Cardio Can Enhance Brain Function and Capacity

Written by: Nick Di Ruscio

Adding cardio workouts into your daily routine not only gets you physically fit, it also boosts your brainpower. A 30-minute jogging session pumps extra blood to the brain and boosts your overall productivity. Furthermore, it delivers the oxygen and nutrients that your brain needs to perform at maximum efficiency. This can help you with your problem solving, decision making, and memory. So, if you’re looking for that extra boost for the day, consider logging a few miles on your treadmill or even around your neighborhood block.

Cardio Benefits

The benefits of cardio workouts aren’t just limited to the mental aspect. Rather, cardio can also lower stress levels and release chemicals in the brain that just make you happier. When you work your muscles, you’re also sending hormones to your brain. They then go on to mix with a chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which is responsible for mood regulation and learning.

Hormone Release

In addition to this, exercise can release several key hormones, such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. By elevating the brain through exercise, you’re also improving your focus, feeling better, and releasing tension. Studies have even shown that researchers that scanned the brains of people that regularly exercised discovered an increase in the size of the hippocampus – which controls memory and learning. Therefore, exercise can literally improve your performance when it comes to concentration and recall.

One cannot stress enough the importance of exercising on a regular basis. With benefits like improved memory recall and decision making, why wouldn’t you want to take advantage of it?