How to Use Exercise to Improve Your Brain’s Health, Longevity & Performance

Andrew Huberman, a professor at Stanford, explores the profound impact of exercise on brain health and performance, emphasizing how different forms of exercise—resistance training and various intensities of cardiovascular training—can enhance cognitive functions both immediately and over time. He highlights the vast research supporting exercise's role in boosting neurobiological mechanisms, particularly through increased arousal and the release of beneficial hormones like osteocalcin. Huberman also stresses the importance of maintaining a diverse exercise regimen, including activities that are challenging and disliked, to stimulate brain areas associated with perseverance and cognitive resilience. Additionally, he underscores the critical interplay between exercise and sleep in optimizing brain health.

• Exercise impacts brain health and performance both immediately and over the long term. Regular exercise compounds these benefits, enhancing learning, memory retention, and the brain's capacity to absorb new information.
• Different forms of exercise, including resistance training and cardiovascular training, affect brain function acutely and in the long term.
• The extensive research, comprising tens of thousands of studies, consistently shows positive effects of exercise on brain health and performance.

"Today we are going to discuss how different forms of exercise resistance training cardiovascular training of both long medium and short duration can be used to improve the way that your brain functions acutely meaning immediately in the minutes and hours and the day that you do that exercise as well as in the long term in the days weeks and months after you perform that exercise."

• Exercise, whether resistance or cardiovascular, has immediate and long-term benefits for brain function.

• Cardiovascular exercise can be short, high-intensity, or longer, lower-intensity, each having different effects on brain health.
• Resistance training includes both compound movements and single-joint isolation exercises, with varying impacts on brain longevity and performance.
• Studies often focus on either acute changes (immediate effects) or chronic effects (long-term changes) in brain performance due to exercise.

"Most of the peer-reviewed studies focus on two general categories of exercise either cardiovascular exercise or resistance training."

• The primary focus of studies is on cardiovascular and resistance training, each impacting brain health differently.

• Exercise affects brain health through neurobiological and endocrine mechanisms, enhancing brain performance and longevity.
• Understanding these mechanisms allows for customization of exercise programs based on individual needs, time availability, age, and health status.

"The goal of today's episode is to synthesize that vast amount of information into a logical framework that simplifies it and clarifies it and places it within the context of specific mechanisms both neurobiological mechanisms and endocrine based mechanisms."

• The episode aims to provide a framework for understanding how exercise benefits brain health through specific biological mechanisms.

• Exercise increases autonomic arousal, which significantly enhances brain performance immediately after exercise.
• Acute effects involve immediate improvements in cognitive tasks, while chronic effects involve long-term improvements in learning, memory, and brain health.

"Most all of the studies that have explored the relationship between exercise brain Health and Longevity and performance find positive effects."

• Nearly all studies find positive effects of exercise on brain health, whether looking at immediate or long-term changes.

• Increased autonomic arousal, whether during or after learning, significantly improves memory and cognitive performance.
• Arousal can be increased through various means, such as exercise, enhancing the ability to learn and retain information.

"Increasing autonomic arousal improves learning in memory."

• Elevated arousal levels, achieved through exercise, improve learning and memory retention.

• Exercise can be integrated before, during, or after learning to enhance brain performance, offering flexibility based on individual schedules.
• Understanding the relationship between exercise and learning allows for strategic planning of exercise routines to maximize brain health benefits.

"What this means is that if you want to use exercise not just for enhancing your bodily Health but also for brain health and performance you can do that exercise before during or after bouts of learning."

• Exercise can be strategically timed around learning to boost brain health and performance, providing flexibility in scheduling.

• Exercise, particularly high-intensity interval training (HIIT), can acutely improve cognitive performance, including recall and cognitive flexibility.
• The timing of exercise relative to learning tasks can enhance cognitive outcomes, though excessive exercise may diminish performance.
• Short, intense bouts of exercise can lead to immediate cognitive enhancements through increased arousal and cerebral blood flow.

"Exercise and the arousal associated with exercise has been shown to acutely improve recall so just raw recall of material the details in material it's been shown to improve cognitive flexibility."

• Exercise improves cognitive tasks by increasing arousal levels, enhancing memory recall, and cognitive flexibility.

"High-intensity interval training done before or believe it or not even during cognitive flexibility tasks significantly improves performance on those tasks."

• HIIT can enhance cognitive flexibility tasks when performed before or during the task due to increased arousal and cerebral blood flow.

"Two bouts of 4x4 or two high-intensity interval training sessions of any kind has been shown to diminish cognitive performance if the cognitive task comes after the second high-intensity interval training session."

• Excessive HIIT can lead to reduced cognitive performance due to diminished cerebral blood flow after multiple intense sessions.

• Exercise increases heart rate and blood flow, delivering more nutrients and oxygen to the brain, enhancing alertness and focus.
• The adrenal glands release adrenaline, which indirectly increases brain arousal through the vagus nerve and the locus coeruleus.
• Understanding these mechanisms can help design effective exercise schedules for cognitive and physical health.

"When you do cardiovascular exercise of any kind intense or not so intense short or long your heart rate increases your blood pressure increases...When your heart rate increases there's actually both increased blood flow to the brain and the delivery of all the things that that blood carries."

• Exercise-induced heart rate increase enhances cerebral blood flow, delivering nutrients and oxygen that support brain function.

"Adrenaline or epinephrine as it's also called does many things in our body it's responsible for increasing our heart rate further...but when it's released it also acts on so-called adrenergic receptors on the vagus nerve."

• Adrenaline released during exercise acts on the vagus nerve, indirectly increasing brain arousal and focus.

"The locus ceruleus contains neurons that release among other things norepinephrine which is similar in action to epinephrine but different...sprinkler the brain with a neurochemical and that neurochemical is norepinephrine."

• The locus coeruleus releases norepinephrine in the brain, enhancing overall brain activity and cognitive engagement.

• Compound exercises that engage multiple muscle groups can enhance arousal and cognitive benefits due to their impact on the adrenal system.
• Short, intense exercises, like "exercise snacks," can provide quick cognitive boosts through increased autonomic arousal.
• Understanding the pathways between exercise and brain function can optimize exercise routines for cognitive and physical benefits.

"If you want to get the Al that comes from exercise in order to use that arousal to leverage it towards better cognition brain health...the key thing is to make sure that you're doing exercises that are compound exercises."

• Compound exercises effectively stimulate the adrenal system, enhancing cognitive arousal and focus.

"Exercise snacks...this idea that you know throughout the day you you know suddenly do 25 quick jumping jacks or you you know you jump up and down five times...people talk about the sort of outsize positive effects of those."

• Brief, intense exercise bouts can provide immediate cognitive enhancements through heightened arousal.

"The move movement of our body is creating specific neurochemical outcomes both in the body and the brain that create the arousal that initiates the improvements in focus and attention."

• Exercise-induced neurochemical changes in the body and brain enhance arousal, focus, and cognitive performance.

• Exercise enhances brain health and function through complex communication pathways between the body and brain.
• Osteocalcin, a hormone released from bones during exercise, travels to the brain and promotes neuron growth in the hippocampus, aiding memory and learning.
• Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF) are growth factors increased by exercise, supporting brain health by stabilizing and enhancing neuron connections.

"One of the more interesting and powerful and indeed surprising ways that the body communicates with the brain during exercise to improve brain health and indeed our ability to remember things and to learn is the way that our bones, our skeleton, when they're under loads, release hormones in particular something called osteocalcin."

• Osteocalcin is a key hormone released by bones during exercise that aids in memory and learning by promoting neuron growth in the hippocampus.

"Exercise increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor; it increases growth factors that cause the growth of endothelial cells, so blood vessels."

• Exercise boosts BDNF and other growth factors, supporting brain health by enhancing neuron connections and blood vessel growth.

• Osteocalcin, released during exercise, plays a crucial role in enhancing brain health, particularly in memory and learning.
• Exercises that load the skeleton, such as jumping, are believed to effectively release osteocalcin, though specific exercises have not been systematically studied.

"Any exercise program that's designed not just to benefit our body but also our brain health and performance should do something to load the skeleton in some sort of impactful way that causes the release of osteocalcin."

• Exercise programs should include activities that load the skeleton to release osteocalcin, enhancing brain health.

• Lactate, produced during intense exercise, acts as an appetite suppressant and affects brain function by influencing neurons in the hypothalamus.
• Lactate serves as a preferred fuel for neurons during exercise, sparing glucose for cognitive tasks post-exercise.
• Lactate stimulates endothelial growth factors, promoting the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, crucial for brain health and longevity.

"Lactate is what's produced when we exercise intensely; our muscles produce lactate, and lactate is a very powerful appetite suppressant."

• Lactate, produced during intense exercise, suppresses appetite and impacts brain function by affecting hypothalamic neurons.

"Lactate stimulates the release of something called VEGF, which is basically an endothelial growth factor that promotes the stability and growth of the blood-brain barrier."

• Lactate promotes blood-brain barrier health by stimulating endothelial growth factors, supporting brain longevity.

• Include various forms of exercise weekly to maximize brain health benefits: long slow distance (zone two), high-intensity interval training (HIIT), and resistance training with time under tension.
• Long slow distance exercise improves cerebral blood flow and cardiovascular health, benefiting brain function.
• High-intensity interval training enhances brain health through arousal mechanisms and alternate fuel usage.
• Resistance training with time under tension promotes muscle and nerve pathway engagement, supporting brain and bodily health.

"Whatever exercise you happen to be doing or you happen to be planning, I do believe it should include four things specifically to improve brain health and performance."

• A well-rounded exercise routine should include multiple exercise types to enhance brain health and performance.

"Include at least one workout per week that is of a long slow distance nature, so zone two type cardio."

• Long slow distance exercise is essential for brain health due to its positive effects on cerebral blood flow and cardiovascular health.

• Exercise affects numerous molecular and anatomical pathways, enhancing brain health and performance.
• Astrocytes in the brain produce lactate during neuron activity, supporting neuron function and increasing BDNF levels.
• The integrity of the blood-brain barrier is crucial for brain health, and exercise promotes its stability through various mechanisms.

"Astrocytes sit around the synapse; they ensheath synapses, and astrocytes are beautifully positioned to read out the amount of activity that's occurring between neurons and produce fuel for those neurons."

• Astrocytes support neuron function by producing lactate during activity, enhancing brain health through increased BDNF levels.

• Emphasize the importance of keeping muscles under tension during exercises, including concentric and eccentric movements, to enhance muscle engagement and growth.
• Highlight the inclusion of explosive jumping and eccentric landing in workouts to improve coordination, brain performance, and release osteocalcin.
• Discuss the benefits of incorporating long slow distance, high-intensity interval training, time under tension training, and explosive eccentric control training into existing workout regimens.

"Concentrate on keeping the muscle under tension the entire time... AKA increasing the time under tension."

• Keeping muscles under continuous tension enhances muscle growth and engagement.

"Explosive jumping with eccentric landing... is super important not just for your body... but also to get that release of osteocalcin, the improvements in BDNF, brain performance, brain health, and so on."

• Eccentric movements not only improve physical health but also contribute to brain health through the release of beneficial hormones.

• Exercise is crucial for maintaining brain health; lack of exercise leads to decreased brain oxygenation and markers of brain health.
• The importance of resuming exercise after a break due to injury or illness to prevent cognitive decline.
• Sleep mediates many positive effects of exercise on brain performance and long-term health.

"After about 10 days of not doing any training... you start to see significant decrements in brain oxygenation levels."

• A prolonged lack of exercise can lead to cognitive decline and reduced brain oxygenation.

"Exercise improves brain health in the long term... but it also does so by improving your sleep."

• Exercise enhances brain health both directly and indirectly by improving sleep quality.

• It's beneficial to exercise even after a poor night's sleep to offset negative effects on brain performance.
• High-intensity interval training early in the day can improve sleep quality, particularly deep and REM sleep.
• The relationship between sleep deprivation, injury risk, and exercise is significant; caution is advised when exercising while sleep-deprived.

"If you're slightly sleep deprived... go ahead and exercise... but you want to be careful how you exercise so you don't get sick and you don't get injured."

• Exercise can mitigate sleep deprivation effects, but caution is needed to prevent injury.

"Doing high-intensity interval training can improve the amount of deep slow wave sleep that you get."

• High-intensity exercise can enhance the quality and depth of sleep.

• Engaging in challenging exercises activates the AMCC, linked to grit, persistence, and cognitive resilience.
• Superagers, who maintain cognitive abilities into old age, often have a well-maintained or increased AMCC volume.
• Activities that are physically and psychologically challenging can enhance AMCC activity and contribute to cognitive health.

"The anterior mid cingulate cortex... is powerfully engaged when we lean into challenges... and we get that I'm going to push through tenacity."

• The AMCC is crucial for perseverance and is activated during challenging tasks.

"Superagers are people that defy the aging process... maintaining the volume of certain brain areas well into older age."

• Superagers maintain cognitive health through activities that engage the AMCC.

• Performing exercises that are disliked but safe can stimulate the AMCC, enhancing brain health and resilience.
• Personal examples include cold exposure and learning new physical skills that are initially challenging.
• Community engagement in sharing challenging exercises can foster motivation and adherence.

"Do something you really don't want to do... both psychologically challenging and physically challenging at least once per week."

• Engaging in disliked activities can stimulate brain areas that contribute to resilience and cognitive health.

"For me... it's deliberate cold exposure... because I hate it and because I know that by doing it I'm going to be activating my will to persevere."

• Personal challenges, like cold exposure, are used to stimulate the AMCC and enhance perseverance.

These comprehensive notes provide a detailed overview of the key themes discussed in the transcript, focusing on exercise's role in enhancing brain health and performance.