Exercise

Yes, exercise can make you smarter, happier, and have more neurons. Moving your body can help your brain work better.

If you want to boost your memory and thinking skills, get at least 150 minutes of moderate physical exercise every week.

What does exercise do for you?

Promote Cardiovascular Health

Exercise can prevent or improve all the major risk factors that contribute to heart disease. These factors include high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and unhealthy cholesterol levels.

Study after study shows that regular exercise and physical activity:
  • increases heart strength
  • improves lung function
  • lowers blood pressure
  • lowers high cholesterol
  • lowers high blood sugar
  • lowers high triglycerides
  • reduces the risk of heart attack and heart disease

For Australians who enjoy working out with others, there are regular gym classes in Sydney to give you the support you need.

Improve Blood Flow to Your Brain

It was recently found that inactive adults who started an exercise program increased blood flow to their brains. They also found increases in executive function, after six months of regular exercise.

Executive function is a set of processes and mental skills that help a person plan, monitor, and execute their goals. These are skills like attention control, working memory, inhibition, and problem-solving.

Researchers have proposed that executive function may be a better predictor of success than IQ. Regular exercise can make you healthier and smarter.

Reduces Inflammation

The connection between exercise and inflammation has been of interest to the scientific community for a long time. Recent research revealed that the beneficial effects of exercise are driven by the immune system.

Exercise was found to energize T-cell response which helps the muscle use energy as fuel and improve overall endurance.

The immune system does more than just protect the body against pathogens. The research suggests that exercise is a natural way to boost the body’s immune system responses to reduce inflammation.

Chronic inflammation has been tied to many infectious diseases. Current thinking is that chronic inflammation could be behind all diseases. Regular exercise has been shown to have a positive effect on reducing chronic inflammation.

Reduce Stress

Exercise reduces the body’s level of stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. It stimulates the production of chemicals in the brain that act as natural painkillers and mood elevators.

Endorphins are responsible for “runner’s high” and for feelings of relaxation and optimism that accompany a hard workout.

Exercise and sports provide an opportunity to get away from your everyday worries. Regular exercise allows you to forget about the stress of everyday living. It gives you the chance to meet new people and make new friends.

Exercise is universally accepted as a valid form of therapy and beneficial in many areas. So much so, that the Australian government has provided exercise guidelines to help citizens develop healthy habits.

Every little bit of extra activity you get can be beneficial. Even people who don’t meet minimum activity guidelines benefit from higher total brain volume. Light activity daily was shown to reduce brain age anywhere from 1.4 to 2.2 years.