Can Aerobics Make You Smarter?

[nemorathwald]

This article in Men's Health points to studies linking 30 minutes of aerobic excercise three times a week to mental performance. This is the first time in my life I've ever been seriously tempted to excercise. I doubt that thirty minutes of jogging would cause me very much discomfort; that's point one. If I got an .MP3 player and listened to podcasts (and especially a voice recorder with clip microphone), I could avoid the boredom that has always deterred me from excercising; that's point two. But as with any endeavor, it's not the cost but the benefit that entices, and in this case that's now point three. I have no shortage of ideas, only a shortage of time in which to implement them, but this article describes how that ratio is somehow paradoxically improved by spending a little time on cardio. The description of excercise as making me less distracted is tantalizing. I've never sat there thinking "if only I were more intelligent and creative," but hey, I don't think there's too much of a good thing where these are concerned. What more might I acheive? I certainly don't need to get smarter, but I might benefit from being more "focused" or perhaps even more "driven." Is excercise the key to fame and fortune? I'm sure I can get an OK pair of tennis shoes and a sweatsuit at the thrift store. Hmmm... maybe I'll do this.

Comments

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised, since exercise promotes good blood flow, and good blood flow has to be good for the brain.

finding something active you actually enjoy is usually the only way you'll stick with regular exercise. I enjoy walking and water aerobics and yoga, so I stick with them. I dont' enjoy weight-training as much, so while I know it's good for me, I have a harder time sticking to a regular schedule with that.

[matt-arnold.livejournal.com]

"finding something active you actually enjoy is usually the only way you'll stick with regular exercise."

If so, that's a problem. I've examined many candidates and haven't found one yet. I was kind of hinging the entire plan on multi-tasking something else that I enjoy.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

That helps, too. I like walking on the treadmill and reading a magazine, or walking with my husband and talking, or doing the walk somewhere pretty so I can nature-watch as well.

[amanda_lodden.livejournal.com]

You can make it "enjoyable" by tying it to something else that you actually find enjoyable, especially if you limit the times you do the actually-enjoyable thing to the times you exercise.

I started mall walking in the winter when taking the dog to the park just stopped being feasible. I took along my MP3 player, loaded with good songs I hadn't heard in a while, and it was actually kinda fun. Then I burned some CDs for the car that had a lot of those songs on it, and I walk a lot less. It's not that walking has become more boring (cuz let's face it, it was pretty boring to start with), it's that the one thing I looked forward to about walking is no longer special to walking.