1. Exercise can help the brain keep balance

 

About 80% of the signals in the brain are transmitted by two neurotransmitters, which balance the benefits of each other: glutamate stimulates nerve impulses and conducts signal transmission, while gamma-aminobutyric acid inhibits impulses and blocks or reduced signaling. These two neurotransmitters and other neurotransmitters such as serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine, they work together to regulate the complex brain activity. Once the brain is in an unbalanced state, it is easy to cause a series of symptoms such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, etc., and it also affects the development of physical and mental health. Exercise can effectively increase dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, improve blood circulation and provide more sufficient nourishment to the brain to ensure that various mechanisms of the brain operate more efficiently. And neurons will remain in a better working order.

• Dopamine is seen as a neurotransmitter that affects learning ability, reward system (satisfaction), attention and movement.

• Increased norepinephrine enhances attention, cognition, motivation, and signals of arousal.

• Serotonin increases, which can control bad mood, impulsiveness, anger, and aggressive behavior.

 

The simple understanding is that exercise helps neurotransmitters and other chemicals keep balance in the brain.

 

2、Exercise can increase the magical "brain cell fertilizer"

 

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is regarded as "brain cell fertilizer", which is a major regulator of adult synaptic conduction and plasticity. Without this high-quality nutrient fertilizer, the brain cannot receive new information. A 2007 human study showed that people learned vocabulary 20% faster after exercise than before exercise, and there was a direct relationship between learning speed and BDNF levels. This study shows that exercise helps improve BDNF levels in the brain, helps neurons grow, exchange information, and keep more new neurons survive, to keep the brain in a state of constant growth and renewal.

Let's take a look at a few studies that demonstrate that exercise is helpful for the brain and learning ability:

 

New research shows that listening to a little music while exercising can be very helpful. The researchers designed two control experiments. The first group of volunteers could only enjoy the feeling of sweating in silence, while the second group of volunteers was immersed in the beautiful melody of Vivaldi's violin concerto while exercising. After each exercise, the researchers assessed the volunteers' emotional and language skills, these skills were improved after exercises without music, but exercise effect was doubled with music.

 

In a high school in Illinois, USA, a study involving 19,000 people was conducted, adding a physical education class before the daily class. When first half of the semester ended, the reading ability and comprehension ability of the students in the experimental group increased by 17%. According to a survey by the California Department of Education, test scores of students with good physical fitness are twice of those of students with poor physical fitness.

 

The "Human Brain Project" study initiated by the National Institutes of Health shows that exercise can significantly increase the number of brain nerve fibers, dendrites and synapses, and promote brain development.

 

Research from the Sports Health Research Center of the University of Basel in Switzerland and the Department of Neurodevelopment at the Children's Hospital confirmed that aerobic exercise has a positive effect on the behavioral performance, self- control and executive functions of children and adolescents with ADHD.