This video, titled "Exercise brain," discusses how exercise improves brain health in many ways. It explains that physical activity releases special molecules like BDNF and VEGF that help our brains grow new cells and get more oxygen. The speaker also shares ten specific benefits of exercise, such as better mood, less stress, improved memory, and even living longer. The video finishes by giving practical tips on how to start and stick with an exercise routine to get these brain benefits.
Key Takeaways
1
Exercise has significant benefits for the brain, even more impressive than its physical advantages like weight loss or muscle gain.
2
Aerobic exercises like walking, running, biking, and swimming cause brain changes by increasing molecules like Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which promotes neuron growth and improves memory and learning.
3
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) is another important molecule stimulated by exercise, which helps grow new blood vessels to supply the brain with oxygen and nutrients, keeping it sharp.
4
Exercise stimulates insulin-like growth factor one (IGF-1), which supports neuroplasticity, allowing the brain to adapt, reorganize, and create new connections, especially as we age.
5
Physical activity releases endorphins, the "feel-good hormones," which improve mood, reduce pain perception, and lower stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol.
6
Regular exercise keeps you mentally sharp by promoting neuroplasticity and enhancing blood supply, protecting against age-related cognitive decline and boosting the size of the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory.
7
Exercise improves executive functions, helping us plan, focus, remember instructions, and multitask, which benefits both children's academic performance and adults' independence.
8
Consistent exercise helps regulate sleep patterns, improves sleep quality, and allows the brain to rest, repair, and remove toxins like beta-amyloid plaque during deep sleep.
9
Simple exercise, like a leisurely stroll, can reduce fatigue, provide an energy boost, and over time, increase the number of mitochondria in cells for more sustained energy.
10
To incorporate more exercise into your life, find an activity you enjoy, start small, mix up your routine, stay consistent, and set specific, achievable goals, including making a plan for the day, time, and place to work out.
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0:01
good morning and welcome to another
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edition of today's nutrition where we
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look at what is new in research what's
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hot in the news or any topic that can
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help us lose weight feel great or live
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longer better this month back to school
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month and we are focusing on better
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brains remember thinking better studying
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better remembering better last week my
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show is about how the diet affects the
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brain especially in preventing things
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like dementia and stroke this week I'm
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excited to dive into a fascinating topic
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that has really profound implications
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for our health and well-being and that's
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the effect of exercise on the brain you
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while we hear tons of information about
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the physical benefits of exercise you
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know weight loss muscle gain
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cardiovascular benefits for the brain I
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think are even more impressive because
1:00
you know our bodies are biologically
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designed for physical activity and you
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can look at it and see the difference
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Body Benefits by measurable changes you
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know bigger muscles but also reducing
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the risk of things like you know little
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diseases like breast cancer colon cancer
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obesity type 2 diabetes cardiovascular
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disease you know pretty impressive but
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who wouldn't want that but today we're
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going to focus specifically on how
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exercise impacts our
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brain CU cardiovascular you know we
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think about aerobic walking running
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biking swimming it's going to cause
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significant changes in the brain mostly
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due to the increase of these certain
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molecules that promote brain health and
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really robust function that one little
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molecule it's like my favorite little
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protein it's called the brain derived
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neurotropic Factor B BNF bdnf is truly
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Miracle Grow fertilizer for the healthy
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brain causing growth and survival of
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neurons you know those are the building
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blocks for the brain's communication
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Network so to speak hope helping you to
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remember better and think faster it is
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so cool increased levels of bdnf are
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linked to improved memory improved
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learning improved overall
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brain function and I like to say that I
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notice all neurologist exercise
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especially if they specialize in
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seniors okay so another really important
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molecule is vascular endothelial growth
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factor VF which promotes the growth of
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new blood vessels to so it can kind of
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maintain a well oxygenated healthy brain
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you know you've got to have good blood
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flow and more oxygen and nutrients go
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into the brain tissues otherwise you
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know it just isn't going to stay sharp
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so that's why exercise just really gets
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oxygen to those cells a healthy
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well-nourished brain is going to keep
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you sharp that's probably why my friends
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in airoli Italy have a cardiovascular
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system of a
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20-year-old but also another thing it
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does exercise stimulates the release of
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insulin like growth factor one which
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what it does neuroplasticity you know
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your brain plastic growing malleable
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it's really important as we get older
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because it helps the brain adapt and
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reorganize by creating new little
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connections so you can continue to learn
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and remember you don't want to get all
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stiff in the brain so now let's break
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down those biochemical changes cuz
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really it's kind of where the rubber
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meets the road what really is going to
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make a difference in my life so number
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one improve mood and reduce stress
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physical activity releases endorphins we
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often call them the Feelgood hormones
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you know we are wired to try to be happy
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the subconscious is always looking for
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that but not always in the best way way
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that helps us in the long run so we kind
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of have to outsmart our subconscious and
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tell it what we really want good health
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longevity the good stuff and exercise is
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one of the most obvious steps to take so
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it's not a coincidence that you feel
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better after a workout it's science Penn
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State University found that people who
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exercised whether it was mild moderate
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vigorous didn't matter they had more
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pleasant feelings than those people who
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didn't we are just happy just because so
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another experiment used a smartphone app
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and had participants just kind of track
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what they were doing their activity
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their location and their happiness level
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throughout the day after 3 million
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responses in a year the users were happy
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post workout yeah okay second thing it
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does reduces pain those endorphins also
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work with receptors in the brain to
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reduce the perception of pain and
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trigger a more positive feeling in the
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body third thing reduces stress you know
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the stress hormones like adrenaline and
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cortisol are reduced combination of
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those happy hormones and reduced stress
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hormones is going to give you a really
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good mood
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overall okay fourth thing keeps you
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mentally sharp as we age our brains
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undergo changes that can lead to
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cognitive decline however regular
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exercise changes this promoting
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neuroplasticity and it enhances the
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blood supply so that's going to protect
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against all those age related diseases
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like Alzheimer's and other forms of
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dementia so if you're constantly
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misplacing those keys or struggling to
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recall names start exercising regularly
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to jog your memory study in 2014 found
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aerobic exercise walking biking running
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swimming boost the size of the
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hippocampus that part of the brain
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responsible for memory so in women
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recognize risk factor for dementia so
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genes May load the gun but exercise
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keeps it from firing number five better
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executive functioning executive fun s
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are those processes that help us plan
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Focus attention remember instructions
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and multitask
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successfully exercise has been found to
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enhance all of those improving our
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ability to manage daily tests so this is
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good for kids to help them boost
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academic performance and adults to
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maintain Independence so it's good for
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everybody and and they perform better at
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work one study found that employees who
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worked out before work or during their
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lunch lunch hour reported feeling less
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stress being happier and more productive
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than days when they skip their workout
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sixth thing increases creativity and
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productivity regular exercise boosts all
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those things increases the blood flow
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and oxygen maybe you're going to think
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more creatively and work more
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efficiently Maybe that's why I find I
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have my best ideas when exercising maybe
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number seven Sleep Quality it's kind of
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a yin-yang thing regular exercise helps
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regulate sleep patterns and improve
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sleep quality and you know good sleep is
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crucial for brain health it allows the
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brain to rest repair and consolidate
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memories in the different stages in your
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deep sleep your brain actually washes
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toxins out like beta ameloid plaque
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number eight brain volume preservation
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so they found that regular exercise is
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going to make your brain bigger
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especially in areas associated with
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memory and executive function number
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nine gives you an energy boost when you
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feel exhausted and you don't want to but
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if you were to have a a leisurely stroll
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it will drop fatigue and give you a 20%
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energy boost and if you do that over
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time it actually increases the number of
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mitochondria the PowerHouse of the cell
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so you actually have more energy number
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10 live longer now I know this
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technically isn't brain health but humor
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me being there oh with our loved ones
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and you know all those special times
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that's what life is really about so
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keeping your body happy and healthy
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keeping your brain happy and healthy
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keeping engaged oh that's the best so
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you know there's a study that was
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published in 2012 looked at 650,000
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people found that 150 minutes a week of
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moderate exercise so that's about a half
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an hour 5 days a week increased your
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life by 3.4 years or you could do just
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20 minutes a day same thing good years
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too and increasing for just 10 minutes a
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day could increase by another 1.8 years
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even if the people were overweight so
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just adding more incre exercise and if
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you get up to 300 minutes a week or
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about an hour 5 days a week you get an
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extra 4.2 years of life so to sum it up
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benefits of exercise on the brain you
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know it just goes Way Beyond the
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physical things probably at least as
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important actual changes improve
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cognitive function mood brain health
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you've got the
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neuroplasticity you've got the good
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blood flow you're stimulating the
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release of bdnf VF igf1 and all of that
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keeps your brain young sharp resilient
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ageless so how can you incorporate more
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exercise into your life so you can have
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these here's a few tips
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number one find something you like you
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know just you know whatever it is just
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do something if you like walking if you
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like swimming you like a sport pickle
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ball find something that makes you happy
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and you want to keep doing number two
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start small if you're new to exercise I
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mean five minutes doesn't matter just
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something that you want to then start
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increasing as you get stronger number
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three mix it up you don't want to just
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do the same thing all the time you need
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aerobic like running and cycling and you
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know walking along with lift and weights
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and a little bit of flexibility so a
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little yoga a little stretching number
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four stay consistent that is where the
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benefits coming in you know try to just
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make it a regular part of your daily
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routine even if it's just a short walk
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after supper number five and this is a
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big one set goals setting specific
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achievable able goals are going to keep
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you motivated and on track you know
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whatever it is certain number of days
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having goals is going to get you working
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forward so this is this is kind of cool
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there was a study in 2002 three groups
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of people group one control group you
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know they were just told to track how
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often they exercise through the week you
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know give yourself a little star second
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group they added to that and they give
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them a little motivation maybe a little
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speech or something like that okay group
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three they added to the first two so
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tracked and motivated and then they ask
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the people to create a plan specific day
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time and place to exercise guess who was
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the most successful of course group
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three had much higher like 91% better
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while the control group had the least
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38% motivation group they were only 35%
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so you got to have a plan track it get a
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motivational nudge create a plan set a
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time and a place you're going to work
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out you it's just you are going to
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succeed so here I am to tell you today
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is the day to start working out whatever
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it is five minutes because that Journey
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will give you a better brain better
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overall health and by incorporating it
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into a regular you're enhancing your
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physical as well as boosting your brain
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health to stay sharp resilient and
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Tackle any stressor that may come your
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way so thanks for listening to another
13:38
edition of today's nutrition I hope it
13:40
helped you or someone you love you can
13:42
listen to this again or other shows on
13:44
my website Deb for.com or any place you
13:48
listen to podcasts if you'd like to work
13:51
with me my greatest pleasure is working
13:54
with people to reverse their health
13:55
problems one of my quotes from my last
13:58
group include my brain is like 20 years
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younger mental Clarity like years ago
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pretty good huh so have a great day and
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I'll see you soon
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Exercise brain
Deb Ford DCN RDN
131 views
Aug 6, 2024
14:11