-
What if I told you there was something
that you can do right now
-
that would have an immediate,
positive benefit for your brain
-
including your mood and your focus?
-
And what if I told you that same thing
could actually last a long time
-
and protect your brain
from different conditions
-
like depression,
Alzheimer's disease, or dementia.
-
Would you do it?
-
Yes!
-
I am talking about the powerful effects
-
of physical activity,
that is simply moving your body,
-
has immediate, long-lasting
and protective benefits for your brain.
-
And that can last
for the rest of your life.
-
So what I want to do today
is tell you a story
-
about how I used my deep
understanding of neuroscience,
-
as a professor of neuroscience,
-
to essentially do an experiment on myself
-
in which I discovered the science
-
underline why exercise
is the most transformative thing
-
that you can do for your brain today.
-
Now, as a neruscientist,
I know that our brains,
-
that is the thing in our head right now,
-
that is the most complex structure
known to humankind.
-
But it's one thing to talk about the brain
-
and it's another to see it.
-
So here is a real preserved human brain.
-
And it's going to illustrate two key areas
that we are going to talk about today.
-
The first is the prefrontal cortex,
right behind your forehead
-
critical for things like decision-making,
focus, attention and your personality.
-
The second key area is located
in the temporal lobe, shown right here.
-
You have two temporal lobes in your brain,
the right and the left,
-
and deep in the temporal lobe
is a key structure
-
critical for your ability
-
to form and retain new long-term
memories for facts and events.
-
And that structure
is called the hippocampus.
-
So I've always been fascinated
with the hippocampus.
-
How could it be that an event
that lasts just a moment,
-
say, your first kiss,
-
or the moment your first child was born,
-
can form a memory
that has changed your brain,
-
that lasts an entire lifetime?
-
That's what I want to understand.
-
I wanted to start and record the activity
of individual brain cells
-
in the hippocampus
-
as subjects were forming new memories.
-
And essentially try and decode how
those brief bursts of electrical activity,
-
which is how neurons
communicate with each other,
-
how those brief bursts either allowed us
to form a new memory, or did not.
-
But a few years ago,
I did something very unusual in science.
-
As a full professor of neural science,
-
I decided to completely switch
my research program.
-
Because I encountered something
that was so amazing,
-
with the potential to change so many lives
-
that I had to study it.
-
I discovered and I experienced,
the brain-changing effects of exercise.
-
And I did it in a completely
inadvertent way.
-
I was actually at the height
of all the memory work that I was doing --
-
data was pouring in,
-
I was becoming known in my field
for all of this memory work.
-
And it should have been going great.
-
It was, scientifically.
-
But when I stuck my head
out of my lab door,
-
I noticed something.
-
I had no social life.
-
I spent too much time
listening to those brain cells
-
in a dark room, by myself.
-
(Laughter)
-
I didn't move my body at all.
-
I had gained 25 pounds.
-
And actually, it took me
many years to realize it,
-
I was actually miserable.
-
And I shouldn't be miserable.
-
And I went on a river-rafting trip --
-
by myself, because I had no social life.
-
And I came back --
-
(Laughter)
-
thinking, "Oh, my God, I was
the weakest person on that trip."
-
And I came back with a mission.
-
I said, "I'm never going to feel
like the weakest person
-
on a river-rafting trip again."
-
And that's what made me go to the gym.
-
And I focused my type-A personality
-
on going to all the exercise
classes at the gym.
-
I tried everything.
-
I went to kickbox, dance, yoga, step class
-
and at first it was really hard.
-
But what I noticed, is that after every
sweat-inducing workout that I tried,
-
I had this great mood boost
and this great energy boost.
-
And that's what kept me
going back to the gym.
-
Well, I started feeling stronger.
-
I started feeling better,
I even lost that 25 pounds.
-
And now, fast-forward a year and a half
into this regular exercise program,
-
and I noticed something that really
made me sit up and take notice.
-
I was sitting at my desk,
writing a research grant
-
and a thought went through my mind
-
that had never gone
through my mind before.
-
And that thought was,
-
"Gee, grant-writing is going well today."
-
And all the --
-
(Laughter)
-
Yeah, all the scientists
always laugh when I say that,
-
because grant-writing never goes well.
-
It is so hard, you're always
pulling your hair out,
-
trying to come up with that
million-dollar-winning idea.
-
But I realized that
the grant-writing was going well,
-
because I was able to focus
and maintain my attention
-
for longer that I had before.
-
And my long-term memory --
what I was studying in my own lab --
-
seemed to be better in me.
-
And that's when I put it together.
-
Maybe all that exercise
-
that I had included and added
to my life was changing my brain.
-
Maybe I did an experiment on myself
without even knowing it.
-
So as a curious neuroscientist,
-
I went to the literature to see
what I could find about what we knew
-
about the effects
of exercise on the brain.
-
And what I found was an exciting
and a growing literature
-
that was essentially showing everything
that I noticed in myself.
-
Better mood, better energy,
better memory, better attention.
-
And the more I learned,
-
the more I realized
how powerful exercise was.
-
Which eventually led me
to the big decision
-
to completely shift my research focus.
-
And so now, after several years
of really focusing on this question,
-
I've come to the following conclusion:
-
that exercise is the most
transformative thing
-
that you can do for your brain today
-
for the following three reasons.
-
Number one: it has immediate
effects on your brain.
-
A single workout that you do
-
will immediately increase levels
of neurotransmitters
-
like dopamine, serotonin
and noradrenaline.
-
That is going to increase your mood
right after that workout,
-
exactly what I was feeling.
-
My lab showed, that a single workout
-
can improve your ability
to shift and focus attention
-
and that focus improvement
will last for at least two hours.
-
And finally, studies have shown
-
that a single workout
will improve your reaction times
-
which basically means
-
that you are going to be faster
at catching that cup of Starbucks
-
that falls off the counter.
-
Which is very, very important.
-
(Laughter)
-
But these immediate affects are transient,
the help you right after.
-
What you have to do is do what I did,
-
that is change your exercise regime,
increase your cardiorespiratory function,
-
to get the long-lasting effects.
-
And these effects are long-lasting
-
because exercise actually
changes the brain's anatomy,
-
physiology and function.
-
Let's start with my favorite
brain area, the hippocampus.
-
The hippocampus --
-
or, exercise, actually produces
brand new brain cells,
-
new brain cells in the hippocampus,
that actually increase its volume,
-
as well as improve
your long-term memory, OK?
-
And that including in you and me.
-
Number two: the most common finding
in neuroscience studies,
-
looking at effects of long-term exercise,
-
is improved attention function
dependent or your prefrontal cortex.
-
You not only get
better focus and attention,
-
but the volume of the hippocampus
increases as well.
-
And finally, you not only get immediate
effects of mood with exercise
-
but those last for a long time.
-
So you get long-lasting increases
in those good mood neurotransmitters.
-
But really, the most transformative thing
that exercise will do
-
is its protective effects on your brain.
-
Here you can think
about the brain like a muscle.
-
The more you're working out,
-
the bigger and stronger your hippocampus
and preforntal cortex gets.
-
Why is that important?
-
Because the prefrontal cortex
and the hippocampus
-
are the two areas that are most
susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases,
-
and normal cognitive decline in aging.
-
So with increased exercise
over your lifetime,
-
you're not going to cure
dementia or Alzheimer's disease,
-
but what you're going to do
is you're going to create
-
the strongest, biggest hippocampus
and prefrontal cortex
-
so it takes longer for these diseases
to actually have an effect.
-
You can think of exercise, therefore,
-
as a supercharged 401K for your brain, OK?
-
And it's even better, because it's free.
-
So this is the point in the talk
where everybody says,
-
"That sounds so interesting, Wendy,
-
but I really will only
want to know one thing.
-
And that is, just tell me
the minimum amount of exercise
-
I need to get all these changes."
-
(Laughter)
-
And so I'm going to tell you
the answer to that question.
-
First, good news: you don't have to become
a triathlete to get these effects.
-
The rule of thumb is you want to get
three to four times a week exercise
-
minimum 30 minutes an exercise session
-
and you want to get aerobic exercise in.
-
That is, get your heart rate up.
-
And the good news is,
you don't have to go to the gym
-
to get a very expensive gym membership.
-
Add an extra walk around the block
in your power walk.
-
You see stairs -- take stairs.
-
And power-vacuuming can be as good
as the aerobics class
-
that you were going to take at the gym.
-
So I've gone from memory pioneer,
-
to exercise explorer.
-
From going into the innermost
workings of the brain,
-
to trying to understand how exercise
can improve our brain function
-
and my goal in my lab right now
-
is to go beyond that rule of thumb
that I just gave you --
-
three to four times a week, 30 minutes.
-
I want to understand
the optimum exercise prescription
-
for you, at your age,
at your fitness level,
-
for your genetic background,
-
to maximize the effects of exercise today
-
and also to improve your brain
and protect your brain the best
-
for the rest of your life.
-
But it's one thing to talk about exercise,
and it's another to do it.
-
So I'm going to invoke my power
as a certified exercise instructor,
-
to ask you all to stand up.
-
(Laughter)
-
We're going to do
just one minute of exercise.
-
It's call-and-response, just do what I do,
say what I say
-
and make sure you don't punch
your neighbor, OK?
-
(Laughter)
-
Music!
-
(Upbeat music)
-
Five, six, seven, eight,
it's right, left, right, left.
-
And I say, I am strong now.
-
Let's hear you.
-
Audience: I am strong now.
-
Wendy Suzuki: Ladies, I am
Wonder Woman-strong.
-
Let's hear you!
-
Audience: I am Wonder Woman-strong.
-
WS: New move -- uppercut, right and left.
-
I am inspired now. You say it!
-
Audience: I am inspired now.
-
WS: Last move -- pull it down,
right and left, right and left.
-
I say, I am on fire now!
You say it.
-
Audience: I am on fire now.
-
WS: And done! OK, good job!
-
(Applause)
-
Thank you.
-
I want to leave you with one last thought.
-
And that is, bringing
exercise in your life
-
will not only give you
a happier, more protected life today,
-
but it will protect your brain
from incurable diseases,
-
and in this way it will change
the trajectory of your life
-
for the better.
-
Thank you very much.
-
(Applause)
-
Thank you.
-
(Applause)
Thu Do
From 0:32 to 0:34 I think it should be 'this is simply moving your body'