Mentat Wiki: Physical Exercise
There is some evidence that physical exercise may directly improve brain function.
It is proposed by John Medina that this is due to two reasons:
- Increased oxygen flow has been shown to improve alertness.
- Increases neurons’ creation, survival, and resistance to damage and stress.
!! Equipment free exercise regime example
Every week day morning for 14 minutes - rest on weekends and holidays.
| Phase | Duration | Start time | Focus | Exercise |
| Warmup | 2 min | 14:00 | Whole body | Jumping Jacks |
| Circuit #1 | 1 min | 12:00 | Upperbody | Press ups |
| 1 min | 11:00 | Core & trunk | Sit ups (lower abbs) | |
| 1 min | 10:00 | Lower-body | Squat jumps | |
| 1 min | 09:00 | Whole body | Burpees | |
| Rest | 30 sec | 08:00 | ||
| Circuit #2 | 1 min | 07:30 | Upperbody | Tricep Dips |
| 1 min | 06:30 | Core & trunk | Stomach crunch (upper abbs) | |
| 1 min | 05:30 | Lower-body | Compass jumps | |
| Rest | 30 sec | 04:30 | ||
| Circuit #3 | 1 min | 04:00 | Core & trunk | Combined Back extension and chest raise |
| 1 min | 03:00 | Lower-body | Running on the spot | |
| Cooldown | 2 min | 02:00 | Whole body | Jumping Jacks |
this podcast from brainscience has an interview with John Ratey about his book "Spark - the revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain", which contains lots of evidence of the benefits of exercise on the brain. John Ratey also has an excellent blog discussing the effect of exercise on the brain.
Relevant links
- Presentation from John Ratey with lots of detail
- Does physical exercise improve cognitive function? - from memory key
- Exercise and the Brain - brain briefing from the Society for Neuroscience
- The human brain - exercise - an introduction
- Brain Rules references pages
- Video of presentation from John Medina - first part is on the benefits of exercise for the brain
- As waistlines widen, brains shrink