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It’s no secret: exercising is good for you. It’s proven to boost energy and greatly improve your mood. Even still, it’s hard for many of us to maintain a healthy lifestyle. But how does that affect our brain?
When I was in high school, our gym teacher took sick. She was out of school for a month. During that time, a new teacher took over her position temporarily. Unlike our original teacher — who made gym an easy class — this one wanted us to actually exercise. It was awful. My fellow students were outraged. We started the class with stretches and jumping jacks, then we would move on to sports. I hated this class —for one week.
After that week, I started seeing results. I felt good. I could do stretches and jumping jacks without huffing for breath and the sports we played were exciting. The pounds dropping on the scale, and that only motivated me to do more, like cutting back on soda and drinking more water. As it turns out, gym class wasn’t that bad.
When our replacement teacher left, gym class fell back into a lull. My classmates sat around complaining about our substitute teacher, about how glad they were that she was gone, how much they missed doing nothing.
I remember thinking, It’s up to me now. No one is going to force me to do it.
“Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person’s physical, emotional and mental states.” — Carol Welch
Consider how you feel at this very moment. Are you proud of your fitness routine, or has it been over a week since you touched the treadmill? If it’s the latter, you may be suffering from effects such as: low energy, bad moods, and an unshakeable case of brain fog. Let’s take a look at how an exercise routine can change your life.
How does exercise affect the brain?
Increased blood flow
When you exercise, your elevated heartrate pumps more oxygen to the brain and increases blood flow. According to this study by UTSW, those who performed aerobic exercise showed decreased stiffness of blood vessels in their neck and increased overall blood flow to the brain.
Lowered stress
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, a exercise can protect your body from the harmful effects of stress. All that tension making you feel anxious will just melt away, and you’ll find you can tackle tasks with a clear head.
Better mood
A good workout releases endorphins, and endorphins trigger positive feelings in the body. According to WebMD, the feeling is similar to morphine. Need a mood lift? Try going for a run.
Improved Focus
Exercise is said to improve both motivation and concentration. If you feel as if you have not been putting as much effort into passion projects or at work, you may need more exercise. It will eliminate the brain and grogginess.
“If you don’t make time for exercise, you’ll probably have to make time for illness.” — Robin Sharma
After my gym teacher left — the one who made us exercise — I stuck with it. Every night, I would take to our high school track and go for a run. I ran until I could complete an entire lap without breaking a sweat, then I ran some more. That’s when it hit me: hey, this exercising thing is great. That mindset followed me past high school and, to this day, when I’m in a good exercising routine, my mind and body feel on top of the world. All it took was one gym teacher who cared.
Try this:
Write a journal entry on your mood, and how you feel about your body. Now, get into an exercise routine for one week. Just one. It may seem like a lot, but one week is enough time to start seeing changes in your body and mind. Once that week is up, look back at that journal.
Spot the difference.
