Running slowly for just ten minutes can help you think faster and feel happier, study finds

If you want to think clearer and feel happier then try running very slowly for just ten minutes.

While previous research has shown cognitive benefits from moderate-intensity exercise, a study suggests that similar gains can be made even at a pace just above walking speed.

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba in Japan asked 24 healthy people with an average age in their early twenties to run on a treadmill for ten minutes at just 3km (two miles) to 6km (four miles) an hour.

This pace corresponds to a very light exercise intensity of only 35 per cent of peak oxygen uptake.

The participants also did a resting control session with no exercise, to help compare the performance of their brain and examine brain activity.

Activity in their prefrontal cortex – an area associated with executive functions such as thinking, emotions and behaviour, as well as mood regulation – was measured using a device that tracks changes in oxygen-rich blood flow in the brain.

The study found that after the slow jogging, brain activity increased in the prefrontal regions.

Executive function was measured using the Stroop effect, the extra delay in your reaction time when you try to name the ink colour of a word that spells a different colour.

For example, the word ‘red’ written in blue ink.

The results showed that after slow jogging, participants had a shorter Stroop ‘interference’ time, suggesting faster brain processing skills.

They also reported feeling happier. The researchers found that the vertical up-and-down movement of the head during slow running was associated with improvements in mood.

The authors wrote: ‘This discovery of the relationship between head acceleration and improved mood may be one of the underlying mechanisms through which very slow running promotes mental health.

‘To this end, these findings contribute to social wellbeing by encouraging people to keep physically and mentally active through very slow running.’