Exercising for better brain health
Physical activity supports good brain health in countless ways.[1][2]
The best exercise program is one that you can be consistent with.
Aim to make exercise a habit that fits into your daily routine, ideally with other people. Once you have established exercise as a regular habit, consider mixing-up your activities to target:
Endurance/cardiovascular health
Strength
Coordination and balance
Do not do any exercises that are painful or dangerous. Please consult with your health care provider for personalized advice and guidance before starting any exercise program.
1. Endurance/cardiovascular health
Good heart health is good brain health.
Aim to get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity to high-intensity cardiovascular exercise total per week. [3] [4] [5]
An examples to consider is getting 20-25 minutes of exercise every day.
This type of exercise should be hard enough that you can just barely keep a conversation going at the same time, or harder. This might be jogging/running, brisk walking, bicycling, walking etc. depending on your fitness level and abilities.
Consider starting with a goal of getting at least 4,000 steps per day (about 3km), gradually increasing your speed and number of steps to 10,000 steps per day (about 8km).[6]
As your cardiovascular fitness advances, consider integrating shorter bouts of high intensity interval training (HIIT) into your your endurance training. HIIT affects your body in different ways than lower-intensity exercise and can be used to further enhance cardiovascular fitness.[7]
An example of HIIT includes 4 minutes of vigorous exercise, repeated 4 times between 3 minutes of rest.[8] As this type involves training near 85-95% of your maximum heart rate and may pose injury risk, speak to your health care provider to ensure HIIT can be completed safely before starting.
2. Strength
Keeping your muscles and body strong helps to keep your hormone levels healthy for your brain and prevent falls (one of the leading causes of brain injury).[9]
There are strength exercises that can be done by nearly everyone, regardless of age or condition. For example, older adults with frailty who did strength training (combined with regular walks and high protein intake) was shown to prevent and even reverse frailty.[10] In this routine, 10 repetitions of 10 different exercises were completed at least 4 times a week (ideally every day).
Aim to regularly exercise (at least 2 times a week) all your muscle groups through the greatest range of motion you can move through without pain.
Try to progress with either greater weighted resistance (e.g., weights, cans, bottles, etc.) or more exercise repetitions at a rate that challenges you, but you can recover from and does not risk injury.
When doing strength training, while it is important to challenge yourself to get your body to respond to the training, you do not need to perform exercises to failure (i.e., until you cannot perform the exercise anymore).[11]
3. Coordination & balance
Movements that safely challenge your balance and coordination make use of many different areas of your brain.
Aim to do one activity that safely challenges your balance and coordination at least once a week.
This could include yoga, dancing, or recreational sports that you enjoy.
Recovery
It is important to eat enough protein and get adequate nutrition and get enough quality sleep to ensure your body is well rested and fueled for, and recover from, physical exercise.
Aim to get 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day
Learn more about brain health and wellness
[1] Niotis, K., Akiyoshi, K., Carlton C. & Isaacson, R. (2022). Dementia Prevention in Clinical Practice. Semin Neurol. 45(05): 525-548. doi: 10.1055/s-0042-1759580
[4] Public Health Agency of Canada. (n.d.) Physical activity tips for older adults (65 years and older).
[5] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.) How much physical activity do adults need?