Running Changes Your Brain, let me explain.
Summary
TLDRThis video explores the surprising ways running impacts the brain, debunking the myth that endorphins cause 'runner's high' and revealing the role of endocannabinoids. It delves into how running can stimulate the growth of new brain cells, particularly in the hippocampus, improving memory, mood, and learning. The video also discusses the long-term benefits of running, such as enhancing blood supply to the brain and potentially preventing age-related cognitive decline. Practical advice is given on incorporating running into a routine for optimal cognitive benefits.
Takeaways
- 🏃 Running impacts the brain in various ways beyond the 'Runner's High' and endorphins, which are commonly misunderstood.
- 🧠 Endorphins, previously thought to cause the 'Runner's High', cannot cross the blood-brain barrier, so their effects on the brain are indirect.
- 🌱 New brain cells can be grown even in 90-year-olds, and running can influence the growth of these cells, specifically in the hippocampus.
- 🚀 The 'Runner's High' is actually associated with increased endocannabinoids, not endorphins, which act as natural mood elevators.
- 🏃♂️ Running stimulates the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is crucial for neuron growth and cognitive function.
- 🧐 The hippocampus is responsible for learning, memory encoding, and mood regulation, and running can enhance its function by increasing neurogenesis.
- 💡 BDNF acts as a signal for the brain to grow new neurons, especially in the hippocampus, which can improve memory, mood, and learning ability.
- 🏋️♂️ Muscle and liver activity during running release myokines and lactate, respectively, which signal the brain to increase BDNF production.
- 👴 Age-related cognitive decline may be linked more to reduced blood supply to the brain rather than the inability to produce new neurons.
- 🌟 Running can improve blood supply to the brain by stimulating the production of vascular endothelial growth factor, which promotes the growth of new blood vessels.
- 🔄 Incorporating running into daily life can be done sustainably by considering the timing, frequency, duration, and intensity of runs to maximize cognitive benefits.
Q & A
What is the common misconception about runner's high?
-The common misconception is that runner's high is caused by endorphins. However, research has shown that endorphins cannot enter the brain, so they cannot be responsible for runner's high.
What actually causes runner's high if not endorphins?
-Runner's high is actually caused by endocannabinoids, which are intrinsic marijuana-like compounds in the body that increase during exercise, leading to the euphoric feeling associated with runner's high.
How does running impact neurogenesis in the hippocampus?
-Running stimulates the release of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which promotes neurogenesis in the hippocampus, leading to improved memory, learning, and mood regulation.
What is BDNF and why is it important?
-BDNF stands for Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor. It's like 'Miracle Grow' for the brain, signaling the hippocampus to produce new neurons, which enhances memory, learning, and mood regulation.
How does exercise affect cognitive decline related to aging?
-Exercise, particularly running, improves blood supply to the brain, which can help prevent age-related cognitive decline by ensuring that new and existing neurons receive the necessary nutrients.
Why is improving blood supply to the brain crucial for preventing cognitive decline?
-Improving blood supply ensures that the brain receives adequate nutrients and oxygen, which helps maintain healthy neurons and prevents conditions like Alzheimer's disease and age-related cognitive decline.
How can one incorporate running into their routine to maximize cognitive benefits?
-To maximize cognitive benefits, it's suggested to run in the morning before engaging in cognitive tasks. This helps leverage the hippocampus's increased activity post-run, enhancing focus, memory, and mood.
What are the recommended durations and frequencies for running to sustain cognitive benefits?
-The video suggests running for about 30 minutes, two to three times a week. This duration is effective for cognitive benefits and is sustainable over time.
What is the significance of Zone 2 cardio in the context of running?
-Zone 2 cardio is a level of intensity where you cannot hold a conversation while running. This intensity is suggested to optimize aerobic benefits without needing to measure specific heart rates.
Can weightlifting offer similar cognitive benefits as running?
-Weightlifting does not provide the same cognitive benefits as aerobic exercise like running. The video suggests that aerobic activities like running, cycling, or rowing are necessary for those benefits, but it leaves open the possibility of exploring the cognitive benefits of weightlifting in a future video.
Outlines
🏃♂️ The Myth of Endorphins and Running's True Impact
The first paragraph delves into the misconception that endorphins are responsible for the 'runner's high.' It clarifies that endorphins cannot cross the blood-brain barrier, debunking the idea that they directly affect the brain. Instead, the paragraph introduces the concept that running can actually promote the growth of new brain cells, particularly in the hippocampus, a region linked to learning and memory. The speaker, Jack, a UK-based doctor, outlines the video's structure, which will explore the immediate and long-term effects of running on the brain, and provides a personal anecdote about going for a run.
🌱 Neurogenesis and the Role of BDNF in Enhancing Memory and Learning
Paragraph two discusses the process of neurogenesis, specifically within the hippocampus, and how running can accelerate this process. It introduces BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) as a key molecule that signals the brain to grow new neurons, akin to a 'Miracle-Gro' for the brain. The paragraph explains how physical exercise, particularly running, can stimulate the release of BDNF, leading to improved memory, mood regulation, and learning capabilities. It also touches on the fascinating fact that by the age of 50, all neurons in the hippocampus are new, replaced since birth, and the potential of running to enhance this process.
🚴♀️ Long-Term Cognitive Benefits of Running and Preventing Decline
The third paragraph explores the long-term impacts of running on cognitive health, challenging the notion that cognitive decline is due to a lack of neuron production. It suggests that reduced blood supply to the brain might be a contributing factor to age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. The paragraph explains how running can improve blood supply to the brain by stimulating the production of vascular endothelial growth factor, leading to the creation of new blood vessels and better nutrient delivery to the brain. This could potentially help prevent cognitive decline and Alzheimer's by ensuring a healthy brain blood supply throughout life.
📈 Optimizing Running for Cognitive Enhancement and Sustainability
In the final paragraph, the speaker reflects on how to best leverage the cognitive benefits of running by considering when, how often, and for how long to run. Jack plans to run in the morning to take advantage of the heightened activity in the hippocampus for tasks requiring focus and memory. He also discusses the frequency of running, suggesting two to three times a week as a sustainable routine for himself, while emphasizing the importance of personalizing the routine for long-term adherence. The paragraph concludes with a brief mention of the intensity of the exercise, suggesting that running at a pace that prevents conversation could be beneficial, and expresses openness to exploring the cognitive benefits of other forms of exercise, such as weightlifting, in future videos.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Endorphins
💡Runner's High
💡Neurogenesis
💡Hippocampus
💡Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)
💡Lactic Acid
💡Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF)
💡Cognitive Decline
💡Aerobic Exercise
💡Sustainability
💡Zone 2 Cardio
Highlights
Endorphins cannot enter the brain and thus do not impact it directly, contrary to the common belief about runners high.
Running can influence the growth of new brain cells in 90-year-olds, affecting neurogenesis.
Practical ways to incorporate running into daily life for mental health benefits will be discussed.
Running impacts the brain on various time scales, from minutes to years.
The traditional explanation of runners high involving endorphins has been disproven by German scientists.
Endocannabinoids, not endorphins, are likely responsible for the runners high phenomenon.
The hippocampus generates 700 new neurons daily, and running can increase this neurogenesis.
BDNF, the 'Miracle-Gro' of the brain, is released during running and stimulates neuron growth.
Exercise signals the brain to release BDNF through muscle and liver activity.
Increased BDNF leads to improved memory, mood regulation, and learning capabilities.
Running can contribute to the prevention of age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease.
The blood supply to the brain may be a key factor in cognitive health, rather than neuron count.
Running enhances the brain's blood supply by stimulating the production of new blood vessels.
The cognitive benefits of running can last up to 2 hours post-exercise.
A personalized running routine is essential for sustainability and long-term benefits.
Running frequency, duration, and intensity should be tailored to individual preferences and needs.
Aerobic exercises like running provide unique brain health benefits compared to weight lifting.
Transcripts
R changes your brain let me
[Music]
explain let's
go when I started researching how
running affects the brain I really
thought I'd be just exploring Runners
high and endorphins and how that
concoction helps us think and what I
found was completely different so first
of all endorphins can't get into the
brain so they can't impact the brain so
why do we get run as high then and then
the next thing I found was that
90-year-olds can actually grow new brain
cells and running can affect the growth
of those brain cells so we're going to
be going into that and finally I'm going
to take you through a few practical ways
to incorporate running into your life
taking into account all of the mental
impacts it can have so how can you time
it what intensity all of those sort of
questions will address at the end so
stick around and I'm Jack I'm a doctor
in the UK and I'm about to go on a run
so let's get into
[Music]
this it turns out that running actually
impacts your brain on different time
frames so this video is going to be
structured by those time frames so
impacts that you can find in minutes
then days then weeks then years so let's
head out on the run
[Music]
up sry I called myself slipping over in
the mud that would not be ideal this is
not that kind of video we're not going
for a
blueprint so I'm about 10 minutes Post
run now and what I'm going to go through
is how Runners High actually works
within the brain because over years and
years we've actually misunderstood
the mechanism of runers high so we
always thought that it was to do with
endorphins but some scientists in
Germany have actually completely
disproven that so the background that
you need to understand is that
endorphins are opioid like substances so
they act through the same receptors that
heroin does we use opioids all the time
in A&E and we use them for pain relief
so that's exactly how endorphins act on
our body so they allow us to block the
painful feelings that we're getting
during exercise allowing us to keep
going and run
further I'm not going to lie I'm really
not in the mood right now but I'm just
going to power
through but the other interesting impact
of opioids is that of like heroin which
is the that it makes us feel good so
people in the past have put those two
together and said well the endorphins
are painkillers but they also might give
us the runner's high and some scientists
in Germany have actually completely
disproven that so what they did was take
64 subjects 64 Runners and they gave
them a drug called
Noone and what that does is it blocks
the opioid receptor so the theory is
that if you block the opioid receptor
that doesn't allow endorphins to work so
we shouldn't get runers high but those
subjects actually did experience the
runnner high so that means that it must
be happening through a different
mechanism and those scientists worked
out what it was I've read that it takes
30 minutes for the Endo can aboid to
kick in so let's see if that study works
for me rather than a heroin-like
substance it's actually intrinsic
marijuana basically so it's a compound
called endoc canabo and the scientists
in Germany found that while the opioids
obviously weren't working the endorphins
weren't able to work the
endocannabinoids were skyrocketed in
those people so that fits with the
working theory that they are the cause
of Runners high so let's move on now to
how running can affect your learning
memory and
focus your hippocampus is this really
cool part of your brain that is
responsible for learning for encoding
memories and for regulating your mood
and I found some like fascinating
research about it that I want to share
so every single day you generate 700 new
neurons within your hippocampus and you
may be thinking Jack I don't care I've
got billions of neurons within my brain
700 is neither here nor there I don't
care but what I found as a really fun
fact was that when you're born you've
obviously got all the neurons within
your hippocampus but because you're
generating new neurons you end up
replacing old ones so when you're 50
years old you have none of the neurons
in your hippocampus that you were born
with you've got all new ones which I
found insane but it also beged the
question of if there you know I'm
producing more neurons how could I speed
that process up and I found that running
actually you know speeds that process up
and now I'm going to explain exactly how
that works the way we regulate
neurogenesis within our brains is
through one key molecule which is
bdnf so bdnf stands for brain Direct
derived neurotrophic factor and it's
like Miracle Grow of the brain it tells
your brain that you need to grow new
neurons within the hippocampus because
there's some need for them here you can
see exactly how bdnf is impacting the
brain on this side here you have a
mouse's brain that is sedentary and you
can see how many new neurons are being
produced and on this side you can see
that you've got a running Mouse and look
how many more neurons they have produced
versus the sedentary Mouse so how does
exercise cause bdnf release so my
muscles right now the calves my thighs
my glutes they're all releasing Mya
kindes that are signal into my brain to
release
bdnf and the second place that signals
to the brain is the liver I'm putting my
body under stress so in that stress my
li is signaled to release be hydroxy
berate an absolute
mouthful and that's also signaling the
release of bdnf sorry I'm so out of
breath probably could be a lot fitter
right
now so why should you care about
releasing more bdnf within your brain
when you run you stimulate the
hippocampus to produce more neurons
through bdnf and that improves your
memory can improve your mood and also
your ability to learn shift Focus so
it's brilliant and stick around to the
end of the video because I'm going to be
exploring how I am using all of this new
knowledge to incorporate running into my
life to enhance my learning my focus my
memory Etc but next I want to go on to
how running is impacting you in months
to years down the
line you continue to produce uced
neurons up into your '90s
and why is that so important well I used
to think that age related cognitive
decline was you know you get Alzheimer's
disease because you're not producing any
more neurons and the neurons you've got
are kind of you know withering way and
so this kind of changed my thinking and
so the question then is well what's
causing age related cognitive decline
and Alzheimer's well these scientists
thought that it could be to do with the
blood supply to the brain rather than
the fact that you're not growing any
more
neurons so if the blood supply is
getting worse and your vessels are
getting harder and thinner and you know
the diameter of those vessels is getting
smaller then you're not able to supply
your brain with all the nutrients it
needs and that is then causing the cells
that are there and the new ones that are
growing to be deficient and not work as
well so
how can we then improve the blood supply
into our brains to make sure that that
doesn't happen and you guessed it
running can help so I can feel the
lectic acid building up now towards the
end of my run and that's signaling to my
brain that actually we could have better
blood
supply let's grow some new vessels some
New Roads into the brain so that we can
adequately oxygenate it the lactic acid
that you produce in your muscles signals
that your brain needs to produce
vascular endothelial growth factor and
if we break that down vascular blood
vessels endothelium you know the the
lining of the blood vessels growth
factor we actually produce more blood
vessels within the brain and so what
does that mean well imagine a city and
you've got one massive road that goes
through the the middle and you want to
reduce congestion well then you create
loads of other roads off that one road
to reduce congestion and that is exactly
what the brain does so the VF the
vascular endothelial growth factor
causes production of loads of other
roads off the you know one big road and
that means that you get better Supply
you get less traffic going into the
brain so you get more nutrients to all
the tissues and then you have healthier
supply to the brain which could help
with Alzheimer's with age related
cognitive decline so running is
impacting you all the way like through
your whole life and it can actually you
know stop you from getting age related
cognitive decline which is massive but
what it relies on is you developing this
into a habit that you stick with and
that habit than you know being
sustainable over time that's what I'm
going to go into now is how can we use
all of this knowledge to Leverage The
cognitive impacts of running and also to
make sure that we continue doing it
sustainably so that we can reap the
rewards of running on our brains both in
the present moment and over
time so my first question to myself was
you know when should I run and the way
that I've thought about this is I want
to leverage the impacts on my
hippocampus so I want the focus the
memory and the regulating my mood so I'm
going to be running in the morning and
I'll be trying to time that run for
before I do you know research or writing
or you know big cognitive tasks because
I want to try and leverage the fact that
my hippocampus is more active and
the another really really cool thing I
found on the internet was uh Wendy
Suzuki uh did a study that showed that
the cognitive impacts of exercise can
last up to 2 hours and she didn't
actually go past two hours so they may
even continue after 2 hours but if you
imagine you know do your run get down do
that work for at least 2 hours then
you're getting the most out of the
cognitive you know shortterm memory
Focus attention impact of running you're
taking advantage of that so that's what
I'm planning to try and
do so the next one is how often should
we run and so for me I'm going to be
running about two or three times a week
because I want to lift weights I enjoy
lifting weights so I want it to be you
know sustainable for me because over
time I don't want to you know just stop
so for me that's going to be two to
three times a week but I think it's
really important that this is a very
personal decision so you know try
running five times a week or just once a
week and find the thing that works for
you because the main thing is that it
needs to be sustainable over
time the next one is how how long should
I run for and this seems to vary so
Wendy Suzuki seems like a you know
pretty well-renowned neuroscientist
talking about exercise she says just
even just 10 minutes can be helpful and
I agree that it even that small amount
can be really beneficial for you
depending on where your starting point
is but personally for myself I'm going
to be running for about half an hour
that seems to be the sweet spot for me
where it doesn't take too long but I see
the mental benefits I've just got back
now and I have to say I feel good but
[Music]
tired there's loads of stuff on the
internet about Zone 2 cardio and I like
the principle that I should run at an
intensity that I wouldn't be able to
talk
at you know you're doing zone two cardio
when you can't hold a conversation while
you're doing the
exercise that's the bench mark and I
can't even speak
anyway but I'm not going to be you know
measuring my heart rate and making sure
it's 70 to 80% of the V2 Max that's not
what I'm going to do I'm just going to
try and make sure that I wouldn't be
able to have a com ation at that
pace it's actually just any aerobic
exercise so if that's rowing for you or
cycling or any form of aerobic
exercise but importantly these benefits
can't be seen from lifting weights so if
you want to see the benefits to the
brain of lifting weights I can explore
that in another video I have no idea
what those benefits might be because
I've not looked into any of the research
but I'm kind of intrigued so if you want
to see that video then you know let me
know in the comments down below and I'm
more than happy to make it and if you've
enjoyed this video let me know in the
comments any questions for me about this
and I'll try my best to answer them if
you've enjoyed this please subscribe and
I'll see you
[Music]
soon you may have heard of this
structure called the
hi
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