If you are smart, you'll exercise (or vice versa)

My daughter is one smart cookie (and I'm pretty sure I'm not just saying that from a perspective of parental bias).  But it is interesting to watch her express that intelligence.  When she is thinking on something, or recounting a story, she usually has to "move."  There is some type of physical expression which seems to be tied to her use of intellect.

I didn't really even clue into this until I watched a TED Talk with Sir Ken Robinson.  In it, he talks about how the school systems around the world are discouraging creative thinking.  At one point, he tells a tale of a young girl who is doing horribly in school and is labeled as being stupid.  But as soon as she is admitted into a dance school she finds her stride and goes on to become a rich and famous dancer, choreographer and producer.  Her intelligence was wrapped up in her movement.  Here is the talk if you want to watch it.  It's worth the time...

Then I ran across this study about sport and language capacity.  It seems that even just watching sport seems to have a positive effect on your ability to understand language.  This makes a lot of sense when you consider the work of Dr John Medina in his book, Brain Rules.

Medina tells us that our ancestors are estimated to have walked on average 12 miles per day.  And that is above and beyond all the other physical activity they were required to do for survival.  His conclusion, based on that and many other points of reference, is that our brains were made to function while moving through an open and fluid environment.  And he has a whole slew of modern science to back up his assertions that exercise improves cognitive ability.

Exercise improves cognition for two reasons: (from the Brain Rules site)

• Exercise increases oxygen flow into the brain, which reduces brain-bound free radicals. One of the most interesting findings of the past few decades is that an increase in oxygen is always accompanied by an uptick in mental sharpness.
• Exercise acts directly on the molecular machinery of the brain itself. It increases neurons’ creation, survival, and resistance to damage and stress.

This is probably true for almost any type of exercise, but I'm convinced that approaching physical movement with a mind for gradually increasing sophistication would provide even greater benefit to the brain.  Every time you learn a new skill, you inevitably stimulate the brain and nervous system to lay down and refine new connections.  By taking your exercise consistently towards more complex patterns and levels of skill, you constantly provide the brain with that nourishing stimulus.

An example of this type of progression would be in taking a standard pull-up and progressing it towards a kipping pull-up.  Then, a kipping pull-up could be progressed to a traveling commando pull-up (from the CST 4x7 DVDs).  And a traveling commando pull-up can progress to a butterfly pull-up.  So instead of just adding a belt with a bunch of weight to my standard pull-up, I move through a gradual upgrade in the quality of movement as my capacity for quantity of movement improves.  We aren't just getting stronger, we are developing ever more complex neuromuscular movement patterns.  And in so doing, hopefully we're getting just a little bit smarter (or at least putting off mental decline for a little while longer...).

Comments

[John Sifferman - Real World Strength Training]

I'm so glad that coaches like you are spreading this information with the wellness revolution - all good food for thought, Adam.

As an aside, I personally have my most productive times after I have finished exercising. Playing with movement provides me tremendous moments of clarity, and afterward is exactly when I am at my creative peak.

John Sifferman NSCA-CPT
www.JohnSifferman.com

[Sara at On Simplicity]

This makes me wonder if the folks who've turned their treadmills into desks aren't onto something! I wonder if walking while working carries any of the benefits you discuss.

And "even just watching sport seems to have a positive effect on your ability to understand language"? My husband's going to love that!

[Adam]

John,

I often have flashes of brilliance while exercising. The problem is, if I don't record them I often forget them! Maybe it just means the insights weren't really all that brilliant, and it was just my endorphin filled, blood engorged brain that was inflating the importance of my thoughts... ;-)

Sara - I think the treadmill desks may be overkill, simply because of the awkward and expensive nature of them. However, I think simple things like doing joint mobility exercises periodically as you work, taking short movement breaks throughout the day, taking the stairs, getting up to see a colleague instead of using email/phone, etc are all important small things people can do to improve cognition at work.

I'm surprised more companies don't invest in workplace wellness / fitness programs. The evidence is becoming quite overwhelming that intellectual output is improved through physical well being and its associated processes.

Cheers,
Adam

[John Sifferman - Real World Strength Training]

Adam - that's why you must always have a small notebook with you, my friend. My mini-notebook is called "Ideas." I bring it almost everywhere!

Sincerely,

John

[Jennifer Larson-New PFC]

Those of us that know a thing or two about the power of exercise aren't surprised by this i'm sure. That being said, the more research that comes out showing the many different aspects of life exercise is beneficial to, the better for everybody. I could list so many other positives, but you've covereds some really good ones here. Let's hope the message keeps spreading.

[Adam]

Thanks for dropping by Jennifer. The rabbit hole of exercise is indeed bottomless. The deeper we dig, the more treasures we find! :-)

Cheers,
Adam