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by ipnon
1899 days ago
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Anecdotally, high intensity exercise like deadlifts or full sprints doesn't leave much room for thinking. But on a half marathon over a few hours, with nothing but the sound of the wind and your feet on the ground, after the first 15 minutes you've already thought through your plans for today, then after the first hour you've already thought back to that mistake you made last week, then it's uncharted territory. So the ability to do some thinking during low intensity exercise surely contributes some benefits to the brain. It's hard to feel any sort of neurosis at the end of a long run for example. My guess is that increased heart rate and blood pressure increases, and sustains for a long time, blood flow in the brain compared to sedentary activity or short, high intensity exercise. From my experience, lots of lifting was great for improving mood, but it wasn't until I began running medium and long distances regularly that I felt any smarter than my couch potato baseline. |
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