MIND & BODY

THE CONNECTION between cardiovascular activity and mood is more than a feeling; it’s scientific fact. There is a growing body of evidence to show that exercise doesn’t just make you happier, it makes you smarter, enhancing your ability to solve problems, brainstorm ideas, and by thinking faster.

Exercise improves your cognitive functioning no matter what your age. Cognitive functioning refers to the mental processes – awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgement – by which knowledge is acquired. While earlier research efforts have focused on children and the elderly, study populations have broadened significantly in recent times, the results proving that everybody – as well as every brain – can benefit from regular exercise.

Many studies have been completed on the relationship between physical activity and mental performance and have found that most had a shared conclusion. One such finding is that the short-term effects of a bout of exercise can lead to a greater focus and for individuals to make fewer errors in decision making. Several of the studies also found that during and/or following a bout of vigorous exercise (typically, running or cycling for 20 minutes to an hour), individual performances on tests measuring ‘executive control’ (the processes involved in achieving goals in a changing environment) improved significantly when compared with pre-exercise scores.

The use of exercise to spark creativity is hardly a novel idea. Among today’s creative exercisers, the award-winning writer Joyce Carol Oates says she avoids rest days because her craft depends on running: ‘There isn’t any piece of my writing that didn’t evolve through running,’ says Oates, who runs daily on the country roads near her home.

It’s not just literary types who see the benefit. The chief operating officer of a global junk-removal business based in Vancouver, for instance, knows his miles are anything but junk. The executive says that when out running a mental zone is soon found within that allows many of life’s problems to be solved. The business chief has a whole office of fitness diehards – and, keeps an eye out for similar types who may wish to join the firm in the future. ‘We look to hire athletes,” says the director, who finds fit people more focused and engaged.

Investigators elsewhere would also tend to agree. Previous tests carried out at the University of Ulm, in Germany, for example, asked a group of subjects to run 30 minutes twice a week for six weeks. Another group remained sedentary for the same time period. Following each session (or non-session), participants were examined to measure concentration. The runners scored higher, but it didn’t end there. The lead researcher concluded: ‘Twelve weeks after they stopped running, we could still see some effects.’

Scientists now know that the body’s dopamine and epinephrine levels are responsible for this effect. These neuro-transmitters, which enhance communication between key areas of the brain, climb during physical activity. The effects are fleeting, however, peaking about 20 minutes into exercise and petering out shortly after its conclusion, but other neurochemicals may take over where those leave off, responsible for the longer-term effects reported by researchers.

One of the next areas of intense study and research will be the exact prescription. Many agree that we need dose-response studies to see just how much exercise will produce the best cognitive results.