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The physical benefits of exercise are well known to all, but over the last 30 years, studies have shown the extreme benefits that exercise has pertaining to brain function. Scientists have used rats and other animals to determine the effects exercise has on the brain. Researchers in the 1990s started the testing by placing rats in a cage by themselves, the only difference was that some rats had running wheels and others did not. Results showed, that rats with wheels were able to complete different tasks faster than others, and their dissected brains showed large amounts of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF has great brain benefits and triggers multiple other health-promoting chemicals. More recent studies have also found that exercise can slow down memory diseases such as Alzheimer’s through measuring beta-amyloid, the substance-related to Alzheimer's. Rats with memory problems helped discover that those who exercised had almost half the amount of substance compared to those who were sedentary (Brownlee).
Aerobic exercise is the type of exercise that gets your heart rate up due to increased movement for an extended period of time. Research has shown that aerobic exercise has great benefits for the brain in multiple ways. A study was completed with 300 women, who all have had breast cancer and suffer from chemo brain. A select amount of women were chosen to exercise, while others were not. Following a week of exercise, the women took quizzes to measure their memory and ability to focus. Results showed that those women who exercised performed much better than those who did not complete aerobic exercise. Researchers are still not exactly sure what causes this increase in brain activity, but the most plausible explanation is more oxygen being brought to the brain. While exercising, blood flow increases providing larger amounts of oxygen to the brain, resulting in positive function (Brodwin).
Here is a short video by TED-ed explaining more about how exercise affects your brain.
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