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How 10 Seconds of Light Exercise Might Help Your Engage Your Brain

Andrew Badham 2024-10-15 10:30:04

Here’s why you might not want to sit still if you’re trying to engage your brain or, to be more specific, your prefrontal cortex. A study published in July of 2024 found that just 10 to 20 seconds of light-intensity exercise increased blood flow to the participants’ prefrontal cortices.

Now, before we jump into the study, we want to discuss why that’s interesting. The prefrontal cortex is associated with our executive function which includes things like problem solving, critical thinking and even self-control. So, if this could be a way to engage or even develop this functionality, that would be a huge advantage.

The study was conducted on 10–15-year-olds who were asked to perform a variety of stretches and exercises ranging from a simple upward stretch to complicated finger movements and even balancing.

They found that, while the static stretches didn’t really illicit any meaningful increases in blood flow, the dynamic stretching, balance exercises, and hand exercises did.

Of course, we can’t use this to jump to any conclusions. While we know that the prefrontal cortex was more active, we don’t know what impact that would actually have on your cognition. Would it make you more self-controlled, more analytical? This study can’t tell us that. However, I think there’s some room for some fun experimentation. For example, if you’re about to tackle a problem that needs solving, try balancing on one leg for 10 seconds first. If you’re about to sit down and study some information, try a quick hand exercise to prime your mind.