NYU brain science study You'd never guess how powerful sports can make a child's brain

A U.S. study called "Zero Hour Sports Program" shows that exercise helps improve academic performance.

In a Chicago high school, students are required to arrive at 7 a.m. to run, do exercises, and reach a maximum heart rate or 70% of their maximum oxygen uptake, followed by a culture class.

At first, parents objected to the idea that their children would be reluctant to get up early to go to school, and if they went to the playground for a few laps, they would doze off as soon as they entered the classroom.

It turns out that the opposite is true, the students are more awake, the atmosphere of the class is better, and memory and concentration are enhanced. Over the semester, the reading and comprehension skills of the group of students who ran in the morning were 10% higher than those of the students who attended regular physical education classes.

Why do children's abilities improve when they "waste" time on science-based sports or running?

Because when we exercise, we produce dopamine, serotonin, and noradrenaline, all important neurotransmitters that enhance a child's all-around performance.

Not only that, but exercise also improves your child's cardiorespiratory and vascular functions, improves metabolism, increases body agility and balance, regulates body fat, and makes your child more energetic.

It is important to know that only if the child's body is good, he can learn to play well, make good friends, gain the benefit of a lifetime of various abilities, and have a good future.

Exercise changes the brain

Wendy A. Suzuki, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Psychology at the New York University Neuroscience Center, an author, and a fitness trainer Dr. Suzuki's primary research interest is brain plasticity, and more recently, her work has focused on understanding how aerobic exercise can be used to improve learning, memory, and higher cognitive performance in humans.

Exercise changes the brain, and simply moving your body can have immediate, lasting, and protective benefits on your brain that last a lifetime.

Exercise leads to better focus

After a few years of really getting into this issue, I've come to the following conclusion: Of all the things you can do today, exercise changes your brain the most, for three reasons.

First, exercise has an immediate effect on your brain.

Every time you exercise, you immediately increase the number of neurotransmitters that will boost your mood immediately after you exercise, and that's exactly how I feel. My lab shows that a single exercise session improves your ability to shift and focus and that improvement in focus lasts for at least two hours.

Finally, studies show that a single exercise session improves your reaction time, which means that if a Starbucks coffee slides off the counter, you can catch it more quickly, which is very, very important.

But these immediate effects are short-lived and help you when the exercise is just over. You have to change your exercise routine and increase your cardio to get lasting effects.

These effects are lasting because exercise does change the structure, physiology, and function of the brain. Let's start with my favorite area of the brain, the hippocampal gyrus.

Hippocampus - Exercise does create new brain cells, and new brain cells in the hippocampus increase volume and also improve your long-term memory. This is true for you and me.

Secondly, one of the most common findings in neuroscience research, in terms of the effects of long-term exercise, is improved attentional function, which depends on your prefrontal cortex.

Not only will you have better focus and attention, but the volume of the hippocampus will also increase. Finally, what you get from exercise is not just an immediate effect on your mood, but also a long-term effect. So, your good mood neurotransmitters will continue to increase.

But really, the biggest shift that exercise can bring is a protective effect on the brain.

Think of the brain as a muscle. The more you exercise, the bigger and stronger your hippocampal gyrus and prefrontal cortex will be. Increasing exercise over your life doesn't cure dementia or Alzheimer's disease, but it creates the strongest, largest hippocampal gyrus and prefrontal cortex, so it takes longer for these diseases to have an actual effect on you.

How can exercise lead to change?

So, what's the minimum amount of exercise you need to do to get these changes?

First, the good news: you don't have to become a triathlete to get these effects.

The rule of thumb is to exercise three to four times a week, for at least thirty minutes each time, and you need to do some aerobic exercise. That is, to get your heart rate up.

You don't need to go to the gym to pay the expensive gym dues. While you're walking, walk an extra block. If you see stairs to take, take the stairs. If you go to the gym, power-vacuuming is a great cardio class option.

So, I went from being a pioneer of memory to a movement explorer.

From getting into the deepest functioning activities of the brain to trying to understand how exercise can improve brain function, the goal of my lab is now to go beyond the rule of thumb I just told you about - thirty minutes three to four times a week.

Targeting you, based on your age, your level of health, and your genetic background, to maximize the effects of exercise today, while doing the best job of improving and protecting your brain for a lifetime.

But it's one thing to "talk" about exercise and another to "do" it.

Bringing exercise into your life will not only make you happier and more protected today, but it will also protect your brain from incurable diseases. That way you can change the trajectory of your life in a better direction.