Keep up the good sweat! (CHDV-Blog Week 1)

Want to study better? Just two minutes of exercise beforehand could help

By Sara Spary, CNN

Whenever I see catchy phrases like lose 30 pounds overnight or make a fabulous dinner in 5-minutes, you have my full attention! LORL. This article caught my interest because exercise is usually tied to physical benefits like lowering cholesterol or reducing risks of diabetes and heart attacks but there is also a connection to benefiting our brains with improved functionalities.

I came across this article posted on CNN claiming as little as 2-minutes of aerobic exercise is a source of brain power. Turns out that some researchers from Jönköping University in Sweden made some discoveries when they were studying people between the ages of 18-35 over a ten year period ending in 2019. It starts with 2-minutes and up to 1-hour of aerobic activities like running, walking, cycling or swimming to give your brain that extra learning super power and if you can get it done in the morning before work or school it's even better.

Translational Sports Medicine reported in August 2020 that moderate to high intensity exercise for as little as 120 seconds could help you deliver that awesome presentation without your note cards or plan a financially creative vacation with an exotic twist with your new profoundly enhanced planning and problem solving skills. This becomes possible because your brain is storing information to memory, which is called the “processing information stage”, and exercising jump starts this process. Essentially when your heart rate is up, oxygen-rich blood is getting pumped to your brain and it stimulates the release of hormones that helps the production of new brain cells according to the study.

How’s that for 2-minutes! Just in case you’re wondering about the age populations beyond the ten year study group, the American Academy of Neurology journal also published findings in May 2020 that another study revealed that the average age of sixty-something youngins who exercise regularly, can also reap the benefits of having better thinking and communicating skills. It's never too late to jump on the wagon according to exercise physiology and nutrition professor at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, Marc Poulin. So jump, jump, jump to it (in my Aretha Franklin singing voice)! Blessings to you, you, & you - HLJ

You can check it out yourself by clicking on this link or down below.

CNN link: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/11/world/two-minute-exercise-scli-intl-wellness-scn/index.html