Discover the 5 Exercises that Boost Brainpower and Unlock Mental Clarity

Your physical training program should help you feel mentally sharper and able to take on the cognitive demands of your responsibilities at work and home. The latest scientific research has shown not only that physical training improves brain function but also the different types of specific training that will elicit this response. If you are an “everyday athlete” training for health, but your training program is leaving you depleted with brain fog, it’s time to make some changes. This article will discuss the mechanics of how physical exercise improves brain function as well as the five different types of exercises that will help boost brainpower, allowing you to feel mentally sharp.

How Physical Training Improves Brain Function

Exercise improves our brain function through the underlying mechanism of arousal. During intense exercise, our central nervous system shifts to what is known as the “sympathetic” or “fight or flight” mode. This is the physiological state where we experience an increase in heart rate, an increase in blood pressure, and the release of different hormones and neurotransmitters that get us ready for action. This is known as autonomic arousal. Scientific studies have shown that our brain has an increased ability to retain information and create memory from a bout of learning when it is done before, during, or after autonomic arousal (Source: “Enhanced Memory Consolidation with Post-Learning Stress Interaction with the Degree of Arousal at Encoding”). One of the mechanisms that allow for this to happen is blood flow. During intense exercise, the increase in blood flow around the body also increases the blood flow into the brain. This brings different nutrients and oxygen into the brain and increases brain activity. If you want to leverage this increase in blood flow and brain activity, you can simply engage in your task after this “wave of blood flow.”

Another mechanism occurs from the release of adrenaline in the body and norepinephrine in the brain. Your adrenal glands release adrenaline, which is then communicated via your vagus nerve to your brain, signaling the release of norepinephrine. This increases overall stimulation of the brain and improves your ability to attend to your tasks.

Types of Exercises and Their Effects on Your Brain

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
This is a method of training where you alternate between high-intensity work followed by periods of rest. During high-intensity interval training, your heart rate reaches close to its maximum. This increase in heart rate and blood flow into the brain brings fuel for the brain. However, it should be noted that doing too much HIIT can negatively affect brain function. It’s important to be aware of your goals for training. For an everyday athlete, completely depleting your brain and body and leaving you unable to think clearly is not beneficial.

Compound Movements
Compound movements are multi-joint, multi-muscle group movements that typically engage the muscles near the midline. These include movements such as back squats, deadlifts, and kettlebell swings that require the use of your whole body. Brain areas communicate with your body’s adrenals, namely the areas for thinking, emotions, and movement. Compound movements have been shown to increase adrenaline and norepinephrine, which boost alertness in your prefrontal cortex (responsible for executive function) and hippocampus (responsible for memory consolidation). Including compound movements in your training benefits not only your body’s physical tasks but also your brain function. (Source: “Mind-Body Problem - Circuits that Link Cerebral Cortex to the Adrenal Medulla”)

Jumping Movements
Jumping movements such as box jumps and skipping, more specifically the landing (or eccentric) portion of these movements, also benefit the brain. During the eccentric phase of a jumping movement, your bones are placed under mechanical stress. This releases a hormone from your bone marrow called osteocalcin. Osteocalcin travels into the brain and crosses the blood-brain barrier. It has been shown to encourage the growth of new neurons and improve connections in the hippocampus, the area responsible for encoding new memories. Osteocalcin mediates Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which increases the health and stability of existing neural connections. BDNF is also known to stabilize and enhance neuron growth.

Time Under Tension & Tempo Training
Time under tension and tempo training involves deliberately slowing down movements to allow the brain to focus on controlling and coordinating specific muscle engagement. In practice, this is seen when you break down a single lift into four phases and assigning a specific tempo to each phase: the lowering phase (eccentric phase), the bottom of the movement (isometric phase), the lifting phase (concentric phase), and the top of the movement (another isometric phase). When we increase time under tension and engage in tempo work like this, the brain focuses on specific muscles, engaging the upper motor neurones with the lower motor neurones. This deliberate control improves neurological pathways and is good for the long-term health of your brain.

Exercise That You DON’T Want to Do
The last type of exercise that improves brain function is doing the exercises you don’t necessarily like or want to do. An area of your brain known as the anterior mid-cingulate cortex (AMCC) is responsible for effort and perseverance. When you engage in an exercise you don’t want to do, your AMCC grows in size. Over time, this allows you to become grittier, better at overcoming challenges, and more mentally resilient. Including exercises in your program that you don’t like and doing them anyway will increase the size of your AMCC. (Source: “The Tenacious Brain: How the Anterior Mid-Cingulate Contributes to Achieving Goals”)

Conclusion

Physical training not only improves your physical health but also plays a crucial role in enhancing your brain function. By incorporating a variety of exercises such as HIIT, compound movements, jumping movements, and tempo training—and even challenging yourself with exercises you may not enjoy—you can experience better memory, focus, and mental resilience. Understanding the science behind these benefits empowers you to tailor your workouts to optimize not just your body but also your mind. If your current training program is leaving you feeling mentally foggy, consider making these adjustments to unlock your full potential both mentally and physically.

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