The Crucial Connection Between Exercise, the Brain, and Wellbeing
Many people, especially in modern fitness cultures, can be motivated to work out because of the aesthetic or physical performance benefits of movement. Don’t get us wrong – these benefits are an important part of a well-rounded lifestyle and fitness program. But a broad body of research and lived experience is showing just how essential vigorous and complex movement is for another part of our lives: our brain health.
Whether you’re a pro-athlete or a member of the general public, research is showing that movement is not just recommended, but ESSENTIAL for brain health and mental health.
Neuroscientists like Jennifer Heisz and psychiatrists like Doctor Amen have provided health education about the connection between movement and mental health through the biochemical processes triggered by exercise in the brain. Their work shows the ways that anxiety, depression, and cognitive neurodegeneration, resulting in Alzheimer’s and Dementia, can all be not just ameliorated, but even prevented by vigorous, regularly-enjoyed exercise.
This is for a number of reasons, including that exercise decreases brain shrinkage, and triggers a production of a protein called brain-derived nuetropic factor, (BDNF), which helps with the development of new brain cells and the growth of existing ones. Exercise counterbalances the natural decline of BDNF in aging brains – preventing cognitive decline.
Brain scans from research labs like that of Dr. Hillman at the University of Illinois show how significantly more of the brain’s center lights up significantly more after physical movement than after sitting in quiet contemplation, providing evidence for claims scientists have made that exercise helps us to process and integrate information, and thus, come up with new ideas and solve problems.
Research and scan from Dr. Chuck Hillman at University of Illinois.
But cognitive growth is not the only way that exercise is protective against poor brain health. Exercise’s benefits are also inextricably linked to our mood and mental health.
This is why Fmme Strng’s values are to explore the connections between fitness, wellbeing, and mental health.
Where all of these things meet (check out the Venn Diagram above!) there is a beautiful nexus of biochemical wellbeing, or “being balanced.” Is there research behind these things?
Yes — there is a bedrock of science, which is very encouraging for those of us who have long known that our brain chemistry is balanced by rigorous exercise.
It turns out, as science writers like Kelly McGonigal point out, exercise releases a cocktail of positive neurotransmitters and chemicals that lead to the feelings of inner peace and wellbeing that we experience during and after movement. For example, McGonigal’s work shows that the brain releases a substance called Endocannabinoids during exercise. Endocannabinoids act on the same receptors in your brain that cannabis does, creating a feeling of happiness and priming the brain for social connection.
And it's not just endocannabinoids that feel good. In the immortal words of icon Elle Woods (of ‘Legally Blonde’):
[GIF Caption for accessibility: Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. And happy people just don’t shoot their husbands.”]
All of this to say, there is a lot of scientific evidence to point to why exercise is so essential to physical and mental health combined. Combine endorphins and endocannabinoids with other neurotransmitters and hormones released during exercise – especially exercise performed outdoors in sunlight – like serotonin, dopamine, adrenaline, and norepinephrine – and the combination gets richer, helping us to regulate not only our mood, but our circadian rhythm, as well.
For more information, check out this incredible video on how exercise affects the brain from Brigham Young University’s College of Life Sciences.
This is why we here at Fmme Strng are SO excited about continuing to explore this connection between movement, mental health, and fulfillment. We know that the work of taking care of ourselves is an investment not only in our own health, but in the health of all those we come in contact with, because of our interconnectedness, and because of the life force that we can generate when we build our own health and allow our wellbeing to radiate outwards.
As we continue to explore topics in wellbeing, vitality, and fitness here on the blog, we encourage you to take a break from your screen and from reading, and go outside and get moving! 😉 💖 🏃🏾♀️ 🏋🏼♀️
We’ll see you in the next post!