Grow your brain - when you move

Moving our bodies helps our fitness, strengthens us, improves our quality of life and makes us brainier. Exercise has the same effect on our brain as morphine, but with healthy addictive consequences! Exercise is more effective at combatting depression and anxiety than the most effective drugs.

When we exercise, it increases our confidence and empowers us to take on the daily challenges of life with more energy and a better mindset. We do not need to run a marathon, belong to a gym or experience pain to achieve the gain. We just need to move, and move regularly, throughout the day.

Find a way to make exercise a part of your lifestyle. We are never too old to start getting fitter. For example, walking speed is a great predictor of life expectancy so if you like walking, increase the amount you walk, which in turn will increase your speed.

If you add five minutes a week to your daily walk, you will soon establish a good walking habit. The way you rise from a sitting position on the floor is another predictor of life expectancy; can you get up without putting either hand or either knee on the floor? The less extra support you need by way of knee/s and hand/s, the longer your life expectancy.

We need strength and aerobic training. In other words, we need to build muscle and lung capacity to grow our brains. With the internet and so many different exercise classes and gyms available we can all find something that we enjoy, or dislike least. Put on your favourite music and dance around the house, with or without a partner. Once an exercise habit is established the improvement in life experience becomes the motivation to keep it up.

This week, exercise to grow your brain and add to your life expectancy!