
Which Type of Exercise Is Best for the Brain? - acdanger
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/which-type-of-exercise-is-best-for-the-brain/?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below
======
brahmwg
There is a theory that distance running is intimately related to humans
evolution and their brain development. The human foot is beautifully
engineered to be used for long distance running, to help absorb the impact and
transfer the force into our Achilles and larger glute muscles. The fact that
we have feet designed to run for a long time, have the nifty ability to sweat
(unlike our prey at the time who needs to stop and pant to cool off), and are
social creatures leads some to believe that we were persistent hunters, akin
to a pack of wild dogs; ideally chasing down our prey as a group during the
hottest part of the day when the animal would have most difficulty cooling
off. Some believe the introduction of animal protein into our diet also helped
trigger brain growth. So some combination of sociability, persistent running,
and animal protein helped accelerate human brain growth back in the day.

Recommend reading Born to Run or watching the Ted talk by the author for those
interested.[1]

[1][https://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_mcdougall_are_we_born_...](https://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_mcdougall_are_we_born_to_run?language=en)

~~~
ahelwer
> beautifully engineered

> designed

Evolution does not work this way. It does not engineer or design. If you are
an atheist you cannot coherently say there is a design for anything in the
human body. I think the language used here is important, especially when used
as the basis for an argument of what activities or exercises we ought to do.

~~~
losingthefight
Unless he isn't an atheist? Plenty of theists can hold to evolutionary views
or intelligent design.

Further, the language choice could be colloquial in which case he wasn't
trying to make a theological statement; rather, op used common phrases to
convey the relevant thought. not sure we need to push a worldview here...

~~~
ahelwer
I didn't assume they were an atheist. The language choice was used to confer
normative value to long-distance running. This isn't pushing a worldview, it's
pointing out that the basis for this argument for long-distance running is
something which is not coherent with many readers' beliefs.

~~~
alanwatts
Would "adapted" be a better word in your opinion?

~~~
awl130
evolved

------
robotnik
Stress can inhibit neurogenesis (among other things) in the hippocampus, as
the article states. Is it possible that HIIT was not as beneficial for the
rodents, because they were, unlike the moderate exercisers, forced to
exercise? Being forced to exercise intensely might have been the real source
of stress.

~~~
jjallen
Having a weight strapped to your tail could definitely be stressful too.

------
z3t4
I think that "having fun" stimulates brain growth. And rats really like
running on that wheel.

~~~
gertef
How would you test this hypothesis? With a non-physical mental stimuation?
Multi-colored paper confetti in the cage, or laser-light shows, to give the
rats something to play with?

~~~
z3t4
Maybe if you somehow could measure brain activity and hormones.

------
SonicSoul
_And the weight-training rats, although they were much stronger at the end of
the experiment than they had been at the start, showed no discernible
augmentation of neurogenesis._

This phenomenon was deeply studied and illustrated in the 'Jersey Shore'
series documentary

~~~
lsdafjklsd
Reminds me of an episode of Bones:

a: These are what are known as "Guidos.

b: (chuckles) Yeah, Sweetie, I don't think they actually like to be called
that.

a: But they do.

a: That's what they call themselves, although interestingly, not all Guidos
are of Italian descent.

b: Really?

a: While the styles and mannerisms are based on Italian-American tropes, the
Guidos can be of any ethnic background.

a: They gather at the Jersey Shore.

a: The male bonding is near homoerotic.

a: The friends or "bros" are more important to them than family.

b: Right.

b: And how do you know all of this?

a: I stumbled across a compelling documentary about them.

a: The anthropologist in me was fascinated.

------
vinceguidry
The conclusions presented by the article gel with my experience. There is
nothing like cardio for helping me think better. Anything more intense forces
my mind to concentrate on the exercise. Less intense and I don't really get
any benefit from the exercise, might as well be sitting or laying down.

When I did HIIT-style cardio, the train of thought would be broken during the
intense periods. I found that doing longer periods of less-intense activity
was perfect for braining.

~~~
varelse
And alas we live in an age where we are scored by a cargo-cult process that
mostly rewards sitting at a desk for 8-12 hours a day over producing actual
results yet it is somehow called "agile."

Evidence: my last job watching the t-crossers and the i-dotters get promoted
over the engineers doing the heavy lifting hence why I left.

~~~
RDeckard
What's "a t-crosser and an i-dotter"?

~~~
varelse
It's kind of like a Nexus 6 that instead of going on the run in search of a
cure for its 2-year lifesppan, its happily sits at its desk filling out TPS
reports and their ilk right up to its last day whereupon it conveniently
punches out the clock just before it punches out it own clock.

------
cylinder
The best type of exercise is the one you enjoy enough to make routine.

------
sunsu
Anecdotal (and risking downvotes), but my opinion: Brazilian Jiujitsu. It's
like Chess for the mind while simultaneously getting an incredible workout.

~~~
hesdeadjim
I've known too many people who have had serious injuries from this sport. One
colleague is now on permanent disability after a concussion he received while
wearing headgear and practicing on a mat. Another friend has chronic shoulder
issues that he can't seem to heal from after a couple bad rolls with a few
overly aggressive sparring partners.

I think for long-term health and overall fitness BJJ is a tough sell for most
people.

~~~
d0100
> One colleague is now on permanent disability after a concussion he received
> while wearing headgear

Wrong BJJ... BJJ is just another form of wrestling, and even then, no head
gear is used.

------
tanker
My takeaway is that different types of exercises might have different effects
on the brain. Stronger claims must wait.

And I think that is all the study was meant to determine. Based on the
findings, I would support more research on the brain's response to exercise.

------
lqdc13
Wow... Please do not rely on an animal model to make lifestyle choices.

What this article needed to answer the question was IQ tests conducted
possibly right after exercise and later in the day for people exercising in
specific ways and not exercising at all.

~~~
jey
This is a misunderstanding of the claims in the article. They are claiming
that exercise leads to improved brain function over the course of weeks and
months, not that being tired right after doing exercise will improve brain
function.

~~~
lqdc13
You cannot apply these things to humans from an animal model. Also, if it
works over months you'll see it increasing over months according to the
procedure I descibed (and that has been previously done on humans in other
studies). If there are short term effects, those would also show up.

------
kmicklas
I'm skeptical that the "weight training" routine was at all adequate. Climbing
a wall with weights attached to you is nothing like a set of heavy squats.

~~~
eggy
I agree. I used to just use free weights for upper body, and only calf raises,
and machines for leg presses and quads, but when I started squatting with just
a barbell (non-guided), my lower back pain went away, and standing up off the
mattress I had on the floor became a breeze. I jump rope and run as well
(barefoot or with FiveFingers by Vibram). I find jumping rope to be a great
way to get in 20 min. intense cardio to music. My last job was diving and
fixing underwater hydraulics and electrical systems, and always walking with
about maybe 3 hours sitting at a desk per day. Jumping rope, or the run, made
me feel sharp many hours after. Sometimes weights would make me focus, and be
very clear, but I tired and became groggy afterwards. I suspect your body
takes a hit, and wants you to sleep to repair all the muscle you tore down.

------
agentgt
Previous relevant HN post: "Strong Legs Associated with Healthy Brains in Twin
Study" \-
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10594516](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10594516)

IMO I think squats are superior to running for overall health.

------
Kluny
Somehow I have trouble equating a rat climbing a wall with a tiny weight
attached to its tail, with a human doing heavy weight lifting.

~~~
jsprogrammer
Why do these need to be equated?

~~~
Kluny
They said that they were testing for the result of "resistance training" in
rats. For rats that means climbing a wall with weights tied to their tails.

However, if a human was going to do resistance training, they would probably
do it by lifting weights. There are other ways, I suppose, but that's the main
one.

Weightlifting, once you get to higher weights, is a pretty cerebral activity
that requires perfect form and close attention to training schedule,
repetitions, amount of weight, and diet. It's a very different activity from
pulling a weight along because it happens to be attached to your ass and you
can't escape it.

------
elcapitan
> Obviously, rats are not people.

We'll have a separate study for that.

------
jpeg_hero
Not sure if the rat weight training routine was effective enough to test the
hypothesis.

------
kazinator
You wouldn't do interval training without a mileage base. There is no
either/or there.

I follow the rule of thumb that no more than 3% of the weekly mileage consists
of hard repeats. So for instance a weekly mileage of 30 "buys" about a mile of
repeats, which could be, say, 4x400 at the track. Some intermediate percentage
of the mileage is tempo running, say 15 to 20%. The rest, easy miles.

This is just the traditional "training pyramid".

~~~
joelthelion
Some people do. Check the "seven minute workout" for an example.

------
jjallen
So it turns out different kinds of exercise are more or less beneficial for
different parts of our bodies, probably ("probably" because the study was in
rats only). I reminded myself while reading that article to remember that what
may be best for the brain is not necessarily the best for our cardiovascular
systems and others.

------
jvanderbot
Great. So if you run a lot (long distance cardio), you get a marked increase
in new brain cells. What brain cells? The part of the nervous system that
regulates (wait for it) breathing and metabolism.

No kidding.

This is like the study [citation missing] that showed a huge increase in brain
cell generation for seniors playing wii fit ... in the area of the brain that
regulated fine motor skills.

The "Brain" is not a general-purpose computing resource. Until someone can
show that these skill-specific increases can translate to IQ or (better)
improved long-term creativity and happiness, take them with a grain of salt.

~~~
blennon
I believe you are mistaken.

Adult neurogenesis has only been shown to occur in three brain regions as far
as I know: in the hippocampus (declarative memory and learning)[1], the
olfactory bulb (smell)[1] and the striatum (procedural memory and learning)
[2].

Adult hippocampal neurogenesis (AHN) has been linked to exercise. The
conceptual leap which requires empirical validation is that exercise induced
neurogenesis in the hippocampus indeed has a positive effect on memory. Maybe
those experiments exist.

[1]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3106107/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3106107/)
[2]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24561062](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24561062)

------
melted
The best exercise for the brain is the kind you won't give up doing after a
month or two.

------
andy_ppp
There is not enough information in the article to make accurate conclusions
about changing your exercise regimen.

The fact is that the body adapts to it's environment and that this study is
ABOUT RATS you should remain skeptical to its conclusions!

------
xiaoma
This fits very well with my anecdotal observations throughout my own live in
years where I've done more or less exercise of different types.

------
sktrdie
I wonder if there has been any study regarding the head impact involved with
running for long periods of time. I've heard for instance the water-skiing can
cause minor brain damage because of the constant bumps in the water. I'm
curious because I know that running involves a similar kind of minor -
although constant - head impact as your body _jumps_ out of each stride. I
have no data to back this up so sorry if I'm just blabbering nonsense.

~~~
delazeur
I would imagine there is a step change somewhere in causing brain damage.
I.e., if your brain can withstand a 1.5g impact it can withstand any number of
1.5g impacts, but 2g or 3g impacts lead to cumulative damage.

Then again, I don't know what I'm talking, or where running impacts might fall
in that spectrum.

------
mannykannot
If you want exercise that will give you something of a mental workout as well,
try orienteering.

------
buro9
One should probably take care of doing the best exercise for the body first.

------
dghughes
I used to go to a gym in a mall basement and when I went to go home I could
never remember where I parked my car.

If I went to the same mall just to shop I had no problem remember where my car
was parked.

------
personjerry
How does taking long walks compare to running?

~~~
ativzzz
The article stated that rats who ran more miles had more neurogenesis. So my
guess would be walking = less distance than running = less benefit.

But this is too much of a simplification. If you walk a mile in 15 minutes and
run a mile in 7.5, is there a difference? Maybe not, but if you run, you can
then run two miles in the same 15 minutes and increase your efficiency.

------
unixhero
Jumping from stone to stone (boulders) is supposed to stimulate and train
large parts of the brain.

------
krisroadruck
Mental exersize?

------
whelp
Sleeping is by far the best exercise for the brain.

------
known
Sudoku

------
illivah
What exercise is better for improving my cooking skill? What about the
exercise that's best for my alcohol consumption?

If you want to improve your brain, it's important to be healthy, I get that.
But come on, the point of exercising is to be healthy. Beyond that no exercise
is going to improve your brain directly if it doesn't actually use your brain.
This whole movement makes me very skeptical.

~~~
etrautmann
This logic isn't quite right though your intuition is easy to understand.

The thought behind these studies is that exercise leads to the release of
certain chemicals, in this case BDNF (brain-derived neurotropic factor) that
leads to new neuron growth. This mechanism is a physiologically reasonable way
for exercise to improve your brain without directly using/engaging the neural
circuits in a way that would modify learning and memory.

