--- 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 ## 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) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3956256/brain-exercise-effect/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3956256/brain-exercise-effect/"},"headline":"This Is Your Brain on Exercise","datePublished":"2015-07-15T11:00:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:49:32.133Z","description":"Exercise can have a dramatic affect on our ability to learn","url":"https://time.com/3956256/brain-exercise-effect/","keywords":["Psychology","Brain","Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf8c484ec5ad1537/69885aac3c16395fd6458cf0/brain.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf8c484ec5ad1537/69885aac3c16395fd6458cf0/brain.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"brain","caption":"brain","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3956256/brain-exercise-effect/","name":"This Is Your Brain on Exercise"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Inside The Operating Room During Awake Surgery","description":"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","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/lyJruvm0/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-03-02T20:52:14.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lyJruvm0.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3956256/brain-exercise-effect/","duration":"PT4M57S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3956256/brain-exercise-effect/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```