--- title: Exercise and Fitness: Miracle Grow for Your Brain description: Exercise can have a dramatic affect on our ability to learn canonical: https://time.com/3956256/brain-exercise-effect/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-15T11:00:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:32.133Z article:section: Ideas og:title: This Is Your Brain on Exercise og:description: Exercise can have a dramatic affect on our ability to learn og:url: https://time.com/3956256/brain-exercise-effect/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf8c484ec5ad1537/69885aac3c16395fd6458cf0/brain.jpg?branch=production&width=361&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 361 og:image:height: 203 og:image:alt: brain og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is Your Brain on Exercise twitter:description: Exercise can have a dramatic affect on our ability to learn twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf8c484ec5ad1537/69885aac3c16395fd6458cf0/brain.jpg?branch=production&width=361&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is Your Brain on Exercise > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=4004191d-a016-43ca-a0cc-ea17bc514ba1&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Inside The Operating Room During Awake Surgery [Watch (HLS stream): Inside The Operating Room During Awake Surgery](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lyJruvm0.m3u8) (4:57)  _Published 2015-03-02. Brittany Capone is having a benign tumor removed from her brain and because it is so close to her speech center, surgeons will keep her awake and talk to her during the procedure_ by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Jul 15, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Getty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Jul 15, 2015 11:00 AM UTC --- > “” --- I’ve talked about how different I feel after [yoga or a long walk](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/02/cognitive-exhaustion/); things become clearer and I become calmer. The fascinating book [Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316113514/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316113514&linkCode=as2&tag=farnamstreet-20&linkId=COBCVLGJZFKB4WTN), by John Ratey, explains biologically what accounts for these significant changes in our mind and body. This is your brain on exercise. --- > “” --- Exercise can have a dramatic affect on our ability to learn. --- > “” --- Exercise affects how primed our brain is to take on this new information and create these new connections. If you think of your mind as a garden, the more you move, the more you enrich the soil with positive neurotransmitters like dopamine (attention, motivation, pleasure), serotonin (mood, self-esteem, learning), and norepinephrine (arousal, alertness, attention, mood). More importantly you sprinkle the ground with something called ‘brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein produced inside nerve cells which Ratey has dubbed ‘Miracle-Gro for the brain.’ --- > “” --- [Spark](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316113514/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316113514&linkCode=as2&tag=farnamstreet-20&linkId=COBCVLGJZFKB4WTN) goes into detail regarding the types of exercise that best produce this cocktail of neurotransmitters and proteins for your brain to sip on but at the end of the day any movement is good, especially if it’s something you want to do. --- > “” --- So next time you get in a bit of a rut or you simply want to maximize your potential, get up and get moving. **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/04/miracle-grow-for-your-brain/)**_._** **Join over 60,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** _Read next:_ [_How Diabetes Harms the Brain_](http://time.com/3948705/diabetes-harms-the-brain/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Download TIME’s mobile app for iOS to have your world explained wherever you go_](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/time-mobile/id328218429) ## Transcript Are you pretty comfortable dear? The first time I found out I had a tumor, I was 20. Where do you live dear? I would go get something and when I got there, I wouldn't know what I was going to get. Do you know where you are? I couldn't remember things good, so I was nervous. So that it's crazy. [ MUSIC ] I just want water. I first heard about the surgery, where I would have to be awake, about a month ago. It's not a matter of being awake or not. It's just the whole thing about having surgery of the brain period, is going to be, like, the hardest thing. Very nervous. I'm a nervous guy. [ LAUGH ] It's going to be the longest four hours of our life. We just hope this all turns out good, that's all. No. You did not get me a teddy bear. What am I going to do with this thing? [ LAUGH ] [ INAUDIBLE ] [ APPLAUSE ] [ LAUGH ] Brit baby. What? A few more hours it'll be all over. Thank god, I'm tired. So how do you guys all feel? We want it to be over. That's all. If they would let me scrub up, I would love to come in the operating room. I would love it. The idea is to take out the tumor and leave the brains behind. [ MUSIC ] It's sort of a misnomer. You're not awake for the entire procedure. For most of the surgery, you're gonna be quite deeply sedated so that you won't be aware [ CROSSTALK ] It's not terribly traumatic for patients. I always reassure them that we're gonna sedate them. We're not gonna put them to sleep except during the opening and the closing. You're going to be really comfortable. You're going to be surprised. One of the most important people in the room is anesthesiologists. No smiling, no laughing. If you go to sleep smiling you wake up smiling. [ LAUGH ] The art part of this is tailoring those medications to the point where the patient is sufficiently sedated that they tolerate the procedure. Timeout, this is. Brittany Capone, she has a left posterior temporal tumor. Everybody agree we're on the left side? Yup. [ MUSIC ] [ INAUDIBLE ] Left sided tumors we we're worried about speech. And it includes both motor speech and receptive speech. Name a word that starts with B. Brittany. Brittany, there ya go. You can hear the sort of a cadence the patient gets into. And if you notice any hesitancy we can, we could hear it instantaneously. Name something you paint with. Paint brush. That's. The most memorable ones now are, are the, the patients who, who carry on interesting conversations with us during surgery. No fennel. I like fennel too. The whole thing is pretty surreal actually. But reassuring all that's reassuring to us. What time is it? It's ten o'clock. You got a date? You got a date? Do I get to see the tumor? No. Not really. It's going to be hard for you to see it. Are you going to put me back to sleep? Very soon, yes. After the scalp is closed and the head is bandaged, we turn off all the medication. And the patient will wake up. Brittany. Brittany. Brittany. Can you open your eyes? Brittany? It's really, quite amazing how quickly they wake up and how bright and alert they are, after several hours of neuro surgery. Show me your teeth. Big smile. Smile, smile, smile. Good. Stick out your tongue. Good. Craniotomy is not a terribly painful operation. It's not like a chest surgery or an abdominal surgery. Can you lift this leg up? The next day you're walking on the ward after a craniotomy. Try to touch my hand here. There's just not much to hurt in the brain. That's the good thing. Today's a sunny day in New York city. [ MUSIC ] Today is a sunny day in New York City. Mmhm. 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