Your Brain on Exercise

Exercise has been well-documented, and everybody knows they should be doing exercise. It’s just that many don’t. When we look to the brain, the case for exercise becomes even more compelling. But is it all good news? Can we do too much and how does this impact other areas in our life such as work performance?

The 10’000-step rule has been with us for a few years and has seeped into collective consciousness. So has the idea that we should workout and exercise. Standard recommendations have been to do moderate exercise with a raised heartrate 3 times a week. This has been proposed with the rationale that this reduces cardiovascular disease. Simply, if the heart never has to raise its activity for more than walking up a flight of steps it will slowly deteriorate over time leading to multiple risks and increased chance of impairments and early death from what is known as heart disease.

The other reason health advice has included exercise is for the purpose of reducing obesity or halting weight gain – this also reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. But research over recent years has shone a brighter light onto the benefits of exercise which are much, much more than simply training your heart.

Though the general population may see exercise as slogging it out in the gym or exhausting yourself running, walking is probably the easiest activity for the average person to engage in and, it must be noted, the effects are dramatic. I listed the benefits in Take a Walk on the Wild Side. In fact, when we look at the science it quickly becomes clear that this is a real superpower and that the 10’000-step rule should be legally mandated!

So, what does walking do – and particularly to the brain?