180625 - Motivation Monday - Brain Benefits!
Many of us can relate to Dr. Suzuki (in the video below). She went on a rafting trip 25 pounds heavier than ever before and found herself to be the weakest one in the boat. She decided that she would NEVER be the weakest person on a rafting trip EVER again! Goalz....
Anyway, so this neuroscientist picked up exercise to work toward this new objective. She invested a lot of her time and effort and money into her workout routine which resulted in weight loss and strength gain! But she also found a positive change her attitude, motivation, and attention! So what does a neuroscientist do when they see a significant brain change...they study it of course!
In her recent TED talk, Wendy Suzuki goes into the three findings that were most significant about the correlation between physical exercise and mental changes.
#1 - A single workout can immediately change your brain chemistry to increase reaction times, mood, and focus for up to two hours after! The neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline are released which causes they beneficial side effects!
#2 - Long term exercise will improve attention function dependent on your prefrontal cortex. You not only get better focus and attention, but the volume of the hippocampus increases as well! This keeps the good stuff that comes immediately from the exercise lasting longer over time!
#3 - Exercise has protective effects on the brain! Since the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus are the parts of the brain most effected by degenerative diseases like Alzheimers and Dementia, when you make those big and strong, it makes it much more difficult for those to take effect. Not only that but it can slow down the natural aging decline of brain function!
SO KEEP EXERCISING because not only with your body thank you, but your BRAIN will too!
WOD - 4 sets of AMRAP 2:
8 DB Clean and Jerk 45/35
8 Single Arm DB Overhead Lunges (Right and Left)
Max lateral hops over DB with remaining time
REST 2:
(Score is total number of lateral hops)
