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back when I was still in school there
was this stereotype going around kids
who were nerdy and never did any kind of
sports were considered the most
intelligent and bright the jocks who
were sporty and fit were often branded
as simple-minded and empty-headed so by
following this stereotype you had two
groups smart and weak dumb and fit
however in the recent years there's a
new stereotype that's gained popularity
a smart jock and individual who is both
intellectually gifted and physically fit
did they win the genetic lottery or is
it possible that exercise could make you
smarter first we need to take a look
back in the past before we can draw any
conclusions not that long ago there was
this prevailing theory that we had a
fixed amount of brain cells you were
either born smart with a big brain or
you weren't and once we became adults
our brains were supposed to stop
creating new neurons and we could only
lose neurons as we got older
saying the brain could grow and form new
brain cells got you ridiculed and made
fun of by the scientific community
however in the mid-90s some scientists
were looking for a way to prevent
Alzheimer's disease for those that don't
know Alzheimer's is the most common
cause of dementia a general term for
memory loss and other cognitive
abilities it's identified by a loss of
neurons in certain brain regions to put
it simply the disease shrinks your brain
over the 4-year period the scientists
found three factors or three lifestyle
changes that actually helped prevent the
cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease
the first factor was continuous learning
and education things like reading books
and learning more about the world around
us fall in this category the second was
self-efficacy and mindset basically an
individual's belief in their innate
ability to do things well and achieve
their goals but third and last was
physical exercise the first two factors
weren't so surprising but the third one
was how could exercise be the most
potent lifestyle change you could make
to keep your brain going as far as we
knew exercise didn't act on the brain
one of the scientists of the group Carl
cutman went back to his lab and decided
to study what's going on so he got a
bunch of mice and had them run on a
running wheel from 7 to 14 days but it
wasn't all fun and games for the mice as
their brains were eventually dissected
he looked at their brains and the cortex
which is the top part of the brain was
thicker and there was one particular
area called the hippocampus which was
bigger when compared to the mice that
didn't run on the wheel
the brains cortex is where our long-term
memories are stored and the hippocampus
is like a center for learning and
short-term memory so Carl found the
answer he was looking for exercise was
making our brains grow new cells and
neurons this is why it was preventing
brains deterioration and cognitive
decline
Carl's findings paved the way for a
whole new research field in science by
showing the world that the brain is
astonishingly flexible able to be
retrained and reprogrammed like a muscle
it responds to use adapting to new
demands and conditions it also wears
without use so it's either use it or
lose it however that doesn't quite
explain why exercise is making our
brains grow new neurons most people
would consider using your brain as doing
something creative or logical like
writing a book or solving a puzzle but
that's not really what the brains main
function is the only reason why humans
have such big brains is for one purpose
and that purpose only and the reason is
to perform adaptable complex movements
simply put we have a brain made to move
as pointed out by a neurophysiologist
rudolph Linus only a mobile creature
needs a brain to illustrate this he used
an example of a tiny jellyfish like
animal called a sea squirt born with a
simple spinal cord in a 300 neuro brain
the sea squirt moves around in the ocean
until it finds a coral rock where it
will spend the rest of its life
however once safely attached the sea
squirt simply digests its own brain for
extra energy for most of its life it
looks much more like a plant than an
animal and since it's not moving anymore
it has no more use for a brain when we
bring the word exercise to mind we might
think of someone trying to get in shape
or becoming buff however today we know
that exercise has a much bigger effect
on our brain than on our body physical
activity activates most of our brain
regions simultaneously because like we
just said we need a brain to move
conditioning the heart and building
muscle are essentially side effects but
the most profound effect exercise has on
our brain is that it improves our
learning ability we mentioned earlier
that the mice that ran on the running
wheel had a bigger hippocampus which is
the brain Centre for memory and learning
the reason it was bigger is because when
we exercise we raise our levels of B D
and F BDNF or brain-derived neurotropic
factor is a powerful protein that
stimulates the production of new brain
cells and strengthens existing ones it's
found in the hippocampus
cortex and basal forebrain all these
brain areas are vital to learning memory
and higher thinking
BDNF can be compared to a plant
fertilizer plants in it water Sun and
soil to grow
however most soil doesn't provide the
essential nutrients required for optimal
plant growth this is why plant
fertilizer is added just like a plant
fertilizer supports plant growth Berrian
F acts as a brain fertilizer BDNF
nourishes brain cells and makes them
grow new synapses a study in 2013 showed
that just twenty to forty minutes of
exercise increased BDNF in the blood by
32 percent this ties closely to the
German study where they found that
people learned vocabulary words 20%
faster after physical activities and the
rate of learning is directly correlated
with the levels of BDNF to put it simply
the higher our levels of BDNF are the
easier it is to learn new things and if
you've been paying any attention right
now you know what gives a significant
boost of BDNF which brings out a more
interesting question is there a
correlation between fitness and
academics only a few researchers have
tackled this question however a study
from Virginia Tech showed that cutting
gym class and devoting more time to math
science and reading did not improve test
scores as many assumed it would cutting
away exercise and spending more time
behind the books could actually decrease
your test results over the past few
years the California Department of
Education has consistently shown that
students with higher fitness course also
have higher test scores in 2001 study
kids who are fit scored twice as well on
academic tests as those who are unfit
body mass index and aerobic fitness were
the most significant contributors this
means that if you want to get better
grades you might want to start by lacing
up your running shoes before hitting the
books there's a school in Naperville
Illinois that took full advantage of
this over the 20-year period they
evolved their PE program to one of the
best in the world the program was
started in response to research which
linked exercise to increased brain
function as a result they have turned
nineteen thousand students in naperville
district to oak tree into one of the
fittest in the nation only three percent
of them were overweight without a single
obese child this was at a time when 33
percent of America's kids were
overweight with this number increasing
to 37 over the past years and still no
sign of stopping what's more interesting
is that Naperville program has also
turned those students into some of the
smartest in the nation in 1999
Naperville students took an
international test called ti m/s/s which
evaluates knowledge of math and science
of different countries almost every year
in the Asian countries scored the
highest while the United States is
usually in the mid teens but Naperville
is an exception the students took the
test as a country to see how they would
perform and they finished 6th in math
and 1st in science 6th and 1st in the
world as a school Wow not only that but
97% of the eighth graders took the test
so it's not only the top students who
were picked for it
how did they do it as I mentioned they
were the first school in the nation the
key word here is fit fit doesn't mean
you're skinny the benefits of exercise
don't kick in with your shape size but
it has a lot to do with what you're
doing it's much better to be overweight
but active daily then
skinny and inactive like I said building
a muscle or losing weight are
essentially side effects that will come
over time when students from Naperville
go for a mile run they are more prepared
to learn in their other classes
thanks to exercise their focus and mood
are improved and they feel more
motivated and less tense in school
that's why their early morning PE
program is called learning readiness
class physical activity Prime's the
brain for learning and if we look at it
from an evolutionary standpoint it makes
perfect sense why often we forget that
humans evolved as hunter-gatherers it's
only in the last few centuries that our
lives have become more sedentary
however evolution doesn't work that fast
and today we still have the same brains
as our ancestors as little as 10,000
years ago we were still hunting and
gathering and we moved anywhere from 10
to 14 miles every single day we were
foraging for food constantly moving from
place to place looking for a new shelter
if you weren't fit enough to run climb
or swim you were removed from the gene
pool as far as our brains are concerned
physical activity counts as a novel
experience whenever we were moving it
meant something important was happening
we had to escape from a predator or
remember the path we took so we didn't
get lost however when we were resting it
meant nothing important was going on we
still have this ancient mechanism so as
far as our brains are concerned if we
are not moving there is no reason to
learn or remember anything
so what kind of physical activity should
you do to reap the most benefits the
answer is high intensity aerobic
exercise going to the gym and lifting
weights every 10 minutes like many power
lifters do doesn't seem to have such a
powerful impact as high intensity
exercise does power lifting still
benefits the brain don't get me wrong
however if you want to get the most out
of it you need to get your heart rate to
at least 80 percent of its maximum beats
per minute some of the best activities
are running or cycling but it's even
better if the activity involves some
complex motor movements and it's not
just putting one foot after the other
good examples are tennis and dancing
optimal daily dose of exercise seems to
be 20 to 40 minutes in the morning for
some people the benefits last for the
whole day but for the majority they seem
to last for about two to four hours this
is why it might be a better idea to
break it down into smaller segments so
let's say you do 20 minutes of your core
exercise in the morning and then
exercise two times for five minutes
throughout the day
this way you can extend the benefits if
you haven't been active for a while it's
better to slowly build up to those times
thirty minutes is just a recommendation
and not a requirement even just walking
for thirty minutes could have a powerful
effect it's up to you to find your
optimal dose depending on your schedule
and personal needs
so to answer the question can exercise
make you smarter going for a run sadly
won't turn you into a genius but it will
primer state of mind and at the cellular
level improve the brain's potential to
log and process information you will be
able to learn things faster and more
efficiently however it's up to you to
put yourself in a situation where you're
actually learning something if you go
exercise and then right after go sit on
a couch while watching TV series you're
not learning anything of value but if
you put your mind to it and try learning
something new whether it's a new skill
or just studying for the test you will
find that it's much easier to do so by
knowing more about the world around you
and how things work you could say that
yes you've become smarter we all have
the ability to boost our brainpower and
all we need to do is lace up our running
shoes thanks for watching I hope this
video made you better than yesterday
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you