fitness, harvard, exercise, health Man running, image: Pixabay
Exercising has an infinite number of benefits that we all already know: it helps us build and preserve muscle mass, strengthens our heart, makes us be and feel healthy and, of course, it can contribute to the prevention of a large number of diseases. However, there is a very positive effect that we all tend to forget or that we do not even know about, but that we will appreciate in the future.
It's about how exercising can be good for our brain, because it improves our thinking abilities and, above all, our memory. A conclusion that many studies have reached, including some from Harvard.
And sport not only stimulates physical changes in our body, such as losing weight, gaining muscle or improving our athletic abilities; but it also causes psychological changes. Not only does it help us improve our mental health, but it promotes the production of certain growth factors, which include those chemicals that motivate the growth of new blood vessels in the brain, in addition to the preservation of its cells.
Many studies have concluded that the parts of the brain that control thinking and memory are larger in people who train than in those who don't. This does not mean that we have to kill ourselves every day in the gym, but it does mean that we stay active and do moderate intensity exercise several times a week.
Research, published in 2023 in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, studied how exercise could help reduce the chances of developing dementia as we age. Among the more than 10,000 people who participated in the study, 75% said they did some type of sport moderately or intensely, such as walking or running, about four days a week.
This study also showed how some fundamental parts of their brain, responsible for memorization and learning processes, were larger than those who exercised less or did not exercise at all.
In the same way, as playing sports helps us sleep and have a better mood, this helps us reduce stress, so, at the same time, we will be improving our cognitive abilities.
There really is no exact and definitive answer to this question. Most studies have analyzed how walking affects us psychologically; but, of course, other forms of movement will also help us. The ideal would be to practice 150 minutes of some type of exercise a week, and we will begin to notice its effects after a couple of months.
In fact, in a Harvard study, tai-chi was discussed as one of the best exercises to maintain skills such as organization, memory, attention, reasoning or problem solving. This is because its slow and controlled movements require great concentration, so we will not only be training our body, but also our mind.
In the end, we all know that exercising is vital when it comes to ageing optimally , both physically and mentally. It's not just about trying to take care of ourselves on the outside and making our appearance look younger, but also about making us feel as young as we can on the inside, and that can only be achieved by taking care of ourselves as much as we can.
If you are still one of those people who have not wanted or have not been able to start some type of exercise, what are you waiting for to do it? There is no greater motivation than knowing that we will be taking control of our health.
[via GQ Spain]
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