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I have been kind of deep down these rabbit holes of how it works physically. It comes down to some kind of simple principles. Exercise gives your brain more blo

I have been kind of deep down these rabbit holes of how it works physically. It comes down to some kind of simple principles. Exercise gives your brain more blood. Lifting puts static pressure and conditions vessels and such. Many pro-brain-health hormones get released. The physical actions force a degree of indirect distraction that lets your sub-conscious work as well. These things all combine to promote brain health and problem solving. The brain uses a ton of energy so the blood flow just keeps it well fed. E: it also makes sure junk from metabolic processes are cleaned up etc.

jdpigeon 4y ago
There was a rather compelling pathway proposed years ago: skeletal muscle activation leads to the secretion of a protein in the blood called Irisin. This protein then crosses the blood-brain barrier and upregulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
- puchatek 4y ago
  Yet there are always examples of extraordinary minds of people who either despise physical exercise it are even wheelchair-bound. Steven Hawkins comes to mind. Maybe those are just exceptions.
  - cgriswald 4y ago
    I see no reason to think that people don't have different cognitive baselines. It's not difficult to imagine two people having such different cognitive baselines that even if exercise improves the cognitive ability of one, it will still be lower than the cognitive ability of the other without exercise.
    - bitexploder 4y ago
      I never did turn into a super genius after a run. But I can focus for a few hours and if it was an easy run or even a hard strength training session, it is a productive few hours :)
AtlasBarfed 4y ago
And when you exercise, certainly in HIIT, parts of your brain go to a lower usage, but at the same time there is a ton of blood going through the tissues, so the cells probably get to recharge with all the extra blood and nutrient/energy transport going on. Plus when you're done with exercise, the entire metabolic engine keeps going for 30-60 minutes (or even more depending on how hard you go), which also gives the opportunity for brain cells to recharge.

jdpigeon 4y ago

There was a rather compelling pathway proposed years ago: skeletal muscle activation leads to the secretion of a protein in the blood called Irisin. This protein then crosses the blood-brain barrier and upregulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor.

puchatek 4y ago
Yet there are always examples of extraordinary minds of people who either despise physical exercise it are even wheelchair-bound. Steven Hawkins comes to mind. Maybe those are just exceptions.
- cgriswald 4y ago
  I see no reason to think that people don't have different cognitive baselines. It's not difficult to imagine two people having such different cognitive baselines that even if exercise improves the cognitive ability of one, it will still be lower than the cognitive ability of the other without exercise.
  - bitexploder 4y ago
    I never did turn into a super genius after a run. But I can focus for a few hours and if it was an easy run or even a hard strength training session, it is a productive few hours :)

AtlasBarfed 4y ago

And when you exercise, certainly in HIIT, parts of your brain go to a lower usage, but at the same time there is a ton of blood going through the tissues, so the cells probably get to recharge with all the extra blood and nutrient/energy transport going on. Plus when you're done with exercise, the entire metabolic engine keeps going for 30-60 minutes (or even more depending on how hard you go), which also gives the opportunity for brain cells to recharge.