By now, you’re well aware that regular exercise is an important part of supporting health and longevity throughout the body. You know how regular movement benefits the heart, the lungs and, of course, the muscles and bones—but did you know it can also have positive effects for brain health?
In fact, studies suggest that breaking a sweat can help you unlock the full potential of your brain and plays a key role in protecting it as it ages. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), regular physical exercise can improve memory, reduce anxiety and depression and help reduce cognitive decline, such as dementia. Research also finds that exercise can improve sleep and reduce the risk of certain cancers and diabetes, all of which go a long way toward staying well.
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How to Prevent Alzheimer’s & Dementia and Reduce Your Risk of Cognitive Decline, According to Experts
“Part of my research as a postdoc, we looked at body composition and brain function, and the better someone’s body composition was—meaning the more muscle mass they had and the lower body fat they had—the better brain volume they actually had,” Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, a board-certified functional medicine physician and founder of Muscle-Centric Medicine, said at the 2024 SHE Media Co-Lab at South by Southwest.
Read on for more about how exactly working out improves your brain function, plus some simple tips from experts on how to incorporate brain-boosting exercise into your day-to-day to reap the cognitive benefits yourself.
Cardio Can Nourish Your Brain’s Messengers
Lyon emphasized the significance of body composition in conditions like Alzheimer’s, dementia and mild cognitive impairment. Additionally, she highlighted that exercise serves as a benefit to your endocrine system, which secretes something called myokines, which basically act as tiny messengers sent by your muscles when you move.
When you work out, not only are you strengthening your muscles, but Lyon said you’re also giving your body’s “message system” a workout as well. Releasing more myokines can have a positive impact on your overall health, especially when it comes to how your body regulates things like metabolism and inflammation.
This keeps these necessary pathways strong, which, in turn, lessens the likelihood of age-related decline and disease. “Through exercise, there’s hundreds of different myokines, but capsaicin and irisin actually impact the brain to produce BDNF, which is a brain-derived neurotrophic factor within the brain that helps with neurogenesis,” Lyon said.
Aerobic Exercise Is Key for Alzheimer’s Prevention
A growing body of research suggests that regular movement is protective against age-related brain diseases, in particular Alzheimer’s. Brisk aerobic exercise, meaning activities that get the heart pumping, have been pinpointed as a potential deterrent.
One 2025 study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that getting as little as 35 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise decreased the risk of developing dementia by 41%. The risk decreased with higher amounts of activity, too.
Why? This kind of exercise is associated with decreasing inflammation and increasing blood flow.
Weight Training May Strengthen Your Nervous System
Neurogenesis is the brain’s natural process of forming new neurons. Studies have revealed that the hippocampus, a component of the brain’s limbic system, generates between 700 to 1,500 new neurons daily. In addition, Lyon highlighted a direct correlation between the intensity and duration of training. She emphasized that even as little as 10 minutes of weight training can be sufficient.
Antonietta Vicario, chief training officer at Pvolve, echoed this sentiment by emphasizing the importance of starting your muscle-building journey from your current level, rather than pushing yourself too hard. It doesn’t matter if you can’t bench press 100 pounds to start—what matters is that you lift what you can and keep going.
“Ultimately, you want to work up to three, four or five weight training sessions, or whatever you can manage,” Vicario said, acknowledging that number can be hard for midlife women to hit given their litany of responsibilities. “There’s a lot going on, so if we can get somewhere between three to five weight training sessions per week, you’re really setting yourself up for success… but it’s all about setting yourself up for success from the start.”
How to Slot in Exercise to Boost Your Brain Power
The good news? You don’t need to complete multi-hour gym sessions or run marathons to see benefits (although, those are great activities, if you can do them). The key to working more exercise into your routine is starting small and staying consistent. Whether you prefer a morning or evening workout, take a good look at your schedule and pick out time slots you can dedicate specifically to moving.
Find a way of moving that you enjoy so that you will stick to it. It’s best to have a mix of both cardio and resistance training, so aim for a mix of weight-bearing exercises and ones that will get your heart pumping. This can mean walking, running, swimming, pilates, yoga, dancing, tennis or even pickleball. Pick up some free weights, dumbbells or kettlebells or do bodyweight exercises. Group exercise classes can be a great way to get started because they offer an opportunity to make new friends and receive instruction from experts.
Daily walks are another way to take advantage of brain-boosting cardio. And don’t worry if you can’t manage 10,000 steps: research finds that walking even 3,000 steps per day slowed cognitive decline for adults who were at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
Even spending 10 minutes doing some jumping jacks or planks or slotting in a quick lunchtime walk helps. “I know a lot of times it’s ‘If I don’t have a full hour to get my session in or if I don’t have the 55 minutes to go to the class, I’m not doing anything,’” said Vicario. “We need to flip that script and just find ways to get movement in.”