My 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.

For the past 3 weeks I’ve been using the Pomodoro Method at work. For those who don’t know, it’s 25 minutes of deeply focused work, followed by a 5 minute break.

In my break I’ve been excercising: running up stairs, doing push ups, wall sits, etc. I’ve always had trouble focusing in open offices, but now I can focus without even needing headphones! And to top that off we use story point estimates, and I started flying through those estimates.

Obviously I’m just one story where the sample size is n=1. But after reading this article I think pairing Pomodoro with some light exercise has some unseen positive feedback.

I 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?

Difficult 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?

  - Higher frequency brain waves increase 'attention, memory, and information processing'

  - A heightened visual cortex increases our ability to pick out features in our environment

  - Restocking neurotransmitters to optimal levels

  - Healthier blood vessels improve working memory

So how addictive is exercise exactly? If you're exercising, past the point where you feel physical hurt, because it makes you feel immediately more alert (or straight up euphoric depending), is it dangerous? It's usually attested that too much of one specific kind of exercise (e.g. running) can have problems for certain muscles and joints but I'm not finding a lot on the dangers (if any) of more diverse exercise (where you keep moving with elevated heart rate for a long, sustained, time period, but don't do the same movements every day or every hour in a single day).

Exercise is good, but that article annoyed me. It noted various exercise induced changes in the brain and behavior--increased sensitivity to stimuli, increased neurogenesis, more connectivity, etc-- without actually saying why those things are good. increased connectivity between brain regions doesn't have to be good, and you can be too sensitive and alert to stimuli

I would recommend reading the book for anyone looking to get more information on same.

Spark: How exercise will improve the performance of your brain

Unfortunately, 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.

A contrarian caution on exercise worship:

Everything that makes us feel good is neurochemical in nature, including exercise. Exercise can lead to a withdrawal period of feeling shitty and unproductive, and it can be quite addictive.

Really important not to confuse "feeling good" with being good for you. Have seen a lot of people overdo it and lose their lives to pointless exercise while accomplishing very little else. Also important to realize that most things in life that give you a boost in life also give you a debt to pay back at a later time/date.

>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"?

Here are some examples:

3 days without sleep will give you IQ performance 20 points less than your previously measured brain IQ. That doesn't mean you permanently got dumber. Similarly, exercise can make you perform better at cognitive tasks, while still retaining the same IQ.

Reduced blood flow to the brain (e.g. due to apnea/obesity) can make you actually lose tons of IQ points (sometimes even permanently). Exercise prevents those things.

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).