This is Your Brain on Exercise (2017)
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This is Your Brain on Exercise (2017)
1–10 of 42 posts
Re: This is Your Brain on Exercise (2017)
#2Difficult to put the long and emphatic list of cognitive enhancements together with the penultimate paragraph:
'You shouldn’t expect to increase your IQ or anything of that nature.'
If I can't expect even a 1% rise in intelligence, what am I really achieving cognitively?
Re: This is Your Brain on Exercise (2017)
#3Difficult to put the long and emphatic list of cognitive enhancements together with the penultimate paragraph: 'You shouldn’t expect to increase your IQ or anything of that nature.' If I can't expect even a 1% rise in intelligence, what am I really achieving cognitively?
Motivation and will to live, maybe? What good is extreme intelligence if you can't push yourself to crawl out of bed?
Re: This is Your Brain on Exercise (2017)
#4Difficult to put the long and emphatic list of cognitive enhancements together with the penultimate paragraph: 'You shouldn’t expect to increase your IQ or anything of that nature.' If I can't expect even a 1% rise in intelligence, what am I really achieving cognitively?
It is not that you get smarter, you don't get more stupid. I think it has something to do with extraordinary energy demand of the brain. 50 year olds can restore their cognitive ability to the level of 30 year olds through physical exercise. As Jordan Peterson puts it in one of his interviews: "Your brain is a very demanding organ, and if your cardio-vascular system is compromised then you get stupid... Brain is very metabolically demanding and if you are not in good physical shape then one of the things that suffers most greatly is your cognitive function".
Re: This is Your Brain on Exercise (2017)
#5Difficult to put the long and emphatic list of cognitive enhancements together with the penultimate paragraph: 'You shouldn’t expect to increase your IQ or anything of that nature.' If I can't expect even a 1% rise in intelligence, what am I really achieving cognitively?
Throughout the article they did mention improved working memory, focus, and a host of other benefits. Maybe IQ isn’t the best measure of these benefits.
Re: This is Your Brain on Exercise (2017)
#6Difficult to put the long and emphatic list of cognitive enhancements together with the penultimate paragraph: 'You shouldn’t expect to increase your IQ or anything of that nature.' If I can't expect even a 1% rise in intelligence, what am I really achieving cognitively?
Motivation and will to live, maybe? What good is extreme intelligence if you can't push yourself to crawl out of bed?
Correct, excercise really makes me feel better and motivated.
Re: This is Your Brain on Exercise (2017)
#7I havent read the papers quoted in the article. But, I'm a little puzzled reading this.. It sounds more like interpreting what they want to see or think is happening.
> Aerobic exercise appears to lead to changes in both the structure of the brain and the way it operates, which together bolster learning in kids, give adults an edge on cognitive tasks, and protect against the cognitive declines that often come with age.
Given the penultimate paragraph where they say - “You shouldn’t expect to increase your IQ or anything of that nature,” How could the above statement be true? What measure is there to say "this behavior we are seeing is increasing learning ability of the brain while not increasing the IQ"?
> so the brain was able to better identify specific features during exercise.
and
>and found the same thing: After exercise, one’s senses are heightened and thus can detect the flashing at a higher frequency than before exercise.
Sure, but exercise is more of our body pushing itself to do something. Does this mean the same behavior is observed or even amplified when you cordinate that level of work and play sports instead? Then why not recommend people to play sports that need more brain work (strategy, using senses to stay sharp, motor skills etc). One would assume the more you flex your brain muscle it gets "better" No?
> They discovered that the brain uses some of that(extra energy from glucose and carbs due to increased heart rate) fuel to build more neurotransmitters, the chemicals that relay messages around the nervous system.
How does this compare to say playing chess or playing Tennis?
I'm not disputing the article. I'm trying to understand the logic and get better results by playing sports instead of running while watching Netflix on the phone.... Am I getting it wrong?
Re: This is Your Brain on Exercise (2017)
#8I havent read the papers quoted in the article. But, I'm a little puzzled reading this.. It sounds more like interpreting what they want to see or think is happening. > Aerobic exercise appears to lead to changes in both the structure of the brain and the way it operates, which together bolster learning in kids, give adults an edge on cognitive tasks, and protect against the cognitive declines that often come with ag…
My reading is the following. Say my IQ is pretty constant. As any father can attest to, there are a lot of factors influencing whether I'm on top of my game. A few rough nights and I'm in a worse state for days. Let's say exercise usually is correlated with better sleep, better cardiovascular operation etc. and also the other way around (I train less when tired). Then I can easily follow better performance after training but also for groups that exercise more. You just make better use of your potential (IQ).
Re: This is Your Brain on Exercise (2017)
#9My takeaway from the article and from other studies is that exercise improves the condition of your brain, allowing one to be more efficient at what they are doing.
Something that the article didn't state is that exercise has a positive impact on the creation of new neurons on the brain. The idea that we're born with a limited number of brain cells has been debunked.
An analogy would be going to the gym might not make you better at any particular sport but it will help you on the path to be better at that sport; your brain possesses a certain amount of neuroplasticity, akin to a muscle, training this "muscle" and having the right physique will help with your goal, be it improving efficiency or learning a new skillset.
Re: This is Your Brain on Exercise (2017)
#10Unfortunately, this starts off with a really bold statement.
> The toll our relatively new sedentary lifestyle takes on our bodies is clear: For the first time in U.S. history, younger generations are expected to live shorter, unhealthier lives than their parents.
This sounds really biased. Obviously exercise is good for you, but to say its the only factor causing a reduction in our life expectancy is quite a reach.
This makes me doubt their interpretation of the other research presented.