Focused, calm and sharp: How to get the most out of endurance exercise

Since we evolved to avoid physical activity whenever feasible, researchers tell us to make exercise necessary and fun. As it turns out, both endurance and resistance training have much more to offer than merely being good for us.

As the name suggests, the former type of exercise is designed to improve our endurance, with the most prominent forms being running and cycling. While it inevitably takes time away from our schedule, it’s still beneficial because it makes the rest of our day significantly more productive.

First, endurance exercise restores our ability to focus. It lets us switch to panoramic vision, which has been found to restore our ability to concentrate not only visually, but also mentally. Thus, endurance exercise helps us rebound after a bout of intense focus.

Second, it makes us calm. Similar to walking, the self-generated forward motion decreases activity in areas of the brain associated with feelings of fear, threat, and anxiety. So, endurance exercise puts us into a calmer state when we’re feeling very stressed during the workday.

Third, it structurally sets our body and brain up for higher productivity. As an adaptation to regular endurance exercise, our heart muscle grows. That lets our heart deliver more glucose and oxygen – the fuels that our neurons run on – to our brains with each beat. This has been found to significantly increase cognitive performance, including our memory.

To get these benefits of focus and calm, how you do your endurance exercise matters. First, to restore your ability to focus, make sure to get outdoors to enable panoramic vision. Second, to get the calming effects, leave your smartphone at your office or home – remember that those rings and pings reliably impede amygdala deactivation.

Pro tip:To structurally set your body and brain up for higher productivity, make it an effort to engage in endurance exercise regularly. Two to three bouts of some 30 minutes per week are entirely sufficient – and not only great for your cognitive performance, but also your overall health.