Want an all-natural way to lift your mood, improve your memory, and protect your brain against age-related cognitive decline? More aerobic exercise might be the answer.
New research suggests that any exercise that raises your heart rate and gets you moving and sweating for a sustained period of time has a beneficial impact on the brain.
While some benefits, such as improved mood, can occur almost immediately, others — such improved memory — may take longer to appear, but all the evidence seems to suggest that any aerobic exercise performed regularly for at least 45 minutes at a time can help. One study found that 30 minutes of treadmill walking for 10 consecutive days was sufficient to produce a clinically relevant improvement in people with severe depression.
And if you’re over 50, another study suggests the best results come from combining aerobic and resistance exercise, which could include anything from high-intensity interval training, to dynamic flow yoga, which intersperses strength-building poses like planks and push-ups with heart-pumping dance-like moves.
Another study provides evidence that walking just 30 minutes per day four times per week for 12 weeks strengthened connectivity in an area of the brain linked with memory loss in adults aged 60-88.
Researchers believe it may have something to do with the effect of the increased blood flow in the brain.