Exercising Outside Makes Movement Better For Your Brain

If there’s one thing writing health articles has taught me, it’s to take my exercise routine seriously.

Being physically active is linked to about two to four added years of life as a “conservative” estimate (some research puts it closer to seven years).

Strength training, meanwhile, is key for better ageing, fall prevention, and even lowering dementia risk.

But if you want to make a good thing even better for your brain, a simple step – that is, heading outside – could help.

We already know that working out can make us mentally sharper, in both the short and long term.

But according to a 2023 paper, when it comes to how well movement improves our cognitive function, “the environment in which the exercise is performed may be just as important as the exercise itself”.

Researchers conducted electroencephalography (brain activity) scans on 30 participants before and after a 15-minute walk.

These scans were conducted while participants completed “the oddball task”, which asks people to signal (through e.g. hitting a button) when an unexpected item shows up in an otherwise homogeneous pattern.

For instance, say 10% of circles flashed irregularly onto a screen are green, while the others are red; people would then be tested on how quickly and accurately they react to that surprise green circle’s appearance

Half of the participants took their walk outside, while the other 50% strolled indoors.

After comparing the brain changes following each group’s stroll, the study authors found that those who’d headed outdoors scored better on the oddball tasks than they had before their walk.

And the outdoor walkers seemed to have an “increase in the amplitude of the P300, an event-related neural response commonly associated with attention and working memory”, a response not seen among indoor walkers.

“In conclusion, we demonstrate that a brief walk outside results in a greater increase in cognitive function than a short walk inside,” the paper reads.

“Indeed, in a world where many people ‘hit the gym’ before or after work or on their lunch break, our results suggest that these people would be better served by simply ‘getting outside’.”

The brain scan study was relatively small, and the researchers themselves noted that exercise’s brain benefits are often believed to kick in after 20 minutes, not 15. But other, bigger studies have found that exposure to nature seems to be great news for our health.

A review of studies found that time spent in nature can help to improve everything from cognitive function to brain activity, blood pressure, mental health, physical activity, and sleep (phew).

Add that to the fact that sunlight-derived vitamin D is key in the colder, darker months, and it looks like I’m going to have to get back to my lunchtime park power walks…