Home » Brain Fitness » Currently Reading:

Brain Fitness Tip of the Week: Increasing Daily Activity

August 10, 2009 Brain Fitness No Comments

More and more research shows the importance of increasing your activity for your health. A number of studies have also shown that exercise improves older persons’ performance on cognitive tests. A study I recently presented at the meeting of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology meeting even showed that daily activity was related to older adults’ mood.

When I talk about brain fitness, though, members of the audience almost always point out two obstacles to becoming more active:

  • Time
  • Physical problems that interfere with exercise

In this post, I’ll talk a little bit about how to incorporate more activity into your life. Dealing with exercise and physical problems is a little more complicated, but almost everyone can find ways to increase their levels of activity, even if they suffer from arthritis.

One of the simplest ways to deal with the time problem is to build more activity into your daily routine. Studies have suggested that several intervals of activity during the day may be just as beneficial as one longer period of exercise. This means that two 15-minute walks may be about as good as one 30-minute walk. Building more activity into your life may be one way to improve your brain fitness as well as your overall health.

The American Heart Association website has an article with tips on building physical activity into your daily life. You can find it by clicking here.

Here are a few tips:

  • At home, you can take several brief walks during the day; maybe a few minutes after breakfast or dinner, or both. Work up to 30 minutes a day.
  • At work, take the stairs instead of the elevator; walk down the hall to talk to someone instead of calling or e-mail1312ing.
  • Play your favorite music when exercising; it can increase your motivation.

Exercise improves mood, cognitive abilities, and heart health. More exercise undertaken safely can help you improve your health. Remember to discuss your exercise plan with your doctor before you get started.

Comment on this Article:







Brain Fitness

Brain Training Study Off the Ground!

computer with apple for teacher

After overcoming a number of obstacles, our study of the effects of cognitive training on fluid intelligence has finally started. We’re enrolling participants from our local Life Long Learning Program, all of whom are 50 years or older. In the study, we are comparing the effects of working memory training …

Changes in Brain Size with Aging

Picture of chimpanzee

Understanding brain aging has to be research priority. The average age of people in the US is increasing. This means that there are more older people at risk for diseases that occur as people get older, such as Alzheimer’s. In people, the size of the brain decreases as they get …

Exercise, Mitochondrial DNA, and Brain Fitness

Mouse on white background

One very influential theory of why our physical and mental functions decline with age holds that changes in our DNA accumulate over time so that out cells don’t work any more. Perhaps the most important part of our DNA exists in every cell in a special part called the mitochondia. …

The Default Mode Network and Brain Fitness

Man sleeping on grass

If brain fitness is more than just trying to avoid memory loss as you get older (and I think it is), then understanding how you think is (I think) critical. Sometimes called metacognition, this means not just thinking, but thinking about thinking. Follow that? Metacognition is the idea that we …

Mindfulness Meditation, Brain Fitness, and Gray Matter

Buddhist monk looking out over the forest

Most people know that the brain is smaller with age, at least in part due to loss of brain cells in parts of the brain related to perception, memory, and executive processes. Anything that can slow down or reverse the process should be of interest to all of us, whatever our age. …

RSS Worry and GAD Blog

  • 5 More Steps to Cope with Irritability
    This is a cross posting from my brain fitness blog. As it turns out, worry is probably bad for your brain fitness, so coping with worry not only can improve your mood but may also help improve your thinking and memory. Here the post: Irritability means letting small things that happen to all of us […]
  • Three Ways to Deal with Unconstructive Repetitive Thoughts
    Several researchers have shown that negative mood, anxiety, and distress can be associated with cognitive decline. Wilson and his colleague Patricia Boyle (both at Rush in Chicago) have shown with data from the Religious Orders Study that persons who are chronically distressed have a greater chance of cognitive decline. At the Cognitive Aging Summit (sponsor […]
  • Brain Fitness and The Mind of a Monk
    the contrast between Tibetan monks’ apparent calm, evident even on brain scans, and her own anxiety disorder. Ms. Warner says that she suffers from panic disorder, […]