Physical Exercise Affects The Brain Research

In this world, media have taken over our lives. People tend to believe everything that they see on social media. Scientists believe there are ways people can strengthen their brains. The science article is called Exercise, cognition, and the aging, brain; by Arthur F. Kramer, Kirk I. Erickson and Stanley J. Colcombe. The media article is called Can You Build a Better Brain? It was written by Sharon Begley and Ian Yarett. The media article does not do a good job of evaluating the important scientific information; the media article never mentions a majority of what it should have. This paper will show the public that there might be some things that the media articles are not telling us.

There are many benefits to running both mental and physical. One might wonder what can running possibly have to do with mental status and ability. Well running affects your cognitive abilities along with emotional and volitional responses in a number of ways. Running has been referred as one of the best stress relieving exercises. It helps in other many other ways, the first of which is that running can quite literally make you happier.

Now a days everywhere you go people are idolizing human fitness and exercise. The majority of this generation eats right, lifts right and obsesses over their image. The average person is going to strive for a great body, and great intelligence. But who ever said you can have both a great- healthy body and intelligence? I do, the human brain is the most complex and unique organ in the body. Some even consider it a muscle. Similar to muscles, your brain can be trained and worked for better functionality. There is a direct connection between exercising and increased intelligence in humans. In this paper I will be backing up my claim that exercise increases the intelligence of humans. By exercise I mean aerobic physical activity. Physical activity is better known as cardio, it is when your body requires pumping of oxygenated blood by the heart to deliver oxygen to working muscles. By intelligence I mean cognitive ability, memorization and academic achievement. Humans, meaning the entire general population, not a specific sample of the population. I will also being offering a counter argument, stating that intelligence does not increase human intelligence. Then, I will be evaluating the two claims, applying reason, and utilizing the four tests of an argument and taking advantage of my critical thinking skills to validate my claim. Lastly, I will be concluding and synthesizing my argument.

This paper connects contact sports with degenerative brain diseases. It also shows that CTE is not only connected to football because of the continuous tackling inducing trauma to the brain, but also soccer where heading the ball can often cause brain damage. This is supported by research of retired NFL football players and soccer players whose brains showed evidence of CTE. Also when the Mayo Clinic studying the brains of those who did not participate in contact sports showing no evidence of CTE. Based on scientific evidence degenerative brain diseases such as CTE are caused by successive concussions. Since concussions are one of the most common brain injuries seen in contact sports today there is a definite association between contact sports and degenerative brain diseases.

Research has proven that physical activity improves cognitive function and can also improve brain function throughout a lifespan. Moreover, staying physically active has so many benefits as well. For example, doing exercise and fitness activities help build cells and natural pathways to help reduce changes in memory loss or dementia. Also, it has so many health benefits including long-term improvements to the cognitive function as the young adult reaching mid

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.

The book I chose to read was Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey, MD. I chose this book because I am very interested in this topic. I enjoy working out, running and playing sports regularly, not only because of the physical benefits, but the mental benefits as well. I believe that John Ratey wrote this book to shed light on the fact that exercise is even more important than society already thinks. Everyone knows that exercise is healthy for the muscles, bones and heart; but, however, generally speaking, most people are unaware of the extreme mental profits that can occur as a result of exercise.

The ethical issue of Human Enhancement justifies the risks humans are willing to take to alter in its most natural form. From the three articles I had read which were “The Immorality Upgrade”, “Cyborg Olympics”, and “”Brain Doping” May Improve Athletes Performance” makes a fine point on how enhancing yourself could benefit you in life and could possibly help you achieve more.

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

In the article that I read, by Juli M. Berwald, it spoke deeply concerning the literal deterioration of the tissue in the brain. In the article, it discussed how, when exercising, it releases serotonin and dopamine, which gives off emotions of euphoria and peacefulness. These emotions allow people to think more clearly

Regular exercise is believed to have a huge impact in increasing cognitive ability in individuals. The link between of chronic physical activity and oxygenated haemoglobin in the anterior frontal gyrus of 52 healthy young women was studied (Cameron et al., 2015). The participants were split into groups depending on the amount of physical activity they do regularly. This ranged from 0 being inactive to 3 which is the participant has met the recommended physical activity level, set by the World Health Organisation (WHO), for more than 6 months. This was the participants CPAL or chronic physical activity level. The participants were attached to an infrared spectroscopy that recorded the relative concentration of haemoglobin in their blood every second. They then underwent a reaction time test which tested their inhibiting and switching abilities. The results of the study showed that the

statistical significance with a p-value of 0.16 at 5 minutes, 0.04 at 10 minutes and 0.03 at 20 minutes. It does not; however, show a statistical significance in digit recall with changes from p =0.10 at a 5 minute exercise break, p=0.48 at a 10 minute exercise break and p=0.18 at a 20 minute exercise break, and does not show a significant difference between cognitive functioning and physical activity in children, thus refutes the notion that physical exercise may be affected by different exercise doses. Findings again differed for Raine et al. (2013) as results showed an increase in recall of locations on a map on the third day of testing after learning the information tested via the study only strategy (with free recall and cued recall) and the test study strategy (with free recall and cued recall) (Fig. 4). Figure 4 shows a significant difference between higher fit children compared to lower fit children using the four different strategies. The study did show a decrease in accuracy of the study only strategy tested with cued recall and testing strategy with free recall compared to the testing strategy with cued recall. Study only with free recall showed a decrease in accuracy compared to the three previously mentioned.

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

In recent years brain training games have become a topic of interest among both researchers and common people alike. Researchers are interested in the healing properties of brain training while normal people are looking to brain training as a way to improve their performance and get a leg up on the competition in school, work, and life. Up until recently, it was believed that the brain was unchangeable in terms of memory capacity. Researchers were well aware of the fact that the brain can change and form new connections when brain damage occurs. However, the idea that humans can train their brains to be more efficient and stronger seemed like a far-fetched cry from reality up until the late 1990’s (Weicker, Villringer & Thöne-Otto, 2016). As time went on and more research was conducted in the field of brain training, it became clear that brain training is not an exact science but, it does have real cognitive benefits.

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.