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The brain-changing benefits of exercise

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    What if I told you there was something
    that you can do right now
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    that would have an immediate,
    positive benefit for your brain
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    including your mood and your focus?
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    And what if I told you that same thing
    could actually last a long time
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    and protect your brain
    from different conditions
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    like depression,
    Alzheimer's disease, or dementia.
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    Would you do it?
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    Yes!
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    I am talking about the powerful effects
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    of physical activity,
    that is simply moving your body,
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    has immediate, long-lasting
    and protective benefits for your brain.
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    And that can last
    for the rest of your life.
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    So what I want to do today
    is tell you a story
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    about how I used my deep
    understanding of neuroscience,
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    as a professor of neuroscience,
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    to essentially do an experiment on myself
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    in which I discovered the science
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    underline why exercise
    is the most transformative thing
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    that you can do for your brain today.
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    Now, as a neruscientist,
    I know that our brains,
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    that is the thing in our head right now,
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    that is the most complex structure
    known to humankind.
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    But it's one thing to talk about the brain
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    and it's another to see it.
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    So here is a real preserved human brain.
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    And it's going to illustrate two key areas
    that we are going to talk about today.
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    The first is the prefrontal cortex,
    right behind your forehead
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    critical for things like decision-making,
    focus, attention and your personality.
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    The second key area is located
    in the temporal lobe, shown right here.
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    You have two temporal lobes in your brain,
    the right and the left,
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    and deep in the temporal lobe
    is a key structure
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    critical for your ability
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    to form and retain new long-term
    memories for facts and events.
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    And that structure
    is called the hippocampus.
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    So I've always been fascinated
    with the hippocampus.
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    How could it be that an event
    that lasts just a moment,
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    say, your first kiss,
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    or the moment your first child was born,
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    can form a memory
    that has changed your brain,
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    that lasts an entire lifetime?
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    That's what I want to understand.
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    I wanted to start and record the activity
    of individual brain cells
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    in the hippocampus
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    as subjects were forming new memories.
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    And essentially try and decode how
    those brief bursts of electrical activity,
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    which is how neurons
    communicate with each other,
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    how those brief bursts either allowed us
    to form a new memory, or did not.
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    But a few years ago,
    I did something very unusual in science.
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    As a full professor of neural science,
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    I decided to completely switch
    my research program.
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    Because I encountered something
    that was so amazing,
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    with the potential to change so many lives
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    that I had to study it.
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    I discovered and I experienced,
    the brain-changing effects of exercise.
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    And I did it in a completely
    inadvertent way.
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    I was actually at the height
    of all the memory work that I was doing --
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    data was pouring in,
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    I was becoming known in my field
    for all of this memory work.
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    And it should have been going great.
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    It was, scientifically.
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    But when I stuck my head
    out of my lab door,
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    I noticed something.
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    I had no social life.
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    I spent too much time
    listening to those brain cells
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    in a dark room, by myself.
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    (Laughter)
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    I didn't move my body at all.
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    I had gained 25 pounds.
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    And actually, it took me
    many years to realize it,
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    I was actually miserable.
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    And I shouldn't be miserable.
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    And I went on a river-rafting trip --
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    by myself, because I had no social life.
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    And I came back --
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    (Laughter)
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    thinking, "Oh, my God, I was
    the weakest person on that trip."
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    And I came back with a mission.
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    I said, "I'm never going to feel
    like the weakest person
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    on a river-rafting trip again."
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    And that's what made me go to the gym.
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    And I focused my type-A personality
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    on going to all the exercise
    classes at the gym.
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    I tried everything.
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    I went to kickbox, dance, yoga, step class
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    and at first it was really hard.
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    But what I noticed, is that after every
    sweat-inducing workout that I tried,
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    I had this great mood boost
    and this great energy boost.
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    And that's what kept me
    going back to the gym.
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    Well, I started feeling stronger.
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    I started feeling better,
    I even lost that 25 pounds.
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    And now, fast-forward a year and a half
    into this regular exercise program,
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    and I noticed something that really
    made me sit up and take notice.
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    I was sitting at my desk,
    writing a research grant
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    and a thought went through my mind
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    that had never gone
    through my mind before.
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    And that thought was,
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    "Gee, grant-writing is going well today."
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    And all the --
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    (Laughter)
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    Yeah, all the scientists
    always laugh when I say that,
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    because grant-writing never goes well.
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    It is so hard, you're always
    pulling your hair out,
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    trying to come up with that
    million-dollar-winning idea.
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    But I realized that
    the grant-writing was going well,
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    because I was able to focus
    and maintain my attention
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    for longer that I had before.
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    And my long-term memory --
    what I was studying in my own lab --
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    seemed to be better in me.
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    And that's when I put it together.
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    Maybe all that exercise
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    that I had included and added
    to my life was changing my brain.
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    Maybe I did an experiment on myself
    without even knowing it.
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    So as a curious neuroscientist,
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    I went to the literature to see
    what I could find about what we knew
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    about the effects
    of exercise on the brain.
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    And what I found was an exciting
    and a growing literature
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    that was essentially showing everything
    that I noticed in myself.
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    Better mood, better energy,
    better memory, better attention.
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    And the more I learned,
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    the more I realized
    how powerful exercise was.
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    Which eventually led me
    to the big decision
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    to completely shift my research focus.
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    And so now, after several years
    of really focusing on this question,
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    I've come to the following conclusion:
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    that exercise is the most
    transformative thing
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    that you can do for your brain today
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    for the following three reasons.
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    Number one: it has immediate
    effects on your brain.
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    A single workout that you do
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    will immediately increase levels
    of neurotransmitters
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    like dopamine, serotonin
    and noradrenaline.
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    That is going to increase your mood
    right after that workout,
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    exactly what I was feeling.
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    My lab showed, that a single workout
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    can improve your ability
    to shift and focus attention
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    and that focus improvement
    will last for at least two hours.
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    And finally, studies have shown
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    that a single workout
    will improve your reaction times
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    which basically means
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    that you are going to be faster
    at catching that cup of Starbucks
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    that falls off the counter.
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    Which is very, very important.
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    (Laughter)
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    But these immediate affects are transient,
    the help you right after.
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    What you have to do is do what I did,
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    that is change your exercise regime,
    increase your cardiorespiratory function,
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    to get the long-lasting effects.
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    And these effects are long-lasting
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    because exercise actually
    changes the brain's anatomy,
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    physiology and function.
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    Let's start with my favorite
    brain area, the hippocampus.
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    The hippocampus --
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    or, exercise, actually produces
    brand new brain cells,
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    new brain cells in the hippocampus,
    that actually increase its volume,
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    as well as improve
    your long-term memory, OK?
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    And that including in you and me.
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    Number two: the most common finding
    in neuroscience studies,
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    looking at effects of long-term exercise,
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    is improved attention function
    dependent or your prefrontal cortex.
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    You not only get
    better focus and attention,
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    but the volume of the hippocampus
    increases as well.
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    And finally, you not only get immediate
    effects of mood with exercise
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    but those last for a long time.
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    So you get long-lasting increases
    in those good mood neurotransmitters.
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    But really, the most transformative thing
    that exercise will do
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    is its protective effects on your brain.
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    Here you can think
    about the brain like a muscle.
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    The more you're working out,
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    the bigger and stronger your hippocampus
    and preforntal cortex gets.
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    Why is that important?
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    Because the prefrontal cortex
    and the hippocampus
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    are the two areas that are most
    susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases,
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    and normal cognitive decline in aging.
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    So with increased exercise
    over your lifetime,
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    you're not going to cure
    dementia or Alzheimer's disease,
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    but what you're going to do
    is you're going to create
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    the strongest, biggest hippocampus
    and prefrontal cortex
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    so it takes longer for these diseases
    to actually have an effect.
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    You can think of exercise, therefore,
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    as a supercharged 401K for your brain, OK?
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    And it's even better, because it's free.
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    So this is the point in the talk
    where everybody says,
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    "That sounds so interesting, Wendy,
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    but I really will only
    want to know one thing.
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    And that is, just tell me
    the minimum amount of exercise
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    I need to get all these changes."
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    (Laughter)
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    And so I'm going to tell you
    the answer to that question.
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    First, good news: you don't have to become
    a triathlete to get these effects.
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    The rule of thumb is you want to get
    three to four times a week exercise
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    minimum 30 minutes an exercise session
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    and you want to get aerobic exercise in.
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    That is, get your heart rate up.
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    And the good news is,
    you don't have to go to the gym
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    to get a very expensive gym membership.
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    Add an extra walk around the block
    in your power walk.
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    You see stairs -- take stairs.
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    And power-vacuuming can be as good
    as the aerobics class
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    that you were going to take at the gym.
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    So I've gone from memory pioneer,
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    to exercise explorer.
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    From going into the innermost
    workings of the brain,
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    to trying to understand how exercise
    can improve our brain function
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    and my goal in my lab right now
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    is to go beyond that rule of thumb
    that I just gave you --
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    three to four times a week, 30 minutes.
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    I want to understand
    the optimum exercise prescription
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    for you, at your age,
    at your fitness level,
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    for your genetic background,
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    to maximize the effects of exercise today
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    and also to improve your brain
    and protect your brain the best
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    for the rest of your life.
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    But it's one thing to talk about exercise,
    and it's another to do it.
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    So I'm going to invoke my power
    as a certified exercise instructor,
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    to ask you all to stand up.
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    (Laughter)
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    We're going to do
    just one minute of exercise.
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    It's call-and-response, just do what I do,
    say what I say
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    and make sure you don't punch
    your neighbor, OK?
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    (Laughter)
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    Music!
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    (Upbeat music)
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    Five, six, seven, eight,
    it's right, left, right, left.
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    And I say, I am strong now.
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    Let's hear you.
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    Audience: I am strong now.
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    Wendy Suzuki: Ladies, I am
    Wonder Woman-strong.
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    Let's hear you!
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    Audience: I am Wonder Woman-strong.
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    WS: New move -- uppercut, right and left.
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    I am inspired now. You say it!
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    Audience: I am inspired now.
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    WS: Last move -- pull it down,
    right and left, right and left.
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    I say, I am on fire now!
    You say it.
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    Audience: I am on fire now.
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    WS: And done! OK, good job!
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    (Applause)
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    Thank you.
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    I want to leave you with one last thought.
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    And that is, bringing
    exercise in your life
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    will not only give you
    a happier, more protected life today,
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    but it will protect your brain
    from incurable diseases,
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    and in this way it will change
    the trajectory of your life
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    for the better.
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    Thank you very much.
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    (Applause)
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    Thank you.
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    (Applause)
Title:
The brain-changing benefits of exercise
Speaker:
Wendy Suzuki
Description:

more » « less
Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDTalks
Duration:
13:02
  • From 0:32 to 0:34 I think it should be 'this is simply moving your body'

English subtitles

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