Mar 10, 2008
The brain virtues of physical exercise
By: Dr. Adrian Preda
Dr. Adrian Preda, our newest Expert Contributor, writes today the first in a series of thought-provoking articles,
challenging us to think about physical exercise as the best and most unappreciated form of “brain exercise”. A superb article.
And one thing is clear, he points out: “the brain really likes it when it’s asked to be “active”. Passive audiences, which are spoon fed information, score less well when tested on retention and understanding of the presented material than audiences that were kept engaged through the process.”
So, will you write a comment below and contribute to an engaging conversation? Thoughts? reactions? questions?
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Don’t ignore plain old common sense.
Brain Lessons Part 1
– By Adrian Preda, M.D.
Let me start with a list of common biases: expensive is better than cheap, free is of dubious value (why would then be free?), rare is likely to be valuable, and while new is better than old, ancient is always best. Which explains a common scenario that is reenacted about twice a week in my office. It starts like this: a patient shows me a fancy looking bottle of the brain supplement of the week: ancient roots with obscure names mixed together in another novel combination which you can exclusively find in that one and only store (rarity oblige!). And not to forget: it ain’t cheap either! Of course, there it is, the perfect the recipe for success: ancient yet new, rare and expensive. It got to be good! But is it, really?
The problem with recommending physical exercise when it comes to brain fitness is that is doesn’t have any of the glamour traits I have just mentioned: it’s been around for a long time – so there is nothing new and exciting about it, there is no fancy name or exclusive label marketing it and, worst of all, it is as cheap as cheap can be: not only free but also available in unlimited supplies.
So when I tell my patients that the single most important thing they need to pay attention to when it comes to keeping their brain in shape is exercise I invariably get a “really, and you needed to get an MD to tell me this?” look. Nowadays everybody seems to know that physical exercise is good for the brain. Big news they say. And they needed to study that? Duh?
For most it’s no big surprise to find out the people who have a physically active life style have a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s dementia or the number of blocks one walks everyday appears to inversely correlate with the rate of cognitive decline later in life. It sort of makes sense to assume that has to be the case. Here are a few well established facts.
First of all, regular physical exercise correlates with improved health – meaning less risk for high blood pressure, metabolic problems (cholesterol, lipids and glucose dysregulation) and weight gain, which is all good for the brain. A healthy brain needs a healthy environment, doesn’t it? Or to put it in a slightly different way: an unhealthy environment would not be good for the brain, wouldn’t it? I think we would all agree on that one.
Now, would a healthy environment not only protect but also improve the brain structure and performance? Would it also promote the growth (if possible) of the brain? The answers to such questions are less obvious. For example we know that not all healthy people end up with “good brains”. Well, why is that? Specifically, when it comes to physical exercise then are there such things as a minimal dose of exercise that can result in positive brain effects? And is there a maximal or “toxic” dose of physical exercise which may in fact hurt the brain? Is all physical exercise equally good for the brain or do different physical exercise routines differ in terms of their brain effects? I put those questions on the table and the chance is that I got the “duh” people’s attention.
First, let me say that to scientists the physical exercise question is no different that any other scientific question. Scientists tend to be a skeptical bunch and as such they like to always point out that correlation does not necessarily imply causation. Take the old active people who didn’t get Alzheimer’s example. One possibility is that their consistent exercising keeps them from getting Alzheimer’s. But what is it that got them to exercise more in the first place? Could it be that their brains were equipped with the sort of gear that gets one excited about pushing themselves a bit, which would then result in these fellows being more prone towards doing physical things to start with? Then they will be more active physically but that is because their brains were wired differently from the gecko and that, in itself, might have decreased the risk of Alzheimer’s dementia. In a situation like this physical exercise is what scientists call a confounder – i.e. a concomitant but not necessarily casual event that can falsely be seen as a cause resulting in the final effect.
How can one figure this one out? Over the next few columns we will look together at ways of answering apparently not so straightforward questions about physical exercise and the brain.
Now, to begin I will like to make this column, to whatever extent possible, an interactive forum. And that is as it turns out that the brain really likes it when it’s asked to be “active”. Passive audiences, which are spoon fed information, score less well when tested on retention and understanding of the presented material than audiences that were kept engaged through the process. So, in the spirit of “engagement” I will start by asking a few questions about what is important when it comes to the effects of physical exercise on the brain. Depending on what your answers will be we will then take it to the next level, i.e. critically examine the research evidence about specific brain effects of different types of physical exercise.
So, consider which of the following possibilities will get you convinced that physical exercise is good for the brain. Would you be convinced if exercise has been shown to:
1. Increase longevity (as a better brain should make us live longer, shouldn’t it?)
2. Decrease the risk of Alzheimer and other types of dementia
3. Decrease the risk of “normal” age related memory loss or cognitive decline
4. Increase one’s ability to problem solve
5. Decrease one’s risk for depression or anxiety.
6. Improve one’s memory, concentration and attention.
7. Improve one’s ability to feel consistently happy.
8. Increase the number of nerve cells or nerve cells connections in the brain?
9. Correlate with higher education
10. Correlate with higher social economic status?
11. Chemicals released during exercise were shown to promote nerve cell growth?
12. Exercise would “correct” chemical abnormalities reported in mental or brain illness?
I am looking forward to your answers. Please do not hesitate to come up with other questions or hypotheses. We’ll make this into an exercise about how to think about physical exercise. Another form of exercise that might be good for the brain.
– Adrian Preda, M.D. is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior in the UC Irvine School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior. His expertise in human behavior, psychology and spirituality is based on years of experience working as a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, teacher and researcher in a variety of academic clinical and non-clinical settings. He also teaches the UC Irvine Extension class The Mind that Changes the Brain: Wellness in the Second Millennium.
This is interesting stuff, ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’, and maybe the healthy mind comes from the healthy body. Perhaps they are both just aspects of a healthy lifestyle. As far as a vote, I would like a positive version of number 5, ‘increases positive states and happiness’. Thanks for an informative and thought provoking article
Richard
I’m a big believer in using exercise as one more tool in our arsenal to increase life balance and creativity. In fact, I believe you’d be interested in taking a look at the post where I wrote about this topic: How Exercise Makes You More Creative
8 and 11, but then it would be imperative to demonstrate that such physical brain changes result in beneficial behavior, like thinking with more clarity, increased memory, etc. So I see a possible correlated circularity connecting most of the items on the lost.
Fascinating! All 12 points sound like attractive research ideas and all may very well be true. If I have to choose, I must say 2, 5 and 6. I recall having read something about the importance of keeping the brain active to prevent Alzheimer and other types of dementia, so number 2 was an instant “of courseâ€Â. And the other two sound very convincing. Hope to see more on this topic!
Hello Adrian,
I share with you the search for simple solutions to problems. Yet, humans are tool-makers and tool-users, so learning to use new tools as they appear may be, in principle, beneficial too. And some tools are proving value in specific contexts for specific needs, either stress management (low-priced biofeedback-based devices) or mental stimulation (the emerging field of “brain fitness programs”).
I find all those points very interesting, but I’d probably choose 4,6,7 if I only could choose 3. What would convince me to do more physical exercise (which I already do through jogging, playing tennis and skiing), would be its relative value compared with stress management practices and mental stimulation ones.
Hello Alvaro,
Here is the way to think about it. If you don’t exercise, you’d better change that pronto. If you are already exercising the questions are: is more better? That might be the case if you are not exercising “enough” i.e. you are still bellow the “most effective dose”. But if you are at the most effective dose already more exercise (further increasing the dose) is unlikely to result in further benefit — as you reached the plateau of the effect. What is the most effective dose of physical exercise? Well, that is the question…
Hi Alvaro,
very informative and thought-provoking column! My opinion on this is that exercise is definitely good for the brain, and helps improve one’s alertness and problem solving skills. Maybe it has to do with chemicals released during physical exercise, or even due to the problem-solving skills of the exercise itself. I believe in the mind-body relationship, which means any physical exercise involves brain training for it to be properly undertaken.
Adrian, thank you for the clarification. Then, I am very curious about the mechanics behind points 4,6,7. Other readers had other questions. And probably we will get more comments tomorrow, since we are releasing our newsletter then. Maybe we can summarize the questions and comments by Friday and prepare a follow-up article?
Dear “S”: great comment…but the kudos go to Adrian, the author of the post, not me!
I wrote about this last November. Please click on my link to see. It’s important to define exactly what we mean by exercise and to remember it’s a 2-way process: The body + brain influence each other.
You are missing the reason that is most important to me; exercise helps me manage the stresses of my life more creatively and with more grace and optimism. Maybe that is another way of say Improve one’s ability to feel consistently happy.
Noel: please explain in this thread how you define exercise and how you react to Adrian’s points. That will allow us to maintain an engaging conversation, which is what we are after. Thank you
I have heard these studies that show that exercise is very good for the brain.
However, since there are many kinds of exercise, I want to know what exercise program was used in the studies. How much and for how long? Cardio-vascular? Isotonic? Specific sports? Isometrics? Resistance? Tai chi? Yoga?
Hi Adrian,
What about Feldenkrais Awareness through movement? Not just running on a treadmill or walking on a street, or lifting weights, but though provocked movement. How many new neurological new connections in the brain would that supply. In a child it could be up to 1.8 million per second. How many in a 30 year old, a 40 year old, an 80 year old. Do we stop moving because we age or do we age because we stop moving. How would that affect the brain?
How would that affect the learning in the person about themselves and their world? Lots of questions for research.
I believe that human brain hs evolved to meet the controlling body movement for survival, therefore fine controlled body movements improve most effectively brain cell activity,
The sports that require higher concentration and fine adjustment stimulate most actively and improve brain better than other exercise,
Exercise is best considered by FITT — frequency, intensity, time and type
(as per Alberto’s contribution). One question then is there a
dose-response (physiological) or is it psychological (people who exercise
live more healthy lives in general or are more positive in their outlook)
which then contributes to some of the 12 outlined benefits — or is there combined an even more powerful effect?
Yong Song,
Very interesting point. Now, it turns out that the parts of the brain in charge of fine movement control are the basal ganglia and cerebellum — parts that are quite old from an evolutionary perspective. Which explains why there are plenty of mammals who are more precise and elegant when it comes to certain movements than humans are. And what about a tiger or a cat concentrating on her pray – do they concentrate less than a human?
I would say that the only one of those that wouldn’t (by itself) convince me that exercise benefited the brain is #1. It’s still a compelling benefit, of course, but the link to the brain appears weak as it’s stated.
I find all of the twelve at least plausible, would be interested to know if they are all true. I know that several of them are.
Exercise is best considered by FITT — frequency, intensity, time and type
(as per Alberto’s contribution). One question then is there a
dose-response (physiological) or is it psychological (people who exercise
live more healthy lives in general or are more positive in their outlook)
which then contributes to some of the 12 outlined benefits — or is there combined an even more powerful effect?
Can it the cause ever truly be isolated to exercise? What if those who exercise are lead longer, disease-free lives because exercisers tend to have an over-all healthier lifestyle? Perhaps it’s because they don’t eat as many “empty calories” or because they eat enough routabaga.
[…] ‘The Brain virtues of physical exercise’ at SharpBrains gives some good advice and info about how physical exercise helps the brain. […]
Thank you for opening a conversation about the power of physical engagement. The questions most likely to convince me and my friends who hate to exercise because it’s boring are 4, 5 and 7 – the “feel-good†questions. After all, why invest in longevity, memory retention and cognitive stability if we are depressed, anxious and unhappy? Two suggestions: Consider re-phrasing #4 as “Increase one’s ability to cope with challengeâ€Â; Add #13 – “Increase one’s ability to deflect stress”. I look forward to hearing more!
I have always felt there is a negative connotation between brain and brawn — that is, those who are strong are not intelligent and those who are not intelligent are physically weak.
Compulsory physical education, where you can be taunted and teased and treated horribly for being a “brain” has definitely hurt me enormously by making me feel that exercise and physical education are for the cruel and stupid.
Based on my own personal experiences, I would want to ban physical education and forbid exercise entirely, as a genuine evil.
Now, in the middle of my life I am suddenly told exercise is good for my brain! That’s ridiculous! How could it be, when bullies are strong and victims weak, with the smarter people in the class eternal victims?
What would be your recommendation for someone who believes to his very soul that physical exercise is pathetic and dumb and cruel and traumatic — in fact, genuinely evil?
Certainly watching people walking the eternal staircase or lifting weights does not make me feel that they are doing something worthwhile. Instead, they struggle like Sisyphus, accomplishing nothing but looking like fools.
What would you recommend for someone like me who loathes exercise with every brain cell in his body and every thought and dream in his soul?
Dear “Loathes Exercise”–LOLOL! I know you are kidding–your “mid-life” crisis belies something of fear of approaching years, perhaps requiring more dependence on others, that ever looming convalescent home stay around the corner. I suggest this: get a bicycle, a bike rack, strap the whole thing to your car, and find a new path to follow down a road with something decent to see. Buy an inexpensive digital camera–you can probably pick up one of those digital photo frames to directly download the pics to–go look for some nature. A more expensive camera with a better lens will capture some tiny things that will cause you to be amazed with your “expertise” and the delicacy of nature. Or it will show you things far in the distance. Don’t want a camera? Just bike down a path near the ocean, or a state park, take a trip to the zoo–stroll around that for a few hours. Middle aged, huh? Yeah, try being middle aged, becoming ‘disabled’ after over 28 years at a profession which defined your very being, having nothing left but contemplation of the inevitable. So–literally take a new picture with life: go back to school, take a class in ANYTHING different. I did. Now a few years later I am not at community college–I’ve gone on to university into a parallel field from whence I came. I RIDE my bike to school daily–not far, only about 2.5 miles round trip. I find that if I ride very fast, the act of getting the heart rate up for even a short bit of time does make me feel more alert, bright. it stands to reason that bringing more oxygen to the brain is going to be helpful. It doesn’t do much on a consistent basis for depression, but it DOES help as long as it is taking place to prevent depressive thoughts and actions. My thought with exercise is only that there are things in life that I want to do which I cannot tolerate without the exercise to keep the muscles (heart included) toned. Things like Scuba diving when I save enough money.. things like visiting Yellowstone… things like hiking to the top of Yosemite Falls for a spectacular view of the valley below. Things like maybe getting to ski on more time in my life before I can’t due to other problems. Just ENJOY LIFE…and stop looking down. Get a dog, take it for a walk. Get a CAT and take it for a walk (yeah, that works too, though it takes more ingenuity,it’s a lot more exciting). What you “feel” regarding exercise is what you feel, no one else is responsible for that. Take it or leave it. We are all responsible for our own rescue no matter what the ultimate situation. You decide. Good luck.
Stimpy: great comment!
Previous commenter: when you write things like “What would be your recommendation for someone who believes to his very soul that physical exercise is pathetic and dumb and cruel and traumatic — in fact, genuinely evil?”, you are answering your question yourself. You seem to have an irrational fear of exercise, similar to people to have extreme reactions to spiders or to flying, probably based on some intense negative experiences in your life, so the best next step is to manage not your exercise patterns but your THOUGHT patterns.
Cognitive therapy principles can be very helpful here: anytime you become aware of a negative thought in your mind, write it down in a notebook, and then write down a positive comment next to it to balance your thoughts and appreciate reality is its entirety: exercise is not evil. No object is evil. Exercise is a great tool at our disposal, to use as appropriate, to manage. Once you manage those fears, you will be more open minded and able to give it a try. Perhaps by walking in a beautiful park. Perhaps following Stimpy’s suggestions. No one can impose anything on you: you can CHOOSE your lifestyle, including the role of exercise in it.
Good luck!
Stimpy, I actually have an expensive digital SLR and have tried exactly the idea you propose, and it does work fairly well for me. I’ve taken some very good pictures thanks to that.
Good that you picked up on the fact that I like to think I’m accomplishing something positive, like taking pictures, instead of taking the road to nowhere that is most exercise.
But since I also loathe cold weather it does not help until the weather turns warm and pleasant again, which in my neck of the woods isn’t for months.
My plan to move to an area with warmer weather will probably do more good for me than any amount of complaining. Hopefully this will be the last year I suffer with the chill.
Does physical stamina correlate with mental stamina? Not necessarily. Does physical prowess results in mental prowess? Not necessarily. Are athletes smarter than non-athletes? Not necessarily.
Does a lack of exercise correlate with more accelerated cognitive decline? Most times it does. Does exercise prevent age related memory loss? The bulk of evidence suggests this is indeed the case.
Now, we are not talking about becoming a professional athlete or running marathons. But we are talking about a consistent aerobic exercise routine – a good cardio work–up seems to be an equally good brain work-up.
Last but not least: you can’t force it on yourself. You need to find a way to enjoy and treasure whatever it is that you choose to do. Forcing it would cancel out all potential benefits. Anima data nicely illustrate this point: a forced exercise rat group didn’t show any of the exercise benefits that a voluntary exercise rat group showed in terms of improved cognitive performance and production of new nerve cells.
At the tender age of 72 I began a regular program of cardio and weight training, primarily because I wanted to lose weight. I have found that though weight loss has not come as quickly as I would have liked, other benefits have. I no longer require my mid-afternoon nap. My energy has increased to the point that I’m going back to school to get another Masters degree.
That’s excellent! what are you getting your Masters degree on? feel free to share with us what you learn, if related to our field.
I agree with your points. Hoever, No. 11 does bother me because I am not in the higher social income category. However, with my active lifestyle, I keep on improving…and at 76.
Unfortunately, common sense is the least common of the senses, and so many people keep ignoring their bodies warnings. Excercise and regular training is indeed one amazingly effective, cheap, and easy way to get a better, happier, longer, more active and complete life. Moreover, training is the best way I’ve found to start my day with energy and positive thoughts… It’s not that difficult. One step at the time… Keep doing that one day at the time and your body will start cooperating more with your mind.
I would love to see information about questions 4,5,and 6. The impact of these areas on peoples lives is significant. This could sell to employers and benefits providers. We might all have gyms at work!
From personal experience, I believe that physical exercise helps brain’s sharpness. I am a university student majoring in mathematics. I really saw nightmares on the hardness of material in my first year and was bit depressing. I tried on the strategy of devoting most of my time for studying and this becomes even more depressing considering the long thinking thread required for some of the proof related problem sets. In my second year, I delved so much into playing soccer and badminton. These seems to boost my esteem in the program. I have gain more motivation than ever before. I am more organized and focussed in improving my GPA to a level that I may gain admission into PHd program in one of the Ivy schools-which is my dream anyway. So, from my perspective, physical exercise is helpful.
How does one recover memory loss or mind “sluggishness” from the side effects of chemo or radiation (known as “cancer brain or chemo brain”)? This is not related to brain cancer but occurs with any type of cancer that is being treated. As breast cancer survivor, I do not have all my memory or cognition that I had prior to cancer diagnosis and I have not found exercise to help with this. But I do “feel” better when I exercise so I don’t “mind what I don’t remember”!!