What Sort of Exercise Can Make You Smarter?

[donw]

My vote is for rock climbing. A lot of tech people do it, and it takes serious problem-solving skills. Figuring out how to contort your body to be able to extend your reach that last inch towards the next hold, and how to position yourself to move after that, takes a lot of thinking.

Plus, it's an amazing whole-body workout.

[trapper]

I would wager that a "fit" worker is more productive than a sedentary worker, even taking into account the time for training.

[randallsquared]

That depends strongly on the amount of time it takes for getting fit, doesn't it? In my experience in Basic for the Army, even very high levels of exercise do not prevent one from putting on fat ("Oh, just eat as much as you want; they'll work it off you!", I was told. I believed them. I shouldn't have).

[Novash]

Play Go, Chess, Sudoku and Dual-N Back. Learn another language. Learn to play an instrument. All this can make you 'smarter'.

[mediaman]

Interestingly, I remember one study that tested the effects of "brain games" versus exercise on the mental cognition of people as they age. The result of the study surprised me because it indicated that brain games do not seem to have a significant impact on the prevention of cognitive decline among the aged, but aerobic exercise did -- which, in some sense, aligns with this article.

Apologies in advance because I am having trouble finding the citation.

Edit: based on some searching, it appears that mental exercise does enhance neurological function among seniors. However, aerobic exercise has an equal or greater impact. I suspect combining both would be the best.

[amichail]

Bilingualism has a major disadvantage:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=648393

[myth_drannon]

"Mens sana in corpore sano" - a healthy mind in a healthy body

[dpapathanasiou]

I'm surprised the article didn't mention martial arts training: it's terrific for improving mental relaxation and awareness.

[SwellJoe]

It didn't mention it because the study wasn't about martial arts. It would also likely be difficult to get mice to do martial arts.

[gibsonf1]

P90x has given me amazing results both mentally and physically, so I think the article is right on. (The program is split between muscle building and aerobics, including Kenpo and Yoga as well as good old push ups and pull ups and dumbbells, etc.)

[jpwagner]

Can they show that it was because of the "exercise" and not the adrenaline rush of being forced to move your body torturously and indefinitely by a power much greater than you? among other possibilities...

[latortuga]

It would seem that the last sentence of the article isn't substantiated by the study and sounds rather off the cuff. I wish they wouldn't make a sweeping generalization based on a specific study or two; the human body just isn't that simple.

[xiaoma]

The last sentence of the article is a direct quotation from Chauying J. Jen (任卓穎), the co-author of the research. It's very doubtful that Jen's analysis of the results of his own study are "off the cuff".

[figital]

I've tried Brain Gym a few times with a licensed instructor and found it to be quite helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_gym

[kingkongrevenge]

> Jen says researchers suspect that treadmill running is more intense and leads to improvements in muscle aerobic capacity, and this increased aerobic capacity, in turn, affects the brain more than the wheel jogging.

So the subjects didn't know how to lift and the researchers didn't know how to instruct the subjects to lift. The suggestion that a proper 20 minute lifting session would be less intense than 20 minutes on a treadmill is ridiculous. Done correctly lifting will leave you gasping for air.

[c00p3r]

Different. Literally.