Exercise Versus Mental Health

Sub-Point a:According to CDC.gov in there June, 2015 issue on physical activity, Regular physical activity can help you keep your thinking and judge mental skills sharp. Research shows that doing aerobic exercises can give you great mental benefits. Some scientific evidence also have shown even if you were to do lower levels of exercise it still will be beneficial to you.

Cavanaugh and Blanchard-Fields (2015) state that there is research showing how brain plasticity can be enhanced through aerobic exercise (p.51). It is important that adults be active in their lives. A 30-minute walk or some type of physical activity will benefit them as the age. The text mentions a study done by Erickson and his colleagues in 2009 where they studied the effect of aerobic exercise on the hippocampus. They found that due to aerobic exercise it produced greater volume in the hippocampus. This is significant because the hippocampus is the part of the brain that is responsible for memory, emotions, and spatial functioning. The body does not only need physical activities to produce healthier cognitive functioning but also nutrients. The text identifies three nutrient biomarker patterns that are significant on the aging brain. These nutrients are vitamin B, C,D, and E, omega-3, and trans fat. the foods that belong to these nutrients are beneficial to the brain. Older adults should make an effort to include these nutrients into their diets. positive impacts these nutrients make are better cognitive functioning and greater brain

In the book Spark, written by Dr. John J. Ratey, he discusses how exercise can positively affect how your brain works. He provides studies and personal experiences to support the claims he makes. I always knew exercise would improve your life but never could have imagined how much it can affect your brain health as well. The chapter I thought spoke the most to me was chapter two, Learning: Grow Your Brain Cells.

There is ample evidence to demonstrate that through the normal ageing process alterations to the brain in structure and function are directly related to cognitive changes (Glisky, 2007). With an increasing ageing population strategies for prevention of disease and age related cognitive decline are necessary to improve quality of life and reduce the associated healthcare costs (Australian Government Productivity Commission [AGPC], 2013). Physical exercise is known to be crucial in maintaining physiological health; it can also be used as a means of neuroprotection and assist in modifiable risk factors for improved brain health and subsequent cognitive function. This review will critically analyse current research into the effects of exercise

Studies have indicated that exercise improves memory and cognition in older adults and we know nutrition at all stages of life has an important role. All of these ways to keep the brain healthy and even improve its health are, in a sense, external. What can the brain do to help itself? At what point in development should it start? This is not a question a parent thinks about for their child when contemplating their welfare. It is not something one thinks about as a child, adolescent, young adult or even mature or senior adult. There are more “important” things to consider than to try speculating on a future so far ahead as to whether a person is going to develop Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or dementia.

Your brain fitness, more so than other parts of your body, is crucial for your quality of life. Why? Because in the brain is where your consciousness resides. The thing that makes you... you... is there. There's nothing more scary to suffer from a debilitating cognitive decline that makes you lose yourself.

The aim of this study is to thoroughly investigate and research cognitive brain training and improve the functioning

To begin, both sources showed that even in late adulthood brain structure can be affected through behavioral change. This is an important find because it shows that a simple change in exercise habits can alter brain structure by increasing hippocampal volume. All of this is done, again, by a simple change in behavior. It’s even more promising that these changes can still be done in late adulthood. If these changes can be made later in life, then it can be said that the same changes can start being made early in life as well. Also, the information shows that exercise, specifically aerobic exercise, is neuroprotective. This means that aerobic exercise helps to keep the brain healthy and protect it from age-related deterioration. Finally, the information shows that simple and moderate exercise can improve brain health, even in late adulthood. Examples of simple and moderate exercise can be anything from yoga to frequent walks. Moderate exercises are easy on the body and have great impacts on brain health. It would be no problem for an older adult to partake in simple and moderate

In his article Reynolds (2016) looked at how various exercise affects brain in different ways. A stupendous new study in rats by researchers at Jyvaskyla University in Finland and other institutions suggested that some types of exercises work better at widening the brain than others. A comparison was done by the scientists to examine the neurological influence of each exercise: weight training, interval training (high intensity) and running. It was found that heavy exercises may not be beneficial for brain health in the long-term. Reynolds (2016) also talks about studies in animals and people, illustrates that carrying out such activities enlarges the proportion of the brain and reduces the number and size of age-related holes in white and

Scientists have been linking physical exercise to brain health for many years. In fact, plausible evidence shows that physical exercise allows a development in the brain that not only prevents shrinkage, but increases cognitive abilities. We know that exercise promotes a process known as neurogenesis, this is the brain’s ability to adapt and grow new brain cells, regardless of your age - a common misconception which stated that once neurons die, you can’t develop new neurons. Hence progressive memory decline was considered an inevitable part of ageing. Fortunately, new research stumps this. According to John J. Ratey, a psychiatrist who wrote the book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, there’s evidence which proves

In the article “Physical activity and brain plasticity in late adulthood” by Kirk I. Erickson, PhD, Ariel G. Gildengers, MD and Meryl A Butters, PhD provides insight to research on the effects of physical activity on the human brain in late adulthood. The article provides and overview of cognitive functioning in older adults. The purpose of the research in the article is to demonstrate how physical activity and other risk factors such as education, obesity, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, and depression can contribute to the cognitive impairment of the brain thus increasing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular problems, and cancer in people over the age of 65. The research methods and design for the experiments provide insight to how researchers utilize biological measurements, observations of the human brain and the experimental research method. The method for each of the experiments are based on more than one experiment and validity of the outcome provides insight to basically the same outcome at the end of the article. To understand the underlying research methods it is important for this summary to include all of the different experiments and their outcomes.

One way to exercise the brain is by daily taking a mental picture of a unique object one encounters. This can be in form a man or anything in nature. Draw the figure using

Having a “Brain Healthy Lifestyle” (Bend, 2014) is made up of several different categories that include “physical health, brain fitness, and vitality” (Bend, 2014) as well as “balanced nutrition, stress management, and mental stimulation” (Sharpbrains, 2014). Our physical health plays a major part in brain function. Exercising our bodies, eating well, and getting the proper amount of sleep has a huge impact on our physical health. “Our brain requires 25% of the blood that is pumped by your heart. The healthier your heart is, the healthier your brain will be” (Bend, 2014). Cognitive fitness is demonstrated by uses of vocabulary, thinking, perception, and attention. It is crucial to make it a normal everyday practice to challenge our brains through new activities. Taking part in a cooking class or learning to

Helping yourself increase the blood flow on the brain doesn't necessarily have to be difficult. By exercising regularly, it can affect the brain circulation in a good way. According to a recent study, when a person exercises regularly, the blood circulation to the brain improves. That is why it is highly advisable to take at least a half an hour walk at a brisk rate of speed

The articles by Erikson et al., Gatz, Korol et al., and Draganski et al. explore the concept of increased physical activity and/or mental activity having effects on the cognitive function and development or deterioration of the brain as we age. Although I agree that physical exercise is critical in increasing cognitive function because of the health benefits it provides, as well as the increased blood flow and circulation throughout the body, I ultimately believe that a healthy brain is not achieved solely by physical exercise or mental exercise, but both. I think there is a link between physical and mental exercise, and that the combination of these two activities creates higher cognitive functioning of the mind as well as the body. The mind and body come together and meet to make an overall healthy individual.