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Thanks to the highly developed functions of the brain, a person has acquired the ability to restore his performance during physical and mental activity. Also I.M. Sechenov proved that an active organism restores its strength faster than a passive one. Muscular work can change the functional state of the cerebral cortex in various ways. Minimal muscle loads cause increased excitability of the cerebral cortex. Prolonged and intense muscle work causes a sharp decrease in excitability and a deepening of inhibitory processes. THEM. Sechenov said: “The source of the feeling of fatigue is usually placed in the working muscles, but I place it exclusively in the central nervous system.”

A reduction in systematic loads on the muscular system is inevitable with the intensive technologicalization of society. The muscular system is the most powerful source of nerve impulses that tones the human central nervous system, and primarily its emotional centers. Therefore, underloading of the muscular system deprives these centers of the positive charge that a person needs to overcome life’s “psychological barriers.” Under these conditions, many negative stimuli acquire a super-strong character and act in a neurotic manner.

Particular attention was paid to hypokinesia in connection with the beginning of the space age. In acute 120-day human hypokinesia, disorders of higher nervous activity and neurotic disorders, deterioration of attention, memory, dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, disturbances in the regulation of cardiac activity and vascular tone were found. Active muscle activity prevents these disorders.

Intense muscle activity can significantly neutralize changes in homeostasis caused by emotional stress and extinguish the resulting “emotional storm”. It is not without reason that everyday observations and special studies indicate the most important role of muscle work as a means of reducing tension.

Physical activity calms you down and even helps you cope with mental trauma. Stress on one system helps the other to rest. A person also needs work for normal life, just as he needs air, sleep, food, and communication. The functions of the brain become disordered and in a state of chaos if we do not constantly use it for worthwhile activities.

Physical training has a beneficial effect on the emotional sphere of a person. Modern people, subject to stress and anxiety, need a way to maintain peace of mind and freedom from anxiety. But under pressure, the intellect and emotions are constantly thrown out of balance, like a kind of psychological pendulum. From time to time, many people lose emotional harmony, which reduces their level of vital energy and determination. The solution to the problem is often incredibly simple: all you need is good sleep, exercise and a balanced diet.

Quite often, irritability and loss of desire to work can be the result of low physical activity. People who start running, swimming, or other endurance activities tend to become more persistent. In this case, probably, there is not only an increase in the physical resources of the body, but also an expansion of a person’s mental reserves.

The ancient Greeks once carved the words on stone: “If you want to be healthy, run. If you want to be beautiful, run. If you want to be smart, run."

One example

An interesting experiment was conducted in Munich, as a result of which all 750 children who learned to swim before walking were above average in terms of mental development. The same was noted in the development of babies who began to walk from the day of birth. It is known that movements, especially the movements of the fingers, themselves are incredibly stimulating to brain development.

Pay attention to your colleagues who are in good physical condition. In service, they are most often considered the most reliable and efficient. Studies conducted among workers show that the most fit and physically fit people face each day with greater enthusiasm and a belief in well-being. They are able to eliminate boredom and monotony from their lives because stamina helps them maintain high energy levels and interest in what they do throughout the day. These people are usually cheerful and sociable, and they get sick less often than their less active comrades. Such workers are more careful and more efficient.

There is good reason to think that the psychological effects of exercise are real. Recently, research by doctors and sports physiologists has brought us closer to the necessary scientific understanding of the unity of mental and physical health. Participants in aerobics health programs experience positive changes in their emotional state: sleep significantly improves, a sense of inner well-being appears, tension decreases, depression is relieved, self-esteem increases, a sense of well-being appears, satisfaction with life, and the ability to cope with stress develops.

Psychological training methods and aerobic training have similar beneficial effects. The famous sports physiologist Syme concluded: “Perhaps jogging is a good preventive measure for people with increased excitability.” Aerobic exercise really has a positive effect on the emotional and psychological balance of the individual.

However, one should not proclaim only the cult of the body. The ancient Greek philosopher Seneca said: “Please the body only as much as is necessary to maintain its strength, and consider this way of life to be the only healthy and healing one. Too much enslaves the slave of his own body - the one who is too afraid for it and measures everything by its yardstick. Excessive love for him disturbs us with fears, burdens us with worries, and condemns us to shame. In addition, the burden of flesh, growing, oppresses the spirit and deprives it of mobility... the body, although we cannot do without it, is more necessary for us than important... Our king is the soul.” It is the soul that controls the body. Therefore, attention to the body is justified only if it helps strengthen the psyche. Thus, despite the importance of a strong and healthy body, which contributes to the development of strength and strength of spirit, the leading, dominant role in a person’s life is given to the spirit.

However, great intelligence is not always accompanied by the same fortitude. In such cases, severe disharmony develops between body and spirit and ultimately ends in tragedy. An example of this is the life of the German philosopher Nietzsche. He wrote about his mind as a manifestation of the highest human potential. In one of his books there is a chapter called “Why I am so smart.” Nevertheless, his attitude towards his brain and his body was truly anti-intellectual. As a result, by the age of 35, he lost sleep and appetite. For 11 years, he never went to bed without taking sleeping pills. At the age of 45 he became seriously ill mentally.

For fruitful work, proper alternation of work and rest is necessary. Frequent and short pauses in work are more preferable than rare, although long ones. I.P. Pavlov wrote: “All my life I have loved and love mental and physical labor, and perhaps even more than the latter... And I especially felt satisfied when I contributed some good guess to the latter, i.e. connecting the head with the hands.”

However, physical exercise alone without proper nutrition and without giving up alcohol and smoking cannot ensure good health. Thanks to changes in diet and exercise programs, the United States has managed to reduce mortality from coronary heart disease by one quarter and increase the average life expectancy of Americans.

Numerous clinical observations and relevant statistical data indicate that physical training and a physically active lifestyle are one of the most effective ways to prevent the development of diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, obesity, etc. For example, health promotion activities have been successfully carried out in the USA, including following physical activity programs. As a result, significant changes have occurred in the health status of the population. So, between 1968 and 1977. There was a decrease in mortality from cardiovascular diseases by 23%, from strokes by 36%, and from hypertension by 48%.

In addition, between 1971 and 1979, American life expectancy increased by 2.7 years, nearly three times the increase in any previous decade. What is the reason for this progress? Experts note the influence of the following factors: people began to smoke less, most are aware of the role of regular blood pressure measurements, the cholesterol content in consumed foods has decreased, many have learned to recognize signs of stress and cope with it better, Americans’ commitment to aerobic exercise has increased (from 25% in 1968 up to 47% in 1977).

Physical training strengthens the body's immune defense, increases its resistance to infectious diseases and to the effects of various environmental factors (ionizing radiation, climatic disasters, etc.).

Compensatory-adaptive mechanisms under the influence of physical stress manifest themselves not only in the body’s reactions to physical activity, but also (which is the basis of fitness) in the form of long-term transformations in the level of activity of the body and regulatory mechanisms with changes in organs and systems, not only functional, but also morphological.

Motor activity is a constant process of adaptation of the body to changing environmental conditions, aimed at the endless improvement of adaptive mechanisms. Throughout the history of human development, the motor function of the neuromuscular system has been one of the important socio-biological factors that shape the body and play an important role in maintaining balance between the body and the external environment and in regulating processes occurring in the internal environment of the body. Its role is also great in increasing the body’s resistance to a number of unfavorable environmental factors. The only way to combat hypokinesia (hypodynamia) is physical activity, which is not a random set of movements, but a systemic organization of physical activity, determined by objective laws.

“Gymnastics is the healing part of medicine” (Plato). Physical culture was used as a therapeutic agent by ancient doctors. Avicenna attached great importance to the healing power of dosed physical exercises, who widely used them to restore health to his patients. The famous Roman physician Galen used physical exercises to improve the health of patients. He wrote: “Thousands and thousands of times I have restored health to my patients through exercise.”

Modern medicine considers physical therapy as one of the main means of functional treatment of various diseases. “Physical exercise can replace many medications, but not a single medicine can replace physical exercise” (A. Moser).

In addition, physical therapy is an important part of the complex of secondary prevention and stabilization measures. This method of functional therapy is natural and physiological for the body. The choice of types of physical therapy should be carried out individually, taking into account the nature, stage of the disease process, the presence of complications, the functional state of the cardiovascular system and the respiratory system. Of course, consistency and regularity should be observed when performing physical exercises.

Lisovsky V.A., Evseev S.P., Golofeevsky V.Yu., Mironenko A.N.

Why do we do running, aerobics, swimming? To look better, to lose excess weight, to keep blood vessels and heart in order... And hardly anyone goes to a fitness club to improve memory or attention. But it has long been known: physical exercise has a beneficial effect not only on the body, but also on the psyche. It would seem that everything is obvious: if a person does not abuse a sedentary lifestyle, he gets sick less, and this only benefits the brain. But the connection between physical exercise and mental function, as research has shown in recent years, may be closer and more immediate.

There is a lot of research here. For example, in a review paper published in British Journal of Sports Medicine a few months ago, it was argued that age-related decline in cognitive function in people over fifty years of age can be slowed down through systematic physical activity. Older adults who do aerobic exercise combined with resistance exercise perform better on psychological tests that require quick switching from one task to another, tactical thinking, concentration, and active use of working memory (the so-called part of memory that deals with relevant information; more details). about what working memory is and how it works, see “Science and Life” No. 7, 2017). Older people are attracted to such studies for obvious reasons: the brain naturally weakens with age, and therefore it becomes easier to assess the factors that inhibit this process. However, there are similar data for young people and even children. So, in an article in a magazine Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise(April 2017) it is said that in children aged 9 to 11 years, physical fitness and good working memory go hand in hand: if a child has developed muscles, then he will perform well on memory tests and, importantly, demonstrate success learning. (All this, of course, is very different from the usual idea of ​​a stupid school strongman and a smart but frail “nerd.”)

In an article in a magazine Neurology in 2016, it was noted that the difference in the biological age of the brain between those who regularly engage in physical exercise, fitness, sports, and those who are physically inactive can be as much as ten years. At the same time, what exactly a person does is important. Several years ago, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh (USA) compared how the state of the brain changed over the course of a year in older people who either went for a brisk walk three times a week (quite long - from 30 to 45 minutes) or did exercises stretching. It turned out that in those who walked, some areas of the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, responsible for planning and memory, increased in size. The increase was small, only 2–3%, but it was still enough to overcome the age-related “shrinking” of the brain. The walking participants also showed good results in tests of spatial memory. In those who did stretching for a year, the hippocampus continued to shrink, as usually happens in old age.

There is evidence that physical activity helps reduce cognitive impairment in schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease; in particular, in patients with schizophrenia, after several months of quite moderate exercise, the hippocampus increased by 12%. Finally, those who play sports know very well that exercise relieves stress and gives a feeling of mild euphoria.

But why is all this happening? Why does physical activity help relieve stress, improve memory, and enlarge certain areas of the brain? There are several explanations here. Let's start with emotions and stress.

It is believed that the feeling of euphoria that occurs after prolonged physical activity appears due to endocannabinoids - neurotransmitter molecules that are synthesized in the brain and act on neurons in various nerve centers. Endocannabinoids have many functions: they are involved in the regulation of appetite, influence memory, learning and emotions, and, in addition, serve as a kind of internal pain reliever, which the brain resorts to in a variety of cases. Exercise stimulates the release of neurotransmitters, which reduce anxiety and cause a slight feeling of joy.

But there are other anti-stress mechanisms that are activated when playing sports. It is known that stress and depression cause atrophy of neurons and synapses: connections between nerve cells weaken and break, and new ones are not formed. The nerve cell becomes “non-contact” and unnecessary, the overall diversity of nerve circuits decreases, and the decrease in the number of nerve circuits in turn affects cognitive abilities and the ability to find a way out of difficult situations. Two years ago, researchers from the University of Georgia (USA) showed that in rats that lead an active lifestyle, neurons successfully resist the stress effect, maintaining the ability to form more and more new cellular contacts. And this happens thanks to the neuropeptide galanin, the level of which increases noticeably after exercise and increases precisely in the areas of the brain responsible for fighting stress. The anti-stress effect of “fitness” provided by galanin was also manifested in the behavior of rats: the animals, despite the unpleasant circumstances that were arranged for them in the experiment, were active and curious - in other words, they were not very worried about the troubles and did not drown in stress.

If we talk about cognitive functions and the increase in certain areas of the brain, then one explanation suggests itself: exercise makes the heart beat faster, therefore, the blood supply to the brain improves and it begins to work better. This hypothesis is supported by the results of researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas (USA): in 2013 they published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience work that stated that exercise stimulates blood flow to the posterior cingulate cortex and hippocampus. In both cases, metabolism increased and neuron activity increased. Participants in the experiment who regularly exercised in the gym performed better on memory tests, and the changes occurred in exactly the following order: first, blood flow improved, then cognitive performance.

But blood is not everything. Cells in our body do not grow by themselves; they need molecular signals - special proteins that act on cellular receptors, pushing the cells to certain actions. Proteins that stimulate the growth and development of neurons are called neurotrophins, and the most active among them is BDNF ( brain-derived neurotrophic factor, neurotrophic, or neurotropic, brain factor). BDNF includes genes that control the growth of nerve cells and the formation of new synapses, and therefore nerve circuits, and it is especially active in the hippocampus and cortex, that is, in areas responsible for learning and memory. It has been observed that in both animals and humans, the level of BDNF increases sharply with physical exercise, and that with a jump in BDNF, hippocampal growth and improvement in cognitive functions occur. Experiments on mice have shown that the level of the signaling protein remains high for several days after “fitness”. In 2013 in the magazine Cell Metabolism An article was published whose authors described the chain of signals from the muscles to the brain. Researchers were able to identify a protein released from working muscles, which, acting through several intermediaries, gives a signal to special brain cells to synthesize this same BDNF. That is, the muscles themselves give the brain a stimulating signal.

Interestingly, according to one hypothesis, the human brain evolved as people became physically more resilient. It is known that more hardy animals have larger brains than less hardy animals (of course, if we compare animals of approximately the same size). On the other hand, there are experiments on the reproduction of rodent “athletes”. Individuals who ran tirelessly in the squirrel wheel were repeatedly crossed with each other, and as a result, curious molecular features appeared in the offspring - their levels of various growth factors, including BDNF, increased. In 2012 in the magazine Proceedings of the Royal Society Biology B An article appeared describing the next scenario. When our ancestors began to hunt, the luckiest were those who could run long and hard, chasing wounded prey. Obviously, the hardiest individuals received an evolutionary advantage: they ate better, brought prey to the group, were popular with the opposite sex, etc. Their genes passed from generation to generation, including the gene that provides high levels of BDNF. The protein initially worked in the muscles, helping the nerves in them grow (following the strengthening of muscle tissue, its innervation should also increase). However, then the excess BDNF reached the brain, and it sharply began to grow. Of course, there were other important evolutionary factors that made humans “brainy,” but the muscle-brain connection through BDNF may well have played a role.

Over time, new variants began to appear in the gene encoding BDNF, and now the effect of the neurotropic factor will most likely depend on the form in which the BDNF gene was acquired by an individual. This gene has a special variant that can be found in approximately 30% of people - in its carriers, some areas of the brain are smaller than in others, and the person himself is more predisposed to neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers from the University of Milan found that if there is such a special BDNF gene in the genome, then exercise does not work against stress and anxiety. (Given the role of the protein BDNF in the brain, it is not surprising that it also influences the stress response.) However, exercise affects the activity of a number of genes in the brain, many of which are not directly related to synapses and the transmission of neural impulses. So we'll have to wait until researchers get a full picture of how muscles act on the brain, although you can start exercising right now.

Greetings, dear reader! In this article I will explain how big the influence of sport on mental abilities. I mean playing sports, not watching a football match on TV with a can of beer in your arms. 🙂

At first glance, the relationship between sport and the brain is not obvious. Well, it seems that everyone who plays sports is stupid and strong, and everyone who deals mainly with mental stress is frail and very smart. No matter how it is! The bulk of athletes are politicians, businessmen and scientists (!) Can you imagine?! Scientists jocks! There are a lot of scientists among bodybuilders. The majority of my acquaintances, weightlifters, have several higher education degrees, and two are engaged in teaching. In the literal sense of the word, they teach at the institute.

What was the previous paragraph about? Playing sports stimulates a person (and not only) to work actively. Sport has the best effect on all cognitive functions, including the psyche, and it does this from all fronts. Playing sports now will help preserve your mental abilities in old age, and will protect you from vile and disgusting diseases. So how does it work?

How does sport affect the brain?

There is one institute in America: the National Institute for the Study of Aging, and at this institute scientists conducted experiments on mice. One group of mice was forced to run in a wheel, and the other, in striped swimsuits :), was left alone. And, as the autopsy showed, it was in vain.

Next, trained and untrained mice were asked to solve several problems. It does not say what exactly the tasks are. Probably something like: “A train left point A to point B at speed,” etc. In general, the trained mice completed the tasks exactly twice as efficiently. Unfortunately, this did not save them from autopsy.

So... In the brains of athletic mice, among other things, several substances were discovered that were not found in the brains of ordinary mice:

1. Interleukin – 6

This is a peptide molecule that is produced by cells of the immune system during stress and damage to the body, burns, infections and other damage. So what does sport have to do with it? Everything is very simple. During training, your muscles receive micro-injuries. This is especially pronounced among weightlifters. Since there is only one bloodstream in the body, interleukin-6 reaches all corners of the body. So what does this molecule do?

Interleukin-6 is an anti-inflammatory factor. In the literal sense of the word, this molecule protects brain cells (and not only) from various types of inflammatory processes. Thereby protecting brain cells from death. You may not know it, but your neurons are dying by the thousands every day. Dead neurons are compensated by new ones, but the older you are, the slower this compensation is. And in general, you can not lose some of your cells now, just by playing sports!

BNDF

The so-called anabolic factor BNDF. This is a neurotrophic protein that stimulates growth and the establishment of new connections between each other, which, in fact, makes a person (and a mouse too) smarter. All growth factors are provoked by the same micro muscle injuries. All anabolic processes are launched to the fullest during training.

Somatotropin

This growth hormone is produced, if necessary, by the pituitary gland during. It is also an anabolic factor (growth factor) and prevents catabolism (cell destruction). With systematic physical activity it is produced in large quantities. Unlike protein, BNDF acts throughout the body.

Nitric oxide “NO2”

The compound of nitrogen and oxygen is synthesized by muscle tissue during physical activity from the amino acid “Agrinin”. Nitric oxide is a mediator that regulates the tone of the smooth muscles of blood vessels. Namely, NO2 relaxes blood vessels, increasing their capacity.

As it was found out, the amount of nutrients entering the body’s cells is limited not by the permeability of the cell membrane, but by the amount of substances that the blood can bring. That is, the more blood passes through the vessels, the more nutrients the tissues will receive. Therefore, NO2 helps nourish the brain better, promotes the synthesis of new proteins and mediators in the brain, and is also an additional anabolic factor. In addition, in some cases, NO2 itself acts as a neurotransmitter.

There is another small bonus for men. Agrinin is a conditionally essential amino acid, meaning that it is produced in the body in small quantities. But if it comes in large quantities with food, then some protruding parts of the body begin to increase in size. In general, men need to be more careful, and women need to be more attentive. Well, you understand me :)

Benefits of Bodybuilding

As you already understand, bodybuilding is aimed at increasing muscle mass and increasing anabolism (cell growth factors) and reducing catabolism (cell destruction factor). In general, the entire bodybuilding system is aimed at this. And of course, athletes are very scrupulous about nutrition, despite the fact that they eat sooo much, they do not eat everything. Exceptionally healthy food. But, unfortunately, not all necessary substances are sufficient in food. They are present there, of course, but their concentration is too low.

And here, as a matter of course, sports nutrition comes to the rescue. Many “Drischi”, due to their dense nature and the rumors spread by drischi among drischi, have a negative attitude towards sports pit and call it chemistry. But I assure you, this is not at all true. Sports nutrition is the same food, but in concentrated form - and no chemicals!

And it is with sports nutrition that athletes consume a large amount of substances that improve brain function. Creatine, L-carnitine, glutamine, agrinine and many others. STOP! Didn’t you just recently want to find a magic pill so that you could eat it and be “immediately smart”? Have you seen enough movies?! So here it is... Eat and don't wince!

In general, my friends, to understand all this, you need to be in the know. And to be in the know, you need to play sports. And let this sport become a part of your life.

Benefits of Athletics

Firstly, athletics is much cheaper 🙂 But this is not the most important thing... In athletics, the exercise is aerobic, promoting much faster blood flow and rapid metabolism. If you want, running is a more challenging sport.

The fact is that the body is actually a very big thing. 🙂 And there are so many nooks and crannies and hidden, out-of-the-way corners. There are such nooks and crannies in the brain. In such places, toxins usually accumulate and slowly, imperceptibly poison our body. And the more of these wastes, the more noticeable these poisonings are.

Athletics can turn your body inside out (figuratively) and cleanse all the toxins out of you. And it will drive all the useful substances so deep into the tissues of the brain (and not only), where they never existed, but they were really needed there. Also a huge plus is training the heart muscle in the required quantity, which is so lacking in bodybuilding. Also, the problem with bodybuilding is that the bulk of growth factors remain in muscle tissue. So, athletics will help deliver growth factors to the body.

What's better?

Nothing is better. Everything is good in its own way. But if after reading this article you still decide to go in for sports, then do as I do. Combine both sports. I start and end every workout at the gym on the treadmill. And if I don’t train in the gym today, then today I run. I wish the same for you.

Benefits of martial arts

In addition to all of the above, a clear advantage of martial arts is the incredible ability for spatial and tactical thinking. Although you know... Some people believe that table tennis (ping pong) develops the same skills. Well, to each his own. For some it’s tabletop, for others it’s large.

In fact, this is not all. Thousands of scientific papers have been written about the relationship between physical activity and mental abilities. But what I said will be enough, because few people like to read long articles :)

In general, go in for sports, Gentlemen. Sports will make you smarter. Or at least more beautiful.

Good afternoon Still looking for motivation to exercise. Me too). I found a lot of useful, scientifically proven and proven information about how sports affects the brain. I think after reading the article and watching the suggested videos, you will definitely go in for sports for at least a month.

Many people have the equally widespread and erroneous belief that good physical fitness and a person's passion for sports and physical activity negatively affect his thinking abilities. Basically, this opinion is formed due to the widespread cliche of the “stupid jock”, a clear example of which in the mass media is the same Kuzya from the television series “Univer”.

In the real world, divorced from the television screen, everything looks completely different. Numerous studies by scientists around the world prove and confirm the fact that physical activity, on the contrary, only improves brain function - including those aspects that are associated with long-term memory.

Fun experiment

The origins of scientific research in this vein were one outstanding fact that quite accidentally caught the eye of scientists. One school in Illinois inexplicably had significantly higher average student achievement and health scores than other schools in the United States. Since this happened back in the seventies, scientists did not immediately understand why this phenomenon arose.

In fact, everything turned out to be quite simple. Students had physical training lessons every day, before the start of the main classes. Thus, the children had time to wake up and warm up early in the morning. In addition to high average performance, the school at the time of the research had an extremely low percentage of overweight students - only 3% of the total number of students, which was an extremely good indicator for the United States even at that time.

Later, scientists were able to scientifically substantiate the data obtained and prove that it was daily physical education lessons that gave such an interesting, unexpected and powerful result.

Why does sport have a positive effect on the brain?

Why does sport have an exclusively positive effect on the human brain? Physical training, like any other activity of the human body, provokes various electrochemical processes in it. It is thanks to them that physical activity strengthens not only muscle and cartilage tissue, but also improves the thinking and cognitive abilities of the human brain.

Strengthening neural connections

The first reason why human physical activity has a beneficial effect on the brain is the strengthening of neural connections in brain tissue. How does it work?

To do this, you will have to understand the operation of neural connections, thanks to which data is transmitted through the nervous system. Neurons are connected to each other not physically, but chemically - and the connection between them is carried out through special hormones that play the role of neurotransmitters - dopamine (dopamine), serotonin and norepinephrine.

And dopamine is one of the most powerful mediators of motivation. Our desire to do something, complete some tasks, and even just take on them is largely tied to dopamine. So, if you need motivation to do something to achieve your goal, play sports.

Physical activity of the body increases the rate of production of these hormones, due to which the mechanism of our brain significantly accelerates. At the same time, the brain works more productively.

In addition, physical activity allows you to more rationally use the reserve of proteins accumulated in the body, but not yet absorbed. Not only muscle mass increases, but also the “bodies” of nerve cells. A neuron is an elongated tree-like structure with a large number of processes, each of which can be used to create new neural connections. A special group of proteins called BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) is used by the brain to increase the branching of neurons - making the brain more productive in the long term.

Preparing for training

As a result of the production of the hormones serotonin (the hormone of joy), dopamine (the hormone of pleasure) and norepinephrine (the hormone of concentration), a person involved in sports is constantly in high spirits. It is not for nothing that many psychologists advise using physical activity as a means of combating anxious thoughts, depressive moods and other states of consciousness that adversely affect brain function.

Thus, sport allows you to put your head in order, freeing you from unnecessary negative thoughts. Physical activity helps you focus on a specific task—learning—and achieve considerable success in it.

Improved neurogenesis

It should also be noted that statements about the irreplaceability of nerve cells are misinformation. Like other tissues of the human body, nerve cells can reproduce themselves by simple division. However, there is one important subtlety: not all nerve cells that appear in our body are included in the work of the nervous system; and if such a “disabled” cell exists in this state for a long enough time (two to three weeks), then it dies irreversibly.

Physical activity allows you to more effectively integrate new nerve cells into the nervous system, thereby increasing the number of neural connections and improving the cognitive functions of the brain. This was revealed in a simple experiment on two control groups of laboratory rats: the group that had the opportunity to increase their physical activity with the help of various toys (like a running wheel) had a significantly more developed nervous system than a group of relatives deprived of such benefits.

Necessary afterword

Thus, we can confidently say that sport is not only a healthy, beautiful, strong and resilient body, but also a brain that works better than normal.
In the long term, sport makes the nervous system more complex, thereby increasing the number of neural connections and providing the brain with the necessary amount of neurotransmitter substances. A simple warm-up or jogging before you need to memorize notes will give you a higher level of concentration and add positive emotions necessary for better assimilation of information.

Of course, sport means simple physical activity during which your body does not suffer direct or indirect damage. Of course, if you decide to take up boxing for this purpose, the effect will be somewhat different - mainly due to frequent blows aimed at the head.

What do you think about the experiments conducted? I don’t think so, I went to do squats. I will be glad to see your comments and suggestions, as well as your motivations for playing sports.

The brain, like other muscles, needs training. According to scientists, types of physical activity such as running, aerobics and dancing have a positive effect on the functioning of the “gray cells”. The bottom line is that cardio training activates the process of creating new neurons in the hippocampus - the part of the brain responsible for memory, learning and emotions. So keep in mind: the more often you practice, the easier it is for you to learn and remember new information.

German scientists have found that walking and cycling help you memorize foreign words faster.

Attention

“People who exercise regularly are more productive and alert workers,” says Todd Estorino, assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of California. Physical activity helps the brain develop so-called executive functions: consistency, working memory, and the ability to prioritize. Moreover, to become an employer's dream, you don't have to be an Olympic champion - even 30-minute walks four times a week will do. And in order to consolidate and enhance the effect, scientists recommend doing ballet or gymnastics - such loads where special attention is paid to the position of the body in space.

Creativity and IQ

Exercise promotes the production of serotonin and increases the flow of oxygen to the brain, which in turn affects the ability to think clearly and creatively. Interestingly, a creative boost appears immediately after training and lasts for several more hours. In addition, physically active people are able to come up with more interesting ideas than their inactive counterparts (study “The Effect of Exercise on Divergent Thinking” by Lorenza Colzato and Justine Pannekok).

Physical activity and a healthy cardiovascular system increase intelligence - Swedish scientists came to this conclusion after studying more than a million young people aged 15 to 18 years.

Mood

Regular exercise increases the pain threshold and reorganizes the structure of the brain, helping it fight stress and fatigue. People who are actively involved in sports tend to consider themselves happier than those who prefer a sedentary lifestyle. In addition, training is a direct path to emotional stability, reducing anxiety and developing cognitive flexibility.

Contrary to popular belief, nerve cells are still restored. And regular physical activity contributes to their recovery.