{"id":5445,"date":"2020-02-15T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-02-15T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/braindevs.net\/blog\/blog\/?p=5445"},"modified":"2020-02-18T13:30:52","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T18:30:52","slug":"the-effect-of-exercise-on-the-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/the-effect-of-exercise-on-the-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"“The” Effect of “Exercise” on “the Brain”"},"content":{"rendered":"

A month ago, I wrote about a Twitter feud focusing on exercise during learning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When a PE teacher posted a video of his students reading on exer-cycles, edu-Twitter irrupted with champions (“love it!”) and critics (“bonkers!”).<\/p>\n

My response at the time was:<\/p>\n

First<\/strong>: I rather suspect that exercise during learning will distract students from their reading; however,<\/p>\n

Second<\/strong>: we don’t have research on this specific question; and<\/p>\n

Third<\/strong>: in the absence of research, it’s probably good for PE teachers to be experimenting in this realm.<\/p>\n

In other words: Edu-Twitter, relax<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Today’s Update<\/h2>\n

Since that mini-controversy, I’ve stumbled across an intriguing research addendum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Researchers in Germany wanted to know: how does exercise affect the brain. More specifically, does a difference in intensity level <\/strong>matter?<\/p>\n

That is: if I exercise 35% below<\/em> lactate threshold, will that influence brain connectivity differently than if I exercise 20% above<\/em> that threshold? (“Lactate threshold” measures intensity of exercise; the specifics aren’t super important here.)<\/p>\n

To answer that question, they had had about 2 dozen men exercise at those different levels on different days.<\/p>\n

The specific results quickly turn into a tornado of acronyms. But, briefly summarized<\/a>, the researchers found that:<\/p>\n

Low<\/strong> intensity exercise enhanced<\/strong> connectivity in networks that help process cognitive and attentional<\/strong> functions, while<\/p>\n

High<\/strong> intensity exercise enhanced<\/strong> connectivity in networks that help process emotional<\/strong> responses.<\/p>\n

And surprisingly (to me), high<\/strong> intensity exercise also diminished<\/strong> connectivity in networks that process motor coordination<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In other words, “exercise” does not have “an” effect on “the brain.”<\/p>\n

Instead, different<\/em> kinds of exercise have distinct<\/em> effects on particular<\/em> brain regions and networks.<\/p>\n

Core Conclusions<\/h2>\n

First<\/strong>: in the short term<\/em>, different exercise intensities may influence brain regions differently.<\/p>\n

Second<\/strong>: that “short term” caveat is important. Notice for instance that high intensity exercise muddles motor coordination networks. Why would that be? The study’s authors suggest it indicates temporary “motor fatigue.”<\/p>\n

That is: exercise doesn’t make us worse at motor coordination over the long term — that would be bizarre. Instead, it\u00a0temporarily<\/em> tires us out.\u00a0 Presumably, motor coordination bounces back after we stop exercising.<\/p>\n

So, too, we might be tempted to enhance cognitive function with low-intensity exercise. But, just as the motor-fatigue effect was temporary, so too the cognitive-function effect might be temporary.<\/p>\n

Third<\/strong>: back to those readers on bicycles. I don’t think this research applies directly to that classroom experiment. (Although, if low-intensity exercise really improves cognitive function — even temporarily — that finding makes those bikes somewhat more appealing. That is: low-intensity exer-cycling might improve the students’ cognition and focus while they read.)<\/p>\n

Instead, I think it highlights the importance of patience and specificity<\/em>. Until we have more research on this specific point, I don’t think we have nearly enough reason to cry either “bravo!” or “bonkers!”<\/p>\n

Instead, let’s gather more data. And, in the meanwhile, we can encourage one another in reasonable classroom experiments.<\/p>\n

And yes, I do mean even PE class experiments including exer-cycles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A month ago, I wrote about a Twitter feud focusing on exercise during learning. When a PE teacher posted a video of his students reading on exer-cycles, edu-Twitter irrupted with champions (“love it!”) and critics (“bonkers!”). My response at the time was: First: I rather suspect that exercise during learning will distract students from their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":5462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[33],"class_list":["post-5445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog","tag-exercise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5445"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5468,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5445\/revisions\/5468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}