Studies
find exercise increases stress resilience, fights anxiety, speeds up the mind,
protects against dementia, is more fun than we predict, and more…
If everyone
got a little exercise, we could put half the doctors in the world out of a
job. But it’s not just doctors who’d be out of a job if people could take
the stairs every now and then, it’s also psychologists. Here are 20
wonderful psychological effects that exercise has on the mind.
1.
Increases stress resilience
Studies on
mice have shown that exercise reorganises the brain so that it is more
resistant to stress (Schoenfeld et al., 2013).
It does this
by stopping the neurons firing in the regions of the brain thought to be
important in the stress response (the ventral hippocampus).
This may be
part of the reason that exercise…
2.
Reduces anxiety
Exercise has
a relatively long-lasting protective effect against anxiety (Smith, 2013).
Both low and
medium intensity exercise has been shown to reduce anxiety. However, those
doing high intensity exercise are likely to experience the greatest reduction
in anxiety, especially among women (Cox et al., 2004).
3. Lower
dementia risk
Almost any
type of exercise that gets your heart working reduces the risk of dementia.
A review of
130 different studies found that exercise helped prevent dementia and mild
cognitive impairment among participants (Ahlskog et al., 2011). Regular exercise in
midlife was associated with lower levels of cognitive problems.
Not only
this, but participants who exercised had better spatial memory.
4. Escape
a bad mood
If you want
to raise your energy levels, reduce tension and boost mood, you can talk to
your friends or listen to some music.
But most
agree that for the difficult job of transforming a bad mood into a good one,
exercise is the most effective method (Thayer et al., 1994).
5. Cut
down on cocaine
Or perhaps
you’re getting a little too happy?
By all
accounts, cocaine is a bit more-ish. At least when you put it into the water of
experimental rats, they suddenly develop quite a thirst.
Exercising
rats, though, while still enjoying a little taste of Columbia, tend to
self-administer less cocaine (Lynch et al., 2010). This suggests exercise
may help humans regulate their cocaine intake.
6. Fight
depression
Just as
exercise fights anxiety, it also fights its close relation, depression.
One review
of 39 different studies involving 2,326 people has found that exercise
generally provides moderate relief from depression (Cooney et al., 2013).
It won’t
cure, but it can certainly help. The effects may be as great as starting
therapy or taking anti-depressants.
7. Speed
up your mind
Working
memory includes what’s in your conscious mind right nowand whatever
you’re doing with this information.
After 30
minutes exercise, people’s working memory improves. There’s some evidence that
accuracy drops a bit, but this is more than made up for by increases in speed (McMorris et al., 2011).
8.
Consolidate long-term memory
The effects
of exercise on long-term memory are somewhat controversial.
However, at
low-intensity, one recent study has found that exercise can benefit long-term
memory (Schmidt-Kassow et al., 2013; see: Exercise Can Improve Long-Term Memory).
9. Boost
self-control
A review of
24 different studies on the effects of exercise on self-control, found that a
short bout provides an immediate boost to self-control (Verburgh et al., 2013).
Although
regular exercise didn’t show an effect on self-control, a period of moderate
exercise did allow people to take better control of themselves.
10. Help
with serious mental disorders
Schizophrenia
is a serious mental disorder often involving hallucinations, paranoia and
confused thinking.
Despite its
grave nature, there’s evidence that exercise can help for this, as well as
alcoholism and body image disorder (Tkachuk et al., 1999).
11.
Reduce silent strokes
A silent
stroke is one that seems to have no outward symptoms, but does actually damage
the brain.
Without
knowing why, sufferers can start experiencing more falls, memory problems and
difficulties moving.
Exercise,
though, reduces the chance of these silent strokes by 40%.
It has to be
more than just walking or playing golf, though; things like jogging, biking,
playing tennis or swimming are probably required to get the protective effect (Willey et al., 2011).
12.
Alzheimer’s protection
In the most
common form of dementia, Alzheimer’s, the brain literally wastes away; closely
followed by the body.
Neurons and
synapses are lost and the sufferer’s memory, personality and whole being slowly
but surely disappear.
Exercise,
though, provides a protective effect against Alzheimer’s by helping to produce
chemicals which fight the damaging inflammation of the brain (Funk et al., 2011).
13.
Improve children’s school performance
Children who
are fitter and engage in more exercise do better at school (Tomporowski et al., 2011).
Incredibly,
one study has found that the increased mental abilities of children who
exercise makes them safer crossing the road when distracted by their mobile
phones (Chaddock et al., 2012).
There’s a
reason to get kids to exercise if ever I heard one.
14.
Stimulate brain cell growth
Part of the
reason that exercise is beneficial in so many different mental areas is that it
helps new brain cells to grow.
A study on
rats has shown that, in response to exercise, the brain regions related to
memory and learning grow (Bjørnebekk, 2007).
15.
Increase executive functioning
What
psychologists call ‘executive functioning’ includes all kinds of useful
abilities like being able to switch tasks efficiently, ignore distractions,
make plans, and so on.
Reviewing
many studies in this area, Guiney and Machado (2012) find that
exercise reliably improve executive function, especially in older adults.
16.
Better sleep
The
relationship between exercise and sleep is a little more complicated than most
imagine. It’s not necessarily the case that exercise makes you tired, so you
sleep better.
For example,
one study on insomniacs found that 45 minutes on a treadmill did not make
them sleep better that night (Baron et al., 2013).
However, the
study found that exercise did help sleep in the long-term. Participants with
insomnia who kept to their exercise programs over 16 weeks did get better sleep
than those who did no exercise.
17.
Prevent migraines
Migraine
sufferers are often afraid of exercise because it might bring on an attack.
But a study
has shown that exercise can actually help prevent migraines (Varkey et al., 2011).
Participants
who took part in three sessions a week on an exercise bike for three months
showed improvements equivalent to taking the latest anti-migraine drugs.
18. Stop
smoking
Even
something as simple as a short walk can help people give up smoking.
According to
12 different studies reviewed by Taylor et al., (2008), people who take a brisk
walk, or similar exercise, experience less stress, less anxiety and fewer
withdrawal symptoms when trying to give up.
The reason
it helps is partly because it actually makes the cigarettes seem less
attractive (Van Rebsburg et al., 2009).
19.
Reduce motivation to eat
People tend
to think that exercising makes you eat more to replace the lost calories, but
new research questions this.
Recent
studies have found that, after exercise, people show lower motivation to eat
food (Hanlon et al., 2012).
Exercise may
suppress appetite by decreasing the body’s levels of ghrelin, which is a
hormone that stimulates appetite (Broom et al, 2008).
20. It’s
more fun than we predict
The final effect exercise
has on the mind is not so wonderful. It’s the effect that we tend to predict
it’s going to be horrible.
But this is
short-sighted. Research has shown that while exercising can be a drag at the
start of the session, people soon warm up.
According
to Ruby
et al. (2011), people enjoy their workouts much more than they
predict. This was true across lots of different types of people and for both
moderate and challenging workouts (see: Why Exercise is More Fun Than We Predict).
So, give it
a go, it really won’t be as bad as you think. You might even enjoy it.
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