Want your brain to work better?  Work out.  Seriously!

In the book “Brain Rules,” author John Medina points out that if you exercise you actually help brain function!  He is not talking about doing a triathlon or benching 500 pounds.  The exercise a brain needs to help it function better is simply cardiovascular.  Just 20 minutes or more of this type of activity can help the human brain work better.

Why?  It’s simple.  (And yes, forgive me scientists for explaining this so I can understand it!).

Inside the brain, exercise increases bloodflow.  The blood is carried to the areas of the brain through blood vessels (Medina compares them to highways).  The cool thing is, exercise not only makes the highways (vessels) more smoothly deliver the blood to the brain.  There’s more!  Exercise actually creates more highways!  So not only are the blood vessels doing a better job of giving the brain the blood it needs to function, it is creating more vessels to do the job!  Cool stuff!

This is the reason that starting the day with some activity can help you feel more productive all day long.  And, getting up and moving during the day can help you have more energy and be more mentally focused to accomplish mental tasks as well!

So make sure you add exercise to your mental workout each week!