Scientists in Germany have identified distinct changes in brain function that occur after people perform either low or high intensity exercise, and these differences in how the brain responds to activity may help us tailor our choice of exercise to help us better perform certain tasks.
The study, Modulation of Distinct Intrinsic Resting State Brain Networks by Acute Exercise Bouts of Differing Intensity, used resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (Rs-fMRI), a noninvasive technique that allows researchers to peer inside the brain in order to study functional connectivity – patterns of transient coherent neuronal activity in different regions of the brain.
These ‘functional networks’ are like committees that form in order to solve a particular problem, and then disband when their job is done, allowing members to join other committees focused on solving other problems.
The researchers found increased functional connectivity in regions of the brain associated with cognitive processing and attention control after participants worked out at a low intensity – walking on a treadmill at a strolling pace.
After high intensity exercise – running at top speed until they could not continue – participants’ brains showed increased functional connectivity in brain regions associated with emotional processing.
The implications of this study are that if you need to focus your attention on a task that requires a great deal of concentration and rigorous thought, such as studying for an exam, solving a work problem or – god forbid – choosing a new phone plan, you should go for a walk or engage in some other form of low intensity exercise before you settle down to your task. On the other hand, a hard workout that pushes you to your limits is the best choice if you’re in the throes of emotional turmoil.
It’s worth noting that participants reported better mood and more positive feelings after both low and high intensity exercise, so if you’re grappling with neither difficult cognitive challenges nor emotional tumult, but would just like to feel more chipper, then consider yourself free to do whatever form of exercise floats your boat.
At this point, some of you might well be saying ‘duh’. Most people have probably noticed that a vigorous workout calms tempestuous emotions, and many have observed that they can concentrate better after taking a stroll or doing a yoga class.
But what this study contributes is insight into how we experience specific benefits from different intensities of exercise – that is, what’s actually going on in our brains to cause our experiences of exercise.
The study also raises an intriguing question: why might the brain have evolved these distinctive patterns of functional connectivity in response to high versus low intensity exercise? Here’s my speculation, for what it’s worth:
The ‘factory-installed software’ of our brains – that is, mechanisms that are adapted to solve human problems of survival and reproduction – was shaped by selection pressures in the stone-age environment of evolutionary adaptation. Our ancient ancestors faced daily cognitive challenges, including finding food, avoiding becoming food, making and improving upon tools, producing fire for cooking and defence, and navigating a complex web of social relationships.
They undertook these cognitively-demanding tasks while in near-constant motion – walking, digging, tracking, climbing, grinding, weaving – of mostly low to moderate intensity.
High intensity activity would be provoked by emotion-charged situations such as fleeing from predators, hostile encounters with other tribes, and the denouement of hunting expeditions.
It makes evolutionary sense that our brains would have evolved to associate problem-solving with low intensity activity (Oh, we’re walking somewhere? We must have something to figure out – let me get straight onto it!) and emotional processing with high intensity activity (Oh my god, we’re running really fast! Something terrible must be happening – I must prepare myself to work through it!).
These days, few of us spend our days trying to figure out how to get enough food, or fleeing from hungry lions , but we can still take advantage of the hard wiring of our brains to selectively use high and low intensity exercise to our best advantage.
And since walking for just 20 minutes boosts working memory as much as a cup of coffee, without the caffeine jitters, there’s every reason to slot exercise into your pre-work, pre-school or pre-study routine.
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