Wendy Suzuki: The brain-changing benefits of exercise | TED

Summary

Neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki describes how she accidentally discovered the powerful effects of exercise on the brain. Though focused on memory research, she became unhealthy. After committing to exercise, she noticed improvements in mood, focus and memory. Realizing exercise was transforming her brain, she explored studies showing both immediate and long-lasting cognitive benefits from physical activity. Exercise grows key brain areas, enhancing their functions and making them more resilient to diseases. Suzuki concludes exercise is the most beneficial thing people can do for their brains, regardless of fitness level or age.

Takeaways

• 😊 Exercise has an immediate positive impact on mood, energy levels, focus and memory.
• 🧠 Exercise causes growth of new brain cells and connections, improving brain health.
• 💪 Just 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 3-4 times a week provides significant brain benefits.
• 🚶‍♀️ You don't need an expensive gym membership - activities like walking also count.
• 🤸‍♀️ The mood boost from working out can last for up to 2 hours afterwards.
• 🏋️ Exercise makes your prefrontal cortex and hippocampus bigger and stronger.
• 🏃‍♀️Aerobic exercise that raises your heart rate is key for reaping the brain benefits.
• 😎 Exercise improves attention, reaction time, focus and ability to shift between tasks.
• 🏆 More lifetime exercise means better protection against Alzheimer's and dementia later.
• 📝 Customizing your exercise regime to your needs and fitness maximizes the brain benefits.

Q & A

What were the immediate effects of exercise that Wendy noticed in herself?

She noticed better mood, more energy, improved memory and better attention.

Why did exercise boost Wendy's ability to focus during grant writing?

Exercise boosts neurotransmitters like dopamine and noradrenaline, which improve attention and focus. It also increases blood flow to the prefrontal cortex.

How does a single workout affect the brain?

A single workout increases mood-boosting neurotransmitters, improves attention and focus for 2+ hours, and speeds up reaction times.

What are the longer lasting brain benefits of regular exercise?

It grows new brain cells in the hippocampus to improve memory. It also enlarges the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex to aid attention and prevent age-related decline.

How does exercise protect the brain?

It strengthens and enlarges areas vulnerable to neurodegeneration like the hippocampus. This delays cognitive decline from Alzheimer's and dementia.

What is the minimum recommended exercise dose?

Aim for aerobic exercise 3-4 times a week, at least 30 minutes per session, to reap the brain benefits.

What type of exercise is most beneficial for the brain?

Aerobic activities like walking, running, swimming that raise your heart rate are best. Strength training is also helpful but to a lesser degree.

Can exercise cure dementia and Alzheimer's disease?

No, exercise cannot cure or reverse these diseases but it can substantially delay their onset by strengthening vulnerable brain regions.

How is exercise like a 401K for the brain?

Similar to retirement savings, consistent exercise over time builds up a reserve of increased brain connectivity and volume to protect against later cognitive decline.

Why was Wendy initially drawn to exercise?

She wanted to improve her strength and fitness after feeling physically weak on a river rafting trip due to lack of activity.

Outlines

00:00

😊The immediate, long-lasting and protective benefits of exercise on the brain

Paragraph 1 introduces the powerful effects that physical activity has on the brain, including immediate mood and focus boosts, long term benefits like protecting against dementia, and lasting impacts over one's lifetime. The speaker shares her personal story of discovering these effects unexpectedly when she added regular exercise to her life as a neuroscience professor studying memory.

05:00

😮Noticing improved ability to focus attention and handle complex mental tasks due to exercise

Paragraph 2 describes the moment the speaker realized that the exercise she had incorporated into her lifestyle was positively impacting her cognitive abilities, allowing her to concentrate better and have clearer thoughts while grant writing. This motivated her to research the effects literature and eventually shift her research to focus on exercise and the brain.

10:02

😃Exercise transforms your brain via 3 key mechanisms with immediate and long lasting effects

Paragraph 3 outlines the three major ways that exercise induces both rapid and enduring positive changes in the brain: 1) Immediate boosts in mood, focus, etc. from neurotransmitter releases; 2) Long term enhancements of structure and function in areas like the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus; 3) Lifelong protective effects against cognitive decline and neurodegeneration from effectively 'working out' the brain.

Keywords

💡neuroscience

Neuroscience refers to the scientific study of the nervous system and the brain. In the talk, the speaker Wendy Suzuki identifies herself as a professor of neuroscience to establish her expertise on the brain and memory research that she had been conducting in her lab.

💡hippocampus

The hippocampus is a structure located deep in the brain's temporal lobe that is critical for forming new memories. Understanding the hippocampus' role in encoding memories was the initial focus of Suzuki's research.

💡prefrontal cortex

The prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain located behind the forehead that is important for executive functions like planning, attention, and decision making. Suzuki realized exercise was improving her prefrontal cortex functions like focus and attention span.

💡mood

Mood refers to the emotional state or feelings at a given time. Suzuki highlights that exercise delivers immediate mood benefits by boosting neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin.

💡attention

Attention refers to the brain's ability to focus on specific stimuli while ignoring distractions. Suzuki points out that a single workout can enhance attention span for up to two hours afterwards.

💡memory

Memory refers to the brain's ability to encode, store and retrieve information. Suzuki links regular exercise with improved long-term memory and highlights animal research showing exercise leads to growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus.

💡dementia

Dementia is a broad term for cognitive decline and impairment, including from Alzheimer's disease. Suzuki notes that while exercise cannot cure dementia, it builds up cognitive reserve and delays onset of impairment.

💡neurotransmitters

Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that allow communication between neurons to relay signals in the brain and nervous system. Suzuki notes that a single workout increases key neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin to deliver immediate mood benefits.

💡neurons

Neurons are electrically excitable cells in the nervous system and brain that communicate with each other via electrical and chemical signals. Suzuki had aimed to record hippocampus neuron activity in memory formation early in her research.

💡cardiorespiratory

Cardiorespiratory refers to the circulatory and respiratory systems that deliver oxygenated blood to organs. Suzuki states increased cardiorespiratory fitness from exercise leads to long-lasting structural brain changes underlying cognitive benefits.

Highlights

Exercise has immediate, long-lasting and protective benefits for your brain

A single workout can improve mood, energy, memory, attention and reaction time

Regular exercise changes the brain's anatomy, physiology and function

Exercise produces new brain cells and increases hippocampus volume, improving long-term memory

Exercise improves attention, focus and prefrontal cortex volume

Exercise provides long-lasting mood improvements

Exercise has protective effects, strengthening areas susceptible to cognitive decline

Exercise acts as a 'supercharged 401K for your brain'

Minimum recommendations: 3-4 times a week, 30 minutes aerobic

No need to get expensive gym membership, just take the stairs or go for a walk

Goal is to find optimum personalized exercise prescription

Bringing exercise into your life will make you happier and protect your brain

Exercise will change life's trajectory for the better

As a professor, she noticed worse mood and focus before exercising

She shifted research to study effects of exercise she noticed in herself

Transcripts

What if I told you there was something that you can do right now

that would have an immediate, positive benefit for your brain

including your mood and your focus?

And what if I told you that same thing could actually last a long time

and protect your brain from different conditions

like depression, Alzheimer's disease or dementia.

Would you do it?

Yes!

I am talking about the powerful effects of physical activity.

Simply moving your body,

has immediate, long-lasting and protective benefits for your brain.

And that can last for the rest of your life.

So what I want to do today is tell you a story

about how I used my deep understanding of neuroscience,

as a professor of neuroscience,

to essentially do an experiment on myself

in which I discovered the science underlying

why exercise is the most transformative thing

that you can do for your brain today.

Now, as a neuroscientist, I know that our brains,

that is the thing in our head right now,

that is the most complex structure known to humankind.

But it's one thing to talk about the brain,

and it's another to see it.

So here is a real preserved human brain.

And it's going to illustrate two key areas that we are going to talk about today.

The first is the prefrontal cortex, right behind your forehead,

critical for things like decision-making, focus, attention and your personality.

The second key area is located in the temporal lobe, shown right here.

You have two temporal lobes in your brain, the right and the left,

and deep in the temporal lobe is a key structure

critical for your ability

to form and retain new long-term memories for facts and events.

And that structure is called the hippocampus.

So I've always been fascinated with the hippocampus.

How could it be that an event that lasts just a moment,

say, your first kiss,

or the moment your first child was born,

can form a memory that has changed your brain,

that lasts an entire lifetime?

That's what I want to understand.

I wanted to start and record the activity of individual brain cells

in the hippocampus

as subjects were forming new memories.

And essentially try and decode how those brief bursts of electrical activity,

which is how neurons communicate with each other,

how those brief bursts either allowed us to form a new memory, or did not.

But a few years ago, I did something very unusual in science.

As a full professor of neural science,

I decided to completely switch my research program.

Because I encountered something that was so amazing,

with the potential to change so many lives

that I had to study it.

I discovered and I experienced the brain-changing effects of exercise.

And I did it in a completely inadvertent way.

I was actually at the height of all the memory work that I was doing --

data was pouring in,

I was becoming known in my field for all of this memory work.

And it should have been going great. It was, scientifically.

But when I stuck my head out of my lab door,

I noticed something.

I had no social life.

I spent too much time listening to those brain cells

in a dark room, by myself.

(Laughter)

I didn't move my body at all.

I had gained 25 pounds.

And actually, it took me many years to realize it,

I was actually miserable.

And I shouldn't be miserable.

And I went on a river-rafting trip -- by myself, because I had no social life.

And I came back --

(Laughter)

thinking, "Oh, my God, I was the weakest person on that trip."

And I came back with a mission.

I said, "I'm never going to feel like the weakest person

on a river-rafting trip again."

And that's what made me go to the gym.

And I focused my type-A personality

on going to all the exercise classes at the gym.

I tried everything.

I went to kickbox, dance, yoga, step class,

and at first it was really hard.

But what I noticed is that after every sweat-inducing workout that I tried,

I had this great mood boost and this great energy boost.

And that's what kept me going back to the gym.

Well, I started feeling stronger.

I started feeling better, I even lost that 25 pounds.

And now, fast-forward a year and a half into this regular exercise program

and I noticed something that really made me sit up and take notice.

I was sitting at my desk, writing a research grant,

and a thought went through my mind

that had never gone through my mind before.

And that thought was,

"Gee, grant-writing is going well today."

And all the scientists --

(Laughter)

yeah, all the scientists always laugh when I say that,

because grant-writing never goes well.

It is so hard; you're always pulling your hair out,

trying to come up with that million-dollar-winning idea.

But I realized that the grant-writing was going well,

because I was able to focus and maintain my attention

for longer than I had before.

And my long-term memory -- what I was studying in my own lab --

seemed to be better in me.

And that's when I put it together.

Maybe all that exercise that I had included and added to my life

was changing my brain.

Maybe I did an experiment on myself without even knowing it.

So as a curious neuroscientist,

I went to the literature to see what I could find about what we knew

about the effects of exercise on the brain.

And what I found was an exciting and a growing literature

that was essentially showing everything that I noticed in myself.

Better mood, better energy, better memory, better attention.

And the more I learned,

the more I realized how powerful exercise was.

Which eventually led me to the big decision

to completely shift my research focus.

And so now, after several years of really focusing on this question,

I've come to the following conclusion:

that exercise is the most transformative thing

that you can do for your brain today

for the following three reasons.

Number one: it has immediate effects on your brain.

A single workout that you do

will immediately increase levels of neurotransmitters

like dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline.

That is going to increase your mood right after that workout,

exactly what I was feeling.

My lab showed that a single workout

can improve your ability to shift and focus attention,

and that focus improvement will last for at least two hours.

And finally, studies have shown

that a single workout will improve your reaction times

which basically means

that you are going to be faster at catching that cup of Starbucks

that falls off the counter,

which is very, very important.

(Laughter)

But these immediate effects are transient, they help you right after.

What you have to do is do what I did,

that is change your exercise regime, increase your cardiorespiratory function,

to get the long-lasting effects.

And these effects are long-lasting

because exercise actually changes the brain's anatomy,

physiology and function.

Let's start with my favorite brain area, the hippocampus.

The hippocampus --

or exercise actually produces brand new brain cells,

new brain cells in the hippocampus, that actually increase its volume,

as well as improve your long-term memory, OK?

And that including in you and me.

Number two: the most common finding in neuroscience studies,

looking at effects of long-term exercise,

is improved attention function dependent on your prefrontal cortex.

You not only get better focus and attention,

but the volume of the hippocampus increases as well.

And finally, you not only get immediate effects of mood with exercise

but those last for a long time.

So you get long-lasting increases in those good mood neurotransmitters.

But really, the most transformative thing that exercise will do

is its protective effects on your brain.

Here you can think about the brain like a muscle.

The more you're working out,

the bigger and stronger your hippocampus and prefrontal cortex gets.

Why is that important?

Because the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus

are the two areas that are most susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases

and normal cognitive decline in aging.

So with increased exercise over your lifetime,

you're not going to cure dementia or Alzheimer's disease,

but what you're going to do is you're going to create

the strongest, biggest hippocampus and prefrontal cortex

so it takes longer for these diseases to actually have an effect.

You can think of exercise, therefore,

as a supercharged 401K for your brain, OK?

And it's even better, because it's free.

So this is the point in the talk where everybody says,

"That sounds so interesting, Wendy,

but I really will only want to know one thing.

And that is, just tell me the minimum amount of exercise

I need to get all these changes."

(Laughter)

And so I'm going to tell you the answer to that question.

First, good news: you don't have to become a triathlete to get these effects.

The rule of thumb is you want to get three to four times a week exercise

minimum 30 minutes an exercise session,

and you want to get aerobic exercise in.

That is, get your heart rate up.

And the good news is, you don't have to go to the gym

to get a very expensive gym membership.

Add an extra walk around the block in your power walk.

You see stairs -- take stairs.

And power-vacuuming can be as good as the aerobics class

that you were going to take at the gym.

So I've gone from memory pioneer

to exercise explorer.

From going into the innermost workings of the brain,

to trying to understand how exercise can improve our brain function,

and my goal in my lab right now

is to go beyond that rule of thumb that I just gave you --

three to four times a week, 30 minutes.

I want to understand the optimum exercise prescription

for you, at your age, at your fitness level,

for your genetic background,

to maximize the effects of exercise today

and also to improve your brain and protect your brain the best

for the rest of your life.

But it's one thing to talk about exercise, and it's another to do it.

So I'm going to invoke my power as a certified exercise instructor,

to ask you all to stand up.

(Laughter)

We're going to do just one minute of exercise.

It's call-and-response, just do what I do, say what I say,

and make sure you don't punch your neighbor, OK?

Music!

(Upbeat music)

Five, six, seven, eight, it's right, left, right, left.

And I say, I am strong now.

Let's hear you.

Audience: I am strong now.

Wendy Suzuki: Ladies, I am Wonder Woman-strong.

Let's hear you!

Audience: I am Wonder Woman-strong.

WS: New move -- uppercut, right and left.

I am inspired now. You say it!

Audience: I am inspired now.

WS: Last move -- pull it down, right and left, right and left.

I say, I am on fire now! You say it.

Audience: I am on fire now.

WS: And done! OK, good job!

(Applause)

Thank you.

I want to leave you with one last thought.

And that is, bringing exercise in your life

will not only give you a happier, more protective life today,

but it will protect your brain from incurable diseases.

And in this way it will change the trajectory of your life

for the better.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)

Thank you.

(Applause)