Your Brain and Cardiovascular Exercise

It turns out that cardiovascular exercise is really good for your brain. I’ve been getting enough regular cardiovascular exercise to the point that I seriously need my daily kick. I’m not sure if strength exercise has the same kind of effect, probably much less so but even then after a day of thinking and mental exhaustion from battling with the computer. I’ve come home dead tired wanting to do nothing but lie down and die. Usually, I’d obey my so-called instinct only to wake up the next day feeling more tired than when I went to sleep. The funny thing about exercise is that after the first few minutes I feel more refreshed and all the fatigue vanishes. The same goes for anxiety situations. I never quite noticed this before for whatever reason but it’s something I’ve gotten addicted to lately. I can actually feel an endorphin kick setting in after the first 10 minutes of exercise.

The brain responds to cardiovascular exercise quite well, boosting neuron regeneration and releasing endorphins. Some schools are experimenting with making it mandatory to use the treadmill for a session before classes. As a result, attendance is up and so are grades. It makes you wonderer how we’ve managed to stray from something so fundamental.