Studies Showing That Exercise Boosts Your Brainpower

Study 1 - People Who Do Cardio Think Faster And Better¹.

In this study adults ages 55 and up were separated into two groups - an aerobic group that walked to improve their cardiovascular health, and an anaerobic group that just did stretching and toning exercises. To measure how their cardiovascular system improved they looked at how much oxygen each group needed to consume while walking on a treadmill. This method called VO2 Max is very common and it makes sense, right? A person who is out of shape breathes heavier because they need more oxygen than someone who's in good shape. This means an out of shape person will have a low VO2 Max and someone who's in good shape will have a high VO2 Max. After 6 months, the walking group improved their VO2 Max by 5%, while the stretching and toning group saw no improvement. So basically, the cardio group was in better shape after 6 months, no surprises there. But here's the HUGE result: the improvement in cardiovascular health for the walking group resulted in a 20% decrease in the amount of time it took to perform tasks that involved complex thinking on a controlled test. The stretching and toning group saw no improvement. Did you read that last number? They were 20% FASTER AT THINKING! These results were published in the most reputable science journal in the world.

Study 2 - People who do cardio have denser brains².

When humans reach the age of 30 they begin losing brain tissue, which is associated with declines in cognitive performance. Most of the tissue is lost from very important areas of the brain, areas that help you remember things and learn new information. It's hard to remember something if the brain cells that held the memories are gone, right?! That's why older people tend to lose their keys and have a difficult time learning how to use computers! Tissue loss can also cause dreaded diseases like Alzheimer's, syndromes like schizophrenia, and conditions like depression. But I will talk more about this research later in a section about mental health.

This study took high-resolution MRI images of brains from older adults and generated brain maps that detailed the volume and tissue density of the brains. All of the adults showed an overall decline in the volume and tissue density as expected, but those who regularly performed cardiovascular exercise throughout their lives and were in the best cardio shape (highest VO2 Max) showed significantly less tissue loss and had denser brain tissue. This proves that cardiovascular exercise PROTECTS YOUR BRAIN TISSUE, along with your memory and ability to learn that goes with it. Exercise flips on genes that say "KEEP MY NEURONS PLEASE! I'D LIKE TO SAVE THEM FOR LATER!"

Study 3 - People who do cardio recruit more of their brain when solving problems³.

Using a technique called fMRI scientists can actually look at what parts of your brain are used when performing various tasks. Some parts of your brain are used to concentrate and figure out solutions to problems and other parts of your brain can actually slow you down and break your concentration. This study again looked at older adults and measured both the amount of time required to solve a simple problem and used fMRI to look at what parts and how much of the brain were used to perform the task. Two groups were created - a group that did cardio exercise, and a group that did toning and stretching exercises (just like in Study 1). They found that the people who had the BEST CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH performed the tasks the FASTEST and with the HIGHEST ACCURACY. In essence, they thought FASTER AND BETTER than the group who only did toning and stretching exercises. In fact, at the end of the 6-month cardio training program subjects were able to think 11% FASTER than they did before the program started! Holy cow. How many times does it happen to you that you think of something you really wanted to say to a person 5 seconds after you've walked away? Happens all the time, right? Well, if you start doing cardio, you won't have to walk away before you can think of it! Furthermore, the study found that the exercisers actually used MORE OF THEIR BRAINS when performing the tasks. That sounds like the DEFINITION OF MORE BRAINPOWER to me!

But JJ, what about us younger tigers?

For those of you younger tigers and tigresses out there wondering why I've only posted studies about older adults, my answer is that there are virtually no extant studies detailing the benefits of exercise on younger brains (there are a couple, but the studies aren't extensive enough for me to want to include). The field of study on this subject is growing rapidly, however, and I expect there will be some new literature discussing the matter soon. But if you're wondering if cardio exercise will benefit a younger brain as much as it will an older brain, let me ask you this question: "How long does it take for a preschooler's top scoop of ice cream on a 5-scoop cone to fall to the steamy pavement on a hot mid-July afternoon?" Wait, that was the wrong question. Sorry about that, try this one: "Are your parents and grandparents made out of different stuff than you are?" I didn't think so. Also, studies performed on other animals indicate benefits across all ages. And just because nobody knew the earth was round until the 15th century doesn't mean it was ever flat! So get runnin'!

References:

Kramer AF et al. Ageing, fitness and neurocognitive function Nature. 400:418-19. 1999.
Colcombe SJ et al. Aerobic fitness reduces brain tissue loss in aging humans. J. Gerontology: MED SCI. 2:176-180. 2003.
Colcombe et al. Cardiovascular fitness, cortical plasticity, and aging. PNAS 101:3316-3321. 2004.