New study shows the effect that exercise has on brain function

Anecdotally, I’ve always felt that regular exercise improved the clarity of my thoughts and made me feel ‘sharper’ at work. A study published in NeuroImage in May 2014, has shown that exercise does in fact improve ‘executive functions’ of our brain. Executive functions is an umbrella term for the management of cognitive processes in our brain including working memory, reasoning, planning, execution, task flexibility and problem solving.

This Japanese study, put the participants through the Stroop test both before and after exercise. This test measures attention and brain processing speed and the participants achieved better scores after just a 10 minute bout of exercise on a stationary bike.

So if you don’t have time to exercise because you’re too busy at work, you now have another reason to make exercise a priority as it will actually help you to be more efficient in your work tasks!

-Kristin Lewis