Running as the Thinking Person's Sport
Heather Litz, PSYC 465 Section 001
Link to Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/well/move/running-as-the-thinking-persons-sport.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FBrain
This article addresses the implications of running on the brain. While scientists have studied the cognitive benefits of many other physical activities, such as sports requiring hand-eye coordination and multi-tasking, it was never believed that running had any true impact on our cognitive abilities because it was not thought of as an activity that required any significant brain-power. Running is something everyone can do naturally from a young age, so it seemed unlikely that it required upper-level cognitive abilities. However, a new study has shown that avid runners have more brain activity in areas of the brain that require higher-level functioning than those living a lifestyle free of exercise. The researchers conducting this study compared the brain activity of collegiate male runners and men who had not exercised in the past year using MRI scans. Their results showed that the runners' brains had significantly more connections between areas of the brain that control working memory, multi-tasking, attention, decision-making, and visual/sensory information processing. The sedentary males had less brain connectivity and less activity in general in higher-level brain areas.
These findings imply that running is much more cognitively demanding than was previously believed. This also has huge implications for the aging population. Perhaps if people were more active throughout their life, using running as a means for exercise, they could maintain higher-level brain functioning further into their adult life. If people understand the benefits now and begin running at a young enough age, maybe the future could hold older adults with healthier brains. In addition, this study needs to be considered when addressing the attention problems newer generations of children are facing today. With a huge increase in the number of individuals being diagnosed with ADD/ADHD in today's society comes a huge increase in the number of drugs being administered to children and adults in America. While running can most likely not improve an individual's attention enough to completely control the symptoms of ADHD, this research is showing that it is likely that it can at least help significantly. Maybe this research could lead to further research indicating that we do not need to administer medication so quickly, as there are other options. If people become aware of the cognitive benefits of running, it is probable that they will be more likely to include running as a part of their daily lifestyle, not only leading to improvements in the mental abilities of Americans, but improvements in our physical health as well.
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ReplyDeleteI found this article informative because I do enjoy going to the gym on a daily basis. I was surprised at the fact that running seems to lead to more connections between areas of the brain that control working memory, multi-tasking, attention, decision-making, and visual/sensory information processing, as opposed to other multi-tasking activities. Like the article stated, other athletic activities such as badminton or tennis have always been believed to promote more hand-eye coordination, and multi-tasking. In the last paragraph of the article, the author stated that they do not know if it is just running alone that produces the same results in the brain or if other endurance activities like swimming or cycling would have the same affect on the brain. In addition, the article did state that they do not know if the same brain response would be prevalent among middle aged or older men because this study only tested college aged men. Lastly, the author stated that cognitive abilities were not tested before the experiment; therefore, the variable of a person just being smarter was not eliminated. As a psychology student reading this study, It was important for the article to point out these variables that may or may not have had some influence on the results of the study.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I find this study interesting because there may be a link between high levels of brain activity and running, I do think that there needs to be more research conducted to further suggest that running for all people with differentiating ages,genders, and cognitive abilities, does in fact lead to higher level brain activity.
This article had an interesting topic regarding how running can affect the brain and thinking. It seems as though in the present day it is hard to people to not only focus on studies, but also make time for exercise as well. As a college student, I find it difficult to make it to the gym three times a week, while going to school full time and working full time as well. Running has always been my favorite means of exercise, which is great because it is helping me cognitively and physically. Whenever I feel stressed or my mind is foggy, taking a nice run seems to clear my head.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the comment made about helping ADHD does not seem to work with me. ADHD deals with individuals who are either hyperactive or unable to pay attention for long periods of time. This article suggests that running can help increase brain activities, but I feel as though that will not help with a mental disorder. Because a child or young adult has ADHD, does not mean they have lower levels of brain activity. If anything, they have too much activation. The study is a bit misleading due to the fact that it was conducted solely on male college students. Humans during this time period are at their “prime” and we significantly achieve better in physical activity than someone who may be fifty years old. The attractive title does get someone to read the article because they might think, ”Hey, I just have to run to perform better mentally!” It is a great study, but further testing should be done with multiple different types of subjects in order to understand if this can be generalized for all human beings.
Typically, I would have to agree that running doesn't take much effort; you can just put on your running shoes and go but then on the other hand I can see how running can relate to more higher level processing. People often run when they are upset or have a lot of their mind. It can be a time for them to do some deep thinking and decision making. This article and you mentioned the MRI results of people who ran. It showed that those individuals had more attention which makes sense to me because when running you're constantly paying attention to your surroundings. One thing I wondered while reading this article was if the distance or speed of running would affect the MRI scans.
ReplyDeleteThis study makes me wonder if running is just as beneficial in a child's development. Overtime it seems that children have became more sedentary than in the past. It would be interesting to find out if the increase in sedentary activity has led to an increase of disorders like ADD/ADHD in children.
ReplyDeleteI have heard many different times about how running can impact not only your physical fitness but your cognition many times. I don't really buy into the idea that running alone allows people to have more activity in areas of the brain that require higher-level functioning. I lean toward the idea that maintaining physical fitness through life is essential to the overall performance of a person physically and mentally. I believe this is for simpler reasons such as increased blood flow to the brain. Regarding aging, my answer for runners maintaining higher brain functioning later into life than sedentary people is that people who are physically active are mostly likely active in all aspects of their life (socially, mentally, etc.) People who continue to challenge themselves throughout life in things like creating relationships, thinking critically about different topics, and RUNNING are people who maintain high levels of brain function later into life.
ReplyDeleteI personally do see the connection between running and higher-levels of functioning but not in the same way presented in the article. I think that if a person is a "runner" they often are more overall healthy which can increase cognitive function. I think that these results can be generalized to general physical activity because I have seen that engaging in physical activity throughout later adult years can keep a person's mind "fresh" and being able to maintain higher-levels of functioning including memory. I think that running allows many people to take time from their day to either clear their mind or work through stress that presents during the day which can be a very mindful task. Taking time to be mindful during the day can help higher level functioning such as multitasking and making good decisions.
ReplyDeleteI find this very interesting because I use running as a way to clear my head when I am feeling stressed or overwhelmed. But if the study was between competitive collegiate male runners and men have not exercised in over a year could the cognitive differences be contributed to being a college athlete and the lifestyle differences instead of the actual running itself? The article points out that the runners are better at staying focused and multitasking which are both skills that are vital to the responsibilities of being a college athlete.
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