Exercise for a cheery outlook

The title seems more true than truth itself: “Happy Brain, Happy Life”. Wendy Suzuki, a professor of neural science and psychology and author of the book says, “Simply moving your body, has immediate, long-lasting and protective benefits for your brain. And that can last for the rest of your life...the prefrontal cortex, critical for things like decision-making, focus, attention and your personality and the two temporal lobes in your brain, the right and the left...deep in the temporal lobe is a key structure critical for your ability to form and retain new long-term memories for facts and events. And that structure is called the hippocampus...”

Suzuki says, “...exercise actually produces brand new brain cells, new brain cells in the hippocampus, that actually increase its volume, as well as improve your long-term memory. The most common finding in neuroscience studies, looking at effects of long-term exercise, is improved attention function dependent or your prefrontal cortex. You not only get better focus and attention, but the volume of the hippocampus increases as well. And finally, you not only get immediate effects of mood with exercise but those last for a long time. So you get long-lasting increases in those good mood neurotransmitters.”

Suzuki chanced upon this finding when she was 25 pounds heavier and had no social life. Determined to change she went in for exercise programmes, “I've come to the following conclusion: that exercise is the most transformative thing that you can do for your brain today for the following three reasons. Number one: it has immediate effects on your brain. A single workout that you do will immediately increase levels of neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline. That is going to increase your mood right after that workout...My lab showed, that a single workout can improve your ability to shift and focus attention, and that focus improvement will last for at least two hours. And finally, studies have shown that a single workout will improve your reaction time...”

Suzuki continues, “But really, the most transformative thing that exercise will do is its protective effects on your brain. Here you can think about the brain like a muscle. The more you're working out, the bigger and stronger your hippocampus and prefrontal cortex gets. Why is that important? Because the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus are the two areas that are most susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases and normal cognitive decline in ageing. So with increased exercise you're going to create the strongest, biggest hippocampus and prefrontal cortex so it takes longer for these diseases to actually have an effect...The rule of thumb is to get exercise, three to four times a week and exercise a minimum of 30 minutes per session...that is, get your heart rate up...you don't have to go to the gym...Add an extra walk around the block in your power walk. You see stairs — take stairs.”