It may be tempting to separate the two, but in truth, they are inexorably linked to your optimized thinking and functioning. We may not be able to specifically train the brain, but by training our bodies in specific ways, we can effect the changes that we want.

The first step to physical fitness is to work up a sweat on a regular basis. Of note, this should be aerobic exercise that gets your blood pumping and your heart rate up. This also increases the blood flow to your brain, kicks off a host of metabolic and hormonal changes, and energizes you. It’s been shown that aerobic exercise can increase the size of parts of our brains responsible for higher cognitive functions and memory, and even fight cognitive decline and brain diseases. The brain is a hungry, hungry organ, so we should make sure the systems that feed it are optimized and healthy.

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Peter Hollins is a bestselling author, human psychology researcher, and a dedicated student of the human condition.

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For narration information visit Russell Newton at https://bit.ly/VoW-home For production information visit Newton Media Group LLC at https://bit.ly/newtonmg

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Exercise is instrumental in the production of a brain protein called FNDC5, which eventually releases brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF has been shown to aid general brain functioning and memory processing by preserving existing brain cells, promoting the growth of new brain cells, and encouraging overall brain growth. Human brains tend to shrink when we grow older, but exercise, which creates BDNF, can literally increase the size of your brain.

The presence of BDNF is especially supportive of long-term memory. Most BDNF activity occurs in the brain areas most correlated with high-level cognition, learning, and recall—the hippocampus, cortex, and basal forebrain. BDNF can also help proper sleep regulation and (though this is not a promise) can curb excessive appetite, which could lead to marginal weight loss. Conversely, the lack of BDNF can cause depression, and people suffering from Parkinson’s disease tend to have low levels of the protein.

Researcher Joyce Gomes-Osman reviewed studies that associated exercise with different brain functions. Her goal was to find what “doses” of exercise were most effective for certain types of cognitive function. While Gomes-Osman stressed that there wasn’t a “magic number” that will unfailingly promote greater brain function, she did determine that elderly people who managed one hour of exercise three days per week showed the greatest improvement in brain functioning and speed.

At this point, you probably don’t need any more convincing as to the virtues of exercise for your brain, but let’s leave with just one final vital piece of information.

Your brain has the highest oxygen requirement of any organ in your body, up to 20 percent of your entire body’s usage.

When you improve your cardiovascular system through exercise and ensure that blood is pumping more efficiently through your arteries, you will have greater access to oxygen. It’s the same with water—the brain is, on average, composed of 70 percent water, and exercise typically makes you more aware of hydration. Feed your hungry brain by making sure its supply systems are optimized.

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There is one small caveat that comes with an issue few of us will ever encounter: too much exercise. As you’ll read later when we discuss stress, when exercise becomes so excessive and strenuous that it begins to create an anxious mental state, whether from burnout or discomfort, then your neurofitness goes straight down the toilet.

But overall, the maxim of healthy body, healthy mind holds true.

Bend and Stretch We’ve talked about how the body directly affects the mind, but what about training the two systems in a synergistic manner? One increasingly popular method that might have sprung to mind is yoga, which has ancient roots as a complete system of development and maintenance of body, mind and spirit, all at once. I promise this discussion isn’t going to verge into “woo- woo” territory, but rather will look at the simple scientific evidence.

By now, yoga has been extensively studied for decades for its effect on mood, well- being, and overall physical health. But more recently, researchers are discovering noteworthy cognitive benefits to getting out the yoga mat and limbering up for some downward-facing dog. Yoga postures, breathing techniques and the cultivated focus on mindful presence in each moment can have subtle but profound effects on the way your brain works.

Whether it’s just a weekly class or a more dedicated long-term practice, yoga helps your brain health in several different ways.

When researchers look at those practitioners who have consistently done yoga over a long period, they discover that their brains are noticeably different from those who have never practiced. In fact, one of the chief findings is that yoga may protect our brains against the effects of aging.

Does this mean that these yogis are literally smarter than those who don’t practice yoga? That would be going too far, but based on Lazar’s work we can say that practitioners may be sharper at senior ages.

Those who did yoga had more gray matter overall, including larger prefrontal cortices and limbic systems—those regions involved in emotion, memory, and stress regulation.

Several other studies corroborate these findings, and in particular it would seem that the hippocampus is protected from aging by frequent yoga. Since the hippocampus is also the region of the brain responsible for how we manage stress and process our world emotionally, making sure it’s healthy means we boost our overall mood and ward off mental illness and perhaps even memory problems. In fact, those with major depression or mental disorders like PTSD often show shrinking of the hippocampus. What better proof that “mental health” is really not so different from “physical health”? In general, scientists now understand that stress can reduce hippocampal (and overall brain) volume, but also that a person with a smaller hippocampus is more prone to developing certain mental disorders. So how do we know which caused which? The relationship between the size of these various parts of the brain and your mental state is likely complex, but one thing is clear: when you take care of your brain health, you reap cognitive, emotional and intellectual rewards, while fending off the onset of age-related degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. This is turn can feed back into physical health, with physiological and behavioral changes mutually reinforcing one another.

Granted, many of these studies are ongoing and their results should be interpreted with a grain of salt. Small sample sizes and cross- sectional designs means it’s a little harder to tell if yoga alone is indeed the cause of the findings—it may be true that those who naturally have more gray matter find themselves doing more yoga, for whatever reason. There may also be a third variable, like socio-economic status or education, that affects both the likelihood of doing yoga and having greater cortical volume.

Further, there’s the question of what aspect of yoga actually benefits our wayward brains and causes relaxation; is it the physical act alone with the increased blood flow, BDNF, and rise in endorphins after the fact, or is it rather the mental space and clarity that one practices while engaging in such a peaceful activity? Few would argue that taking the time to breathe, center yourself and stretch a few times a week could fail to have benefits, especially when practiced over years.

However, as we ponder the specific causes for these improvements, do we really need to get caught up in the “why” when we have a very clear “how”? This type of analysis might cause too much paralysis, when sometimes we can just start doing rather than contemplating. It turns out that this action-biased mindset is key to achieving the entirety of the life you want, not just an improved and optimized brain.

What remains to be seen in future research is whether the promising effects described here can be repeated on wider scales, or indeed if those with reduced hippocampal volume or gray matter can actually reverse their condition by doing yoga. If so, it may be more common in future to find age- related therapies leaning heavily toward yoga and meditation instead of chronic medication. In the meantime, though, there is nothing to be lost by introducing a little yoga into your own routine.

Ask any devoted yogi and they may wax lyrical about the benefits—even beyond those that could be measured quantitatively by brain studies. Proponents will describe the sense of calm and present-mindedness that comes with regular practice. It’s a form of self-care, a way to quiet a busy mind and a wonderful method for nurturing that mind-body connection and developing body awareness.

Yoga is great for stress reduction, and for maintaining flexibility. But over and above all this, it simply feels good. In this chaotic and overstimulated world, many people find enormous benefit to simply drawing in fresh breath, stilling the mind and getting into their bodies. This is something we will certainly revisit when we talk about mindfulness and meditation as a supplement to our daily routines.

It could be this ability to reconnect with the body that’s key. We all live in a hyper- cerebral world, surrounded by abstract concepts, symbols and language, noisy distractions surrounding us on all sides, and most likely working in occupations that center on monotonous mental and intellectual labor. We spend days sitting or driving, browsing online, watching TV—in effect living in the world as though we were merely giant brains propped up by the life support systems we call our bodies. We may live this way for decades, only engaging with our bodies or emotions when they fail to behave as we think they should, or if we fall ill.

But a more holistic perspective reminds us that we are our bodies. Nothing can convince you more of the primacy of your physical being than falling seriously ill. In that situation, it doesn’t matter how much personal development you’ve indulged in, or how dazzling your career is. We live in a world dominated by the brain. But, paradoxically, it’s in cutting our cognitive selves off from our bodies that we actually undermine our ability to think well, make decisions, solve problems, or really create.