Regular exercise is known to have many benefits for the health, but most people don’t realize that it does a lot more than just keeping you in shape- it also has many beneficial impacts on the brain.
Check out 7 ways in which working out improves your brain and mental health.
It Releases the Feel-Good Hormones
Exercise stimulates the release of a neurotransmitter known as dopamine, which is associated with pleasure and reward. In fact, dopamine is a chemical released when you fall in love or win a jackpot or yes- when you exercise. If you haven’t been a workout person until now, give it a try and you’ll notice the difference.
It Makes you Feel Happy
Exercising when you’re feeling low doesn’t make sense, but yes, many studies have found that it boosts your mood in a number of ways. Working out helps stimulate the release of 2 mood-related neurotransmitters namely noradrenalin and serotonin. Plus, it also helps boost the production of a natural morphine produced by the body- endorphin.
It Boosts Brain Health
Both animal and human studies have reveled that exercise has many benefits for the brain. It helps stimulate the growth of new blood vessels in the brain, brings more oxygen into the body and thereby supports the health of many other body organs as well.
It Improves your Attention Span
One of the best benefits of exercise is that it helps improve attention span and memory, and many human studies have confirmed this fact. Just an hour of exercise was found to have incredible improvements in attention and concentration among individuals, and these effects were found to last until a longer period of time.
It Helps your Brain Grow
Many studies have found that exercising can actually help your brain grow- literally. It has been found that aerobic exercises help increase the size of the hippocampus region of the brain, which is thought to boost memory. Also, working out often can improve the thickness of the glia cells of the brain and boost the number and function of synapses, which in turn, boost motor learning.
It Stimulates your Imagination
It has been found that the hippocampus region of the brain plays a huge role when it comes to boosting imagination, and regular exercise can actually help improve the health and function of this region of the brain, which in turn, improves imagination.
It Regulates your Mood
Many new studies have found that exercise can also be helpful in reducing stress and anxiety naturally. It works by stimulating the regions of the brain involved in mood regulation, and also helps reduce the damage to brain and different body organs occurring due to elevated stress levels.
