HIIT Training and the Brain
We have only just begun to uncover how many ways exercising can positively affect the brain. Exercise pumps the brain with oxygen, releases endorphins and hormones to promote the growth of brain cells, and supports brain plasticity. In addition, it improves cognitive function, mental health, and memory, and reduces depression and stress.
Improving Brain–Body Connection
Exercise has a number of positive effects on how we think and feel. Increased blood flow means that the brain is exposed to more oxygen and energy than it had prior to exercise. On an emotional level, exercise boosts our mood by sending hormones to the brain that signal happiness. According to the Harvard Medical School Journal, exercise also induces the release of beneficial proteins in the brain. These nourishing proteins (neurotrophins) maintain healthy brain cells and promote the growth of new ones.
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Reduces stress: exercise is known to relieve long-term stress, and endorphins after workout cause an instant high.
Improves sleep: exercise helps to improve sleep quality, increasing the amount of rejuvenating “slow wave” deep sleep. Better sleep improves creativity and boosts brain function.
Helps protect against dementia: an increase in neurotrophins lessens brain tissue damage linked to dementia.
Increases brain volume: research has shown that exercising enlarges the hippocampus, the area of the brain associated with memory and learning.
Improves cognitive abilities: research suggests the increase in blood flow to the brain caused from exercise can raise levels of neurotrophins, which aid the brain’s ability to adapt and regenerate, improving rational thinking, intellectual performance, and memory.
HIIT Training Brain Gains
When we exercise, we experience an increase in oxygen levels and angiogenesis (blood vessel growth) in the brain. In particular, this occurs in areas of the brain responsible for rational thinking and other intellectual, physical, and social abilities. Exercise also lowers levels of the stress hormones cortisol, allowing for an increase in the number of neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine.
Neurogenesis
Scientists once believed we had only a fixed amount – around 86 bilion – of neurons (nerve cells) in the brain. Research now proves that neurogenesis (the creation of new neurons) can occur and in areas such as the hippocampus, important for learning and memory. What’s more, exercise has the power to stimulate levels of neurotrophins that help promote neurogeneis and neuroplasticity.
new brain cells
Neuron cells are coloured pink in this microscopic-level image of the brain’s hippocampus. HIIT workouts promote the creation of new neurons.
Neuroplasticity
Exercise has been linked to increased neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to adapt, master new skills, and store memories and information. Pathways within the brain become more permanent the more you use them. The more you train or perform a new skill the stronger the pathways in the brain become. Training your body also trains your mind!
BUILDING CONNECTIONS
Neurons form new connections in response to a stimulus. Repetition of the stimulus reinforces how the brain is wired.
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Synapse, up close
Molecules of neurotransmitter prompted by the signal in one neuron flow across the synapse in about 1 millisecond, relaying the signal to the next connected neuron.
Neurochemistry
Where one neuron meets another there is a gap called a synapse. To transmit electrical signals, your brain uses a system of chemicals called neurotransmitters, which diffuse across the synapse and initiate the signal in the next neuron. HIIT exercises boost levels of certain neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin, which is why after working out you feel happy and less stressed.
Mind–body connection
When training, it’s good to work with focus and without directions. One way to do this is by improving the mind-to-body connection. Mind–body connection means to focus intently on the muscle you are working on. See that muscle and feel how it moves. Research shows this boosts the strength and growth of that specific muscle. This is a mindful approach to resistance training.