While I’m sure you’re familiar with the undeniable benefits exercise can have on your body, did you know that it can also be highly beneficial to your mental function, helping keep your mind sharper, alert and relaxed? It’s true. In fact, numerous studies have born this out.
Harvard associate professor of psychiatry John J. Ratey, MD. has found that just eight to ten minutes of moderate exercise (60% of maximum heart rate) can enhance learing ability while researchers at Duke University Medical Center discovered that aerobic exercise can decrease depression and improve brain function in middle-aged and elderly men and women.
Of course I don’t need university research to tell me that exercise is a great mental stimulant. Whenever I exercise I feel so much more alert and alive than when I don’t. In fact, I often find myself a bit “down in the dumps” when I miss a workout, which is something I try not to do too often.
The next time you exercise consider the mood you’re in before you begin, during and after. I have a feeling you’ll experience what I do, and once you do you’ll be that much more likely to get back to it, for your mind as well as your body.