This article fills a gap in the planned series for the Ultimate Fitness Guide: Huberman's Science-Based Fitness Framework Podcast Highlights Collection (Dr. Andrew Huberman: How to Improve Brain Health, Extend Lifespan, and Enhance Performance Through Exercise). For content related to this and similar topics, please look for and confirm within this framework document. If there are other series you hope will be completed soon, feel free to leave a message on the official account.
For the avoidance of doubt, the content of this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute any medical advice.
Introduction: The Body Moves, the Brain Changes
When people talk about the benefits of exercise, most think of fat loss, muscle gain, and better cardiovascular health. But neuroscience research over the past decade has pointed to another equally conclusive aspect: almost all forms of exercise improve how the brain works, both in the short term and the long term. Here, "better" specifically means three things:
1. Performance: sharper focus, stronger memory, more flexible thinking;
2. Health: more stable neurons and connections between them, a more intact blood-brain barrier;
3. Longevity: slowing age-related shrinkage of the hippocampus, reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.
Tens of thousands of studies have given a positive answer to the question "can exercise help the brain?" What’s really worth discussing is: what kind of exercise, and how to schedule it, is most efficient?
I. Two Time Scales: Becoming Sharper Now vs. Getting Healthier Long-Term
The benefits of exercise for the brain can be broken down into two independent but complementary pathways.
1. Short-Term Effects: Exercise Makes You "Instantly Alert"
Whether it’s six sets of 6-second sprints, a 20-minute steady jog, or a set of squats, within minutes to hours after finishing, you’ll find yourself more focused, remembering better, and making clearer decisions. The core mechanism behind this boils down to one word – arousal, specifically an increase in sympathetic nervous system activity. Simply put: during exercise, the adrenal glands release adrenaline, heart rate and blood pressure rise; these signals travel via the vagus nerve to the brainstem, ultimately prompting a deep-brain region called the locus coeruleus to sprinkle a substance called norepinephrine across the entire cerebral cortex. What’s the effect? The prefrontal cortex (managing decision-making and focus) and the hippocampus (managing memory) are pushed into a "ready-to-use" state. So, whether you want to learn new knowledge, write a report, or attend a meeting that requires adaptability, exercise is a natural cognitive warm-up. Even better news: research has found that exercise is effective when placed before, during, or after learning. This means you can flexibly schedule it according to your lifestyle – early risers can work out in the morning before work; busy individuals can use exercise after work to consolidate what they’ve seen during the day, and it’s just as effective. But be mindful of a reverse boundary: too much intensity can backfire. For example, doing maximal interval training twice in one day, then trying to do a thinking task after the second session, actually reduces cerebral blood flow and impairs cognitive performance. Exercise is a booster, not a replacement for the engine.
2. Long-Term Effects: Exercise Makes the Brain "Thicker and More Durable"
If short-term effects are like "borrowing power," then long-term effects are about "remodeling." In the brains of people who exercise consistently, several good things happen structurally: the hippocampus shrinks more slowly or even reverses its atrophy – this is one of the first brain regions affected in age-related cognitive decline; the blood-brain barrier becomes more intact – this is a key structure damaged early in Alzheimer's disease; connections between neurons (synapses) are more stable, and plasticity is stronger. These changes are driven by several body-to-brain communication lines, which the next section briefly explains, so you’ll have a clearer idea of why you should train this way.
II. How the Body "Talks" to the Brain: Four Pathways Worth Knowing
You don’t need to memorize specific molecule names, but understanding the general principles will give you confidence when planning your workouts.
1. Muscle Contraction → Compound Movements → Arousal Circuitry
One relatively new study found that the motor cortex regions dedicated to controlling the "core muscles" and "multi-joint compound movements" have the strongest neural connections to the adrenal glands. In other words, multi-joint movements like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, pull-ups, and rows are more effective at mobilizing the "arousal system" than single-joint isolation exercises. This also explains why on some days when you feel too tired to move, a few squats can actually perk you up – it’s not an illusion, but a real neurochemical reaction.
2. Bone Loading → Osteocalcin → Hippocampus
Bones aren't just scaffolding. When bones bear impact loads (jumping, landing, weight-bearing), they release a hormone called osteocalcin, which can cross the blood-brain barrier and directly promote neuron growth and connection in the hippocampus. This is an often-overlooked pathway, but its significance is huge: controlled jumping and landing training may be one of the most direct ways to enhance long-term memory capacity. This is also why the fear of falling in the elderly isn't just a muscle strength issue, but also a brain issue.
3. Lactate → Fuel + Blood-Brain Barrier Maintenance
The lactate produced by muscles during high-intensity training was once commonly seen as "fatigue waste." The truth is the opposite: lactate is one of the preferred fuels for neurons and also stimulates a factor called VEGF, which maintains the stability of the blood-brain barrier.
4. BDNF: The Use-It-or-Lose-It "Brain Fertilizer"
BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) is often called "fertilizer for the brain" – it can stabilize and strengthen neural connections. But a key detail is frequently overlooked – BDNF is "activity-dependent": only neurons that are actively working can truly benefit from it. This explains why "just exercising isn’t enough, and just reading isn’t enough either." For the brain to age slowly, a combination of exercise and continuous learning/thinking is the complete prescription.
III. A Weekly "Brain-Boosting Workout" Checklist for Everyone
So, in the end, how should you train? Based on the mechanisms above and a large body of research evidence, it's recommended to include the following four elements in your weekly training. They can be slotted into your existing workout plan with almost no extra time required.
① At least once a week: Long-duration, low-intensity cardio (45–75 minutes). Jogging, cycling, rowing machine, swimming, or weighted hiking all work. The intensity should be roughly at a level where you "can still speak in full sentences but are too out of breath to talk if you push slightly harder." Its role isn’t in an immediate cognitive boost that day, but in maintaining the long-term health of your brain’s blood vessels – this system is what ensures your brain can continuously receive blood flow and fuel.
② At least once a week: High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). There are many formats; just choose one you can complete safely:
Classic version: 4 minutes of sprinting followed by 4 minutes of recovery, repeated 4 times (4x4);
Time-crunched version: 1 minute of all-out effort followed by 30 seconds of rest, repeated 8 sets;
Minimalist version: 6 seconds of sprinting followed by 1 minute of rest, repeated 6 times – don’t underestimate a total sprint time of just 36 seconds, as research has proven it’s sufficient to significantly boost immediate cognitive performance.
Note: once a week is enough; overdoing it can actually hinder cognition.
③ Incorporate "Time Under Tension (TUT)" into Resistance Training. When doing strength training, deliberately slow down the eccentric portion (the part where you lower the weight) and maintain continuous tension in the muscle throughout the entire movement, not letting the weight "rest." This style of training is good for muscle building and also better engages the motor neural pathways extending from the cerebral cortex down to the muscles, which is more beneficial for brain health. Equipment is optional; bodyweight training can also generate time under tension – the key is to genuinely challenge the muscles with weight, rather than just moving the weight.
④ Add a Little Jumping + Controlled Landing Each Week. This is the most overlooked category, yet it’s the only key to the "bone-brain" pathway.
Jumping rope (high knee jumps and double unders are even better);
Box jumps with controlled landings;
Adding a few small jumps at the end of a run or HIIT session.
Safety first: start from a low height and soft surface, and progress gradually. Introducing new eccentric movements can lead to soreness and injury early on, so it's better to go slowly.
IV. The Severely Underestimated Fifth Thing: Do an Exercise You Don’t Feel Like Doing
There’s a brain region called the anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC). What’s special about it is this: in those known as "superagers" – people in their 70s and 80s with cognitive levels comparable to young adults – this brain region not only doesn’t shrink, but actually gets larger. There is only one way to activate and "nurture" this brain region: persistently do things you genuinely do not want to do, as long as they are safe. If you love lifting weights, then weightlifting doesn’t count; if you hate running, then that once-a-week run is a gift to your brain. For someone who likes heat but not cold, a cold shower could be it; for someone who likes yoga but not explosiveness, sprinting could work; for someone who already sits too much, maybe just "heading out for a 30-minute walk" is enough. This doesn’t need to be much; the key is once a week, persisted over the long term. What this exercises isn’t just muscle, but willpower itself.
V. Don’t Neglect Two "Amplifiers"
1. Sleep
A significant portion of the long-term brain benefits from exercise are realized "via sleep." Exercise can improve the quality of deep sleep and REM sleep, which is the window of time when the brain consolidates memory and prunes ineffective connections. Exercising without sleeping is like spreading fertilizer but never watering it in.
2. Don’t Stop for More Than 10 Days
Research has found that once habitually active people stop training completely for about 10 days, measurable declines in indicators like brain oxygenation appear. Business trips, colds, or family matters are inevitable; there’s no need to be anxious about short breaks, but the sooner you get back to it, the better. Starting again with lighter work, you can regain your condition within a few days.
Conclusion
When it comes to using exercise for brain health, the core message is really just a few points:
Mix long, slow cardio, high-intensity intervals, strength training (including time under tension), and jump landings weekly;
Do one safe exercise each week that you don’t want to do, to nourish your willpower brain center;
Get good sleep, avoid long breaks, and continually use your brain – giving BDNF something worth irrigating.
The body is not merely a container for the brain; it is its partner. How you use it shapes your brain.