Catching up on my Reading/Running

Did anyone catch the New York Times Magazine article “What sort of exercise can make you smarter” from last Sunday 9/20? I just read it and was really excited to see it since I am an avid exerciser and had high hopes that this could help my brain function better. As we have talked about in the blog many times it is true that exercising is better for the brain but the fine print in this article was a bit more challenging–you need to do streneous exercise in order to reap the benefits and running faster or being trained harder is probably the most rewarding for your brain. Too bad, I was hoping my slow pace jog was going to give the same benefit. I think these findings speak to one of our general brain fitness rules– when something gets too easy or too routine it is time to try something else. That is why just continuing to work or get out of bed every morning isn’t enough. We need to stimulate ourselves with new activities both mental and physical in order to see the best results. Guess that means I will be heading to the gym for a harder workout tomorrow.