M·01
Mind & Body
Exercise Is the Strongest Single Intervention
Nothing else improves mood, attention, memory and long-term cognition on as much evidence as regular aerobic exercise.
- Evidence
- proven
- Topic
- Mind
- Things to do
- 3
- Read
- 1 min
provenHow strong is the evidence?
Tested again and again, by different people, and it keeps coming out the same. You can lean on this.
- Schuch et al., J. Psychiatric Research, 2016 (depression meta-analysis)
- Ratey, Spark (2008)
- Erickson et al., PNAS, 2011 — hippocampal volume
Why it works
It raises BDNF, improves sleep architecture and vascular supply to the brain, and its effect on mild-to-moderate depression is comparable to medication in several meta-analyses.
What to do about it
- Three or four sessions a week that raise your heart rate. Consistency beats intensity and beats programme design.
- Put it before the work it's meant to improve, not after the day that used you up.
- Walking counts, and is the version people actually sustain for decades.
Where people go wrong
Waiting for the right programme, gym or gear. All of it is optional; the sessions are not.
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- Name It to Tame ItPutting a feeling into words reduces amygdala activity and recruits the regulating prefrontal regions.solid
- Reframe, Don't SuppressReinterpreting a situation reduces the emotion at low cost. Suppressing the expression leaves the emotion intact and adds physiological and memory costs.proven