showed no signs of rodent depression or anxiety after social defeat. “Exercise and mental enrichment are buffering how the brain is going to respond to future stressors,” Lehmann says.
III. WHAT TYPE AND HOW MUCH YOU SHOULD EXERCISE
For substantial health benefits, US Government experts from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention recommend for adults (aged 17+) getting at least 150 minutes of moderately vigorous physical activity each week in addition to doing muscle strengthening exercises (involving all major muscle groups) at least twice a week.¹⁷
Physical activity that is “moderately vigorous” increases your heart rate and breathing and makes you sweat after a while. Moderately vigorous activities include bicycling at an easy pace, brisk walking (3–6 km per hour), slow pace dancing, volleyball and even most housework and cleaning chores.
Experts from Stanford University also recommend exercising 30 minutes per day, five or more days a week.¹⁸ Does that sound unachieveable? Well, these 30 minutes don’t have to be all at one time. You can divide it into 3 sessions such as briskly walking to your work in the morning for 10 minutes instead of taking public transportation, 10 minutes of walking with colleagues after lunch and a final 10 minutes of walking back to your house after work.
Exercise intensity and duration is positively correlated with the benefits acquired. This means the more you exercise, the more you benefit. Nonetheless, just 30 minutes of exercise per day, five or more days a week, is enough to get the most out of these advantages.
Although most of the research referenced throughout this article focus on the benefits of aerobic exercise such as walking and running, it seems that different types of exercise may have subtly different molecular effects.¹⁹ Research has shown that it is important to get all four types of exercise: aerobic, strength, balance and flexibility.
After my studies of better learning, I’ve decided that I am ready for steady and committed relationship with exercise. As a result, I now do physical activity each day. I enjoy combining my exercise routine with different types of training. For flexibility and balance, I do yoga for 20 minutes each morning as soon as I wake up. For aerobic activity, I run 30 minutes 3-5 days a week. Finally, of course, I hit the gym for an hour and a half of vigorous weight-lifting 4 days a week.²⁰
IV. TAKEAWAY
In my previous opinion, exercising was just a fun thing that I was doing in my leisure. However, years later I came across the importance of exercising in my research of better learning. The enormous benefits of exercising are so incontrovertible that I now understand everyone must have an exercising routine in their lives.
Even a single bout of exercising may enhance your memory and cognitive functions such as fluid reasoning, comprehension, learning efficiency and information processing speed. Yet, the short-term positive results of exercising comprise just a very small part of the benefits of physical activity. Real advantages ensue in the long-term. Regular exercise has long lasting effects on boosting cognitive functions and reinforcing memory, which means it makes you smarter than before in the life marathon.
Exercising increases the production of certain proteins (e.g., BDNF, IGF-1, VEGF) which skyrockets the birth of new neurons, nurtures the growth of both newly created and preexisting brain cells (helping them survive) and increases neuronal activity signaling.
The exercise-induced increase in neuronal activity signaling helps brain regions become more functionally interconnected. Augmented communication in the brain causes improvements in cognitive function and strengthens the memory.
Regular exercise also increases volume of brain regions associated with memory processing and cognitive function in particular. These increments in brain volume have been shown to improve information processing speed, multitasking and memory, along with other cognitive functions.
There are also indirect positive effects of exercising on reinforcing memory and boosting cognitive functions by improving mood and quality of sleep, allied with reducing stress and buffering from depression and anxiety. Problems in these areas frequently cause or contribute to cognitive impairment and memory loss.
For substantial health benefits, US Government experts from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention recommend that adults (aged 17+) get at least 150 minutes of moderately vigorous physical activity such as bicycling at an easy pace or brisk walking (3–6 km per hour) each week in addition to doing muscle strengthening exercises involving all major muscle groups at least twice a week.
Exercise intensity and duration is positively correlated with the benefits acquired. This means the more you exercise, the more you benefit. Nonetheless, just 30 minutes of exercising per day, five or more days a week is enough to get the most out of those advantages.
Although most of the research referenced throughout this article focus on the benefits of aerobic exercise such as walking and running, it seems that different types of exercise may have subtly different molecular effects. Research has shown that it’s important to get all four types of exercise: aerobic, strength, balance and flexibility.
FOOTNOTES
[1]: Don’t Be A Lawyer, starring Burl Moseley, & Clark Moore. Written by Rachel Bloom, Jack Dolgen, & Adam Schlesinger, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs-UEqJ85KE
[2]: (Seinfield, 1989) “It’s not you, it’s me.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uAj4wBIU-8
[3]: (Reynolds, 2019)
[4]: (Flanagan and McDonough, 2018)
[5]: (Smith et al, 2019)
[6]: (Neurobiological Effects of Physical Exercise, n.d.)
[7]: (Oakley, 2017)
[8]: LAN is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, school, laboratory, university campus or office building.
[9]: (Exercise can boost your memory and thinking skills, 2018)
[10]: (Raftari, 2015)
[11]: (Neurotransmitter, n.d.)
[12]: (Exercising for Better Sleep, n.d.)
[13]: (Exercising to Relax, 2011)
[14]: (Major Depressive Disorder, n.d.)
[15]: (Weir, 2011)
[16]: (Anxiety, n.d.)
[17]: (M. Azar II, et al, 2018)
[18]: For further details, https://www.edx.org/course/staying-fit?index=product&queryID=0acbca651d5e02f7958bae22adb93093&position=1
[19]: (Oakley, 2014)
[20]: Please note that I am 26 years old with no health problem. My vigorous exercise routine is also a part of months of steady improvement.
REQUEST FOR A REVIEW
If you read the article, I kindly ask you to review the article from the link below. The review only takes 3 minutes.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Josh Johnston and Ibrahim Enes ALTAN for helping and support.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
En.wikipedia.org. n.d. Anxiety. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety#Symptoms> [Accessed 5 March 2021].
En.wikipedia.org. n.d. Major Depressive Disorder. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_depressive_disorder> [Accessed 5 March 2021].
En.wikipedia.org. n.d. Neurobiological Effects of Physical Exercise. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurobiological_effects_of_physical_exercise#Mechanism_of_effects> [Accessed 5 March 2021].
En.wikipedia.org. n.d. Neurotransmitter. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotransmitter> [Accessed 5 March 2021].
Flanagan, D. and McDonough, E., 2018. Contemporary Intellectual Assessment. 4th ed. The Guilford Press.
Harvard Health Publishing. 2018. Exercise Can Boost Your Memory and Thinking Skills. [online] Available at: <https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/exercise-can-boost-your-memory-and-thinking-skills#:~:text=Exercise%20can%20also%20boost%20memory,or%20contribute%20to%20cognitive%20impairment.> [Accessed 5 March 2021].
Harvard Health Publishing. 2011. Exercising to Relax. [online] Available at: <https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/exercising-to-relax> [Accessed 5 March 2021].
Johns Hopkins Medicine. n.d. Exercising for Better Sleep. [online] Available at: <https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/exercising-for-better-sleep#:~:text=Exercise%20Decreases%20Insomnia,to%20medical%20treatments%20for%20insomnia.> [Accessed 5 March 2021].
M. Azar II, A., 2018. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans 2nd edition. [online] Health.gov. Available at: <https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Physical_Activity_Guidelines_2nd_edition.pdf> [Accessed 5 March 2021].
Oakley, B., 2014. A Mind for Numbers Kindle Edition. New York: Penguin Publishing Group, p.179.
Oakley, B., 2017. Mindshift Kindle Edition. New York: Penguin Publishing Group, p.21.
Raftari, H., 2015. Happiness in View of Aristotle and Avicenna. [online] Ijssh.org. Available at: <http://www.ijssh.org/papers/545-H011.pdf> [Accessed 5 May 2021].
Reynolds, G., 2019. How Exercise Affects Our Memory. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/01/well/move/how-exercise-affects-our-memory.html> [Accessed 4 March 2021].
Smith, J., 2019. Semantic Memory Activation After Acute Exercise in Healthy Older Adults. [online] cambridge.org. Available at: <http://Semantic Memory Activation After Acute Exercise in Healthy Older Adults> [Accessed 4 March 2021].
Weir, K., 2011. The Exercise Effect. [online] https://www.apa.org. Available at: <https://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/12/exercise> [Accessed 5 March 2021].
US Department of Health & Human Services National Institute on Aging. 2021. Four Types of Exercise Can Improve Your Health and Physical Ability. [online] Available at: <https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/four-types-exercise-can-improve-your-health-and-physical-ability#:~:text=Research%20has%20shown%20that%20it's,boredom%20and%20risk%20of%20injury.> [Accessed 5 March 2021].
