Genius Foods

AEROBIC EXERCISE

Low and Slow!

Hiking

Bike    ride

    Long    brisk   walk

Light   yoga

All forms of exercise help to increase blood flow to the
brain, pushing desperately needed oxygen and nutrients to
our biological control centers, but aerobic exercise in
particular has been found to be one of the best known
means of boosting brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or
BDNF. I’ve used phrases like “Miracle-Gro for the brain”
and “the brain’s ultimate fertilizer” throughout this book to
convey the powerful effect BDNF has in terms of promoting
neuroplasticity and protecting your brain cells, but I admit
these may still seem like abstract concepts. (Sadly, we can’t
flex our hippocampi in the mirror.) If you had access to an
MRI machine, however, you would be able to see the
profound growth that BDNF promotes.
A seminal study published in 2011 gave scientists the

opportunity to do just this.^4 It involved 120 cognitively
healthy adult subjects, half of whom regularly performed an
aerobic exercise routine three times per week over the
course of one year. Using an MRI, scientists saw that