A full-body workout helps keep things fit and focused between the ears.

LMQC Boomer Blogger Alan Sivell explains why working out not only builds muscle, it can help keep you mentally sharp, too.

By Alan Sivell

There’s a good reason this blog arrived late to the editor’s inbox.

I wasn’t out Christmas shopping. Or designing the final exams for my students. Or visiting the grandchildren.

I had to exercise.

You may be thinking that I shouldn’t put pleasure (and the way I am genetically composed, exercise is pleasure) before work. But I’ve always been of the firm belief that you need to exercise to stay sharp and do your best work.

An LMQC staff artist’s depiction of what must happen to Alan’s brain when he works out on the treadmill.

Heck, whenever I have a problem at work, such as trying to reach a class that’s just not clicking, I hop on my bike or the elliptical at the Y and by the end of the workout … problem solved. But that’s not provable science that my brain is functioning better or improving. It’s just my experience and my feeling.

Exercise really makes a difference

Still, there are many studies, important to prove or to understand what the science is, that have shown the benefits of exercise on the brain.

However, after learning about a new study out of Stanford University, maybe we can skip some of our exercise hours and spend more time at work. If the results of the study are replicated, there soon may be not quite the need for you and me to spend our lives exercising in an effort to solve the world’s problems or ward off neurological disorders and Alzheimer’s disease.

We could just take a pill.

The Stanford researchers wanted to see if the benefits of exercise on the proteins an athlete’s blood could be transferred to a person who is sedentary by choice or inability. The results showed that injecting the elevated proteins of the athlete’s blood into a more sedentary patient improved that patient’s learning and memory.

The athletes in the study, however, were mice, running the equivalent of 4-6 miles on the wheels in their cages every night. The Stanford researchers say much more study needs to be done before we can skip our workouts and just take a pill.

Fine by me. Skipping our exercise routine would just get us back to work quicker. What fun would that be?

I’d rather be on the bike path, building those brain proteins naturally. In the spirit of the season, I’d rather be a giver of the brain proteins than a taker.

A request …

If you have any tips (or in today’s parlance, life hacks) regarding health, exercise or diet, please send them along or add them as comments at the bottom of this post. I know the new year is a great time to start new habits and you just may have the tip that motivates someone to get healthy.

There’s a good reason this blog arrived late to the editor’s inbox.

I wasn’t out Christmas shopping. Or designing the final exams for my students. Or visiting the grandchildren.

I had to exercise.

You may be thinking that I shouldn’t put pleasure (and the way I am genetically composed, exercise is pleasure) before work. But I’ve always been of the firm belief that you need to exercise to stay sharp and do your best work.

An LMQC staff artist’s depiction of what must happen to Alan’s brain when he works out on the treadmill.

Heck, whenever I have a problem at work, such as trying to reach a class that’s just not clicking, I hop on my bike or the elliptical at the Y and by the end of the workout … problem solved. But that’s not provable science that my brain is functioning better or improving. It’s just my experience and my feeling.

Exercise really makes a difference

Still, there are many studies, important to prove or to understand what the science is, that have shown the benefits of exercise on the brain.

However, after learning about a new study out of Stanford University, maybe we can skip some of our exercise hours and spend more time at work. If the results of the study are replicated, there soon may be not quite the need for you and me to spend our lives exercising in an effort to solve the world’s problems or ward off neurological disorders and Alzheimer’s disease.

We could just take a pill.

The Stanford researchers wanted to see if the benefits of exercise on the proteins an athlete’s blood could be transferred to a person who is sedentary by choice or inability. The results showed that injecting the elevated proteins of the athlete’s blood into a more sedentary patient improved that patient’s learning and memory.

The athletes in the study, however, were mice, running the equivalent of 4-6 miles on the wheels in their cages every night. The Stanford researchers say much more study needs to be done before we can skip our workouts and just take a pill.

Fine by me. Skipping our exercise routine would just get us back to work quicker. What fun would that be?

I’d rather be on the bike path, building those brain proteins naturally. In the spirit of the season, I’d rather be a giver of the brain proteins than a taker.

A request …

If you have any tips (or in today’s parlance, life hacks) regarding health, exercise or diet, please send them along or add them as comments at the bottom of this post. I know the new year is a great time to start new habits and you just may have the tip that motivates someone to get healthy.