Fun Facts About Exercise and Brain Power
- Brain Fertilizer: Working out triggers the release of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), a chemical that acts like food to grow new brain cells.
- Reversing Brain Aging: Aerobic exercise can grow your memory center (the hippocampus) by up to 2% each year, which can turn back the clock on brain aging.
- Natural Painkillers: Your body creates its own natural opioids and endocannabinoids during physical activity to reduce pain and bring pleasure.
- Exercise is a powerful depression fighter: Most importantly, it promotes all kinds of changes in the brain, including neural growth, reduced inflammation, and new activity patterns that promote feelings of calm and well-being. It also releases endorphins, powerful chemicals in your brain that energize your spirits and make you feel good. Finally, exercise can also serve as a distraction, allowing you to find some quiet time to break out of the cycle of negative thoughts that feed depression.
Fun Facts About Mood and Stress
- The Magic Dose: People who work out three to five times a week see a 40% drop in poor mental health days.
- Too Much of a Good Thing: Working out past the three-hour mark can actually cause worse mental health than doing no exercise at all.
- Better Than Walking: Low-impact mindfulness movements like yoga and Tai Chi give your brain a bigger mental health boost than a standard walk.
More Fun Facts
- Regular exercise extends life expectancy, quality of life, and independence.
- Eating fiber-rich foods helps keep you at a healthy weight and lowers the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
- Regular exercise reduces the chances of developing type 2 diabetes, along with a range of other chronic illnesses often associated with aging.
- Spinach is high in iron, which helps maintain energy levels and healthy blood cells.
- Two superfoods are almonds (high in protein and healthy fats) and blueberries (lots of antioxidants and linked to memory).
- Talk to us about High-Intensity Interval Training. It burns calories even after the workout is over and is safe for people over 50.
- Exercise is good for your skin because it increases blood flow and improves detoxification.
- Strength training strengthens bones and lowers the risk of falling.
- Omega-3 fatty acids boost brain health and mood.
- Physical fitness makes you feel better mentally, lowering depression and anxiety.
- Sunlight produces Vitamin D in our bodies, helping to absorb calcium and promote bone growth. So, get outside every day.
- Eating protein after working out helps build muscle and aids in recovery. Many adults over 50 don’t eat enough protein. Make sure you do!
- Your body has more than 230 joints.
- How much do you walk? The average person will walk 70,000 miles in a lifetime.
- Dehydration is bad for your brain and mood, in addition to your body.
- Fitness helps you sleep better.
- It’s good for your sex life, too.
- Quinoa is a complete protein so it has all nine essential amino acids that our bodies can’t produce on their own.
- Muscle burns more calories than fat, even when you’re not doing anything.
- Your brain benefits from physical exercise in many ways, including growth in the hippocampus, which is involved in verbal memory and learning.
- Some experts say sitting too much is as dangerous as smoking. Get up and move!
- Lifting weights can allow you to burn calories even when you’re not exercising.
- You have more than 650 muscles.
- It turns out laughter really IS good medicine.
- The heart is your strongest muscle, your gluteus maximus the biggest. That’s your butt, and it’s meant for moving, not just sitting!
By: Kevin Cantu
