Staying Active? Research Shows Physical Activity Will Improve Your Brain and Body

If you need another excuse to get up and move around, then maybe it will help to know that it will improve your brain, not just your body.  That’s right, new research has shown that regular exercise impacts your mental health just as much as it affects physical health.  This is true at all ages.

A growing body of research is looking at the way good workouts will improve your brain.  This is important at all times of your life.  This research found that it is particularly important for younger people to keep on top of it.  That said, prior studies have found that this is the same in older adults and even in animals.  Overall, the lesson is clear that living things were simply meant to move.

The Right Workout to Improve Your Brain and Body

The New York Times reported on the study which showed that young people who kept up with regular aerobic exercise had healthier brain white matter.  Moreover when compared with people who don’t exercise regularly, their cognitive skills were better.  The researchers determined that this meant that regular exercise clearly works to improve your brain, not just your physical wellness.

The new research focused on the brain health of healthy young adults.  The researchers examined the way in which workouts can improve your brain and how much of a difference they make.  They determined that there was an important difference made far earlier in a person’s life than was previously shown.

How to Benefit from Exercise’s Impact on Your Brain

The researchers focused on the difference cardio exercise would make when started earlier and maintained over the longer term.  They didn’t just want to focus on whether or not exercise could improve a person’s lifespan.  Instead, they wanted to know if it would improve your brain and body enough that it would affect your longevity.

The results showed that the people who had a brisk walk on a regular basis for the longest distance were also the people with the best performance on memory and cognition tests.

Moreover, M.R.I. imaging also revealed the way that exercise can improve your brain.  It showed that the more people did cardio exercise on a regular basis, the healthier looking their brain scans were.  Their white matter – that is, the connections in place for connections between areas of grey matter – was healthier, which means improved neurons and myelin sheaths.