This Is What Exercise Does To Your Brain

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Did you know that when you flex your muscles, you flex your brain, too? A recent study shows that working out not only positively affects your body composition and physical health, but it also has benefits for your mental health and the way your brain functions.

The research conducted by Angie Ferguson, an exercise psychologist from Fort Meyers, found that three major changes in your brain result from effective exercise:

1. As your muscles get stronger, your brain becomes more activated.

When you exercise, your muscles release proteins into your bloodstream. Those proteins travel all the way up to your brain, making it more active. So basically, your brain learns faster when you regularly exercise.

2. You feel sharper and more mentally balanced.

A number of mood-influencing neurotransmitters like serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine are balanced by working out. When that happens, you experience a lift in mood and improved mental well-being, as well as a strengthening in perception, attention and arousal. More importantly, the hard-hitting neurotransmitters that tell your heart to beat, lungs to breathe and stomach to digest are regulated too.

3. You make mental connections more easily.

When you have an effective exercise routine, you create new blood vessels that stimulate neuron connection. Neurotrophins, which are proteins that specifically maintain cell growth and survival, are elevated by exercise and act as a fertilizer for the brain. If your cells are making more connections with each other, it leads to expanding networks and keeping you at the top of your game.

A happy body equals a happy brain, and the only way to get there is to keep up the good work at the gym, or doing anything that gets your swol on.