The Exercise Routine a Neuroscientist Found After Living with Anxiety: A Complete Guide to Putting the Brain Science of Exercise into Practice

More and more people say a single book got them lacing up their running shoes again. It’s Move! (published in Korean as The Brain Science of Exercise), an eye-catching book by Jennifer Heisz, a neuroscientist who studies the relationship between exercise and the brain at McMaster University in Canada. Drawing on her own long struggle with anxiety, she lays out what she researched and practiced firsthand about how exercise changes the brain.

Six minutes changes the brain: the real reasons, according to the brain science of exercise

[Image concept: the power of blood flow to keep the brain young] An aging brain, yellowed and shrunken (top left). With exercise, new microvessels wrap around the shrunken areas like a mesh, supplying red, oxygen-rich blood and returning the brain to a healthy, youthful red.

What makes this book stand out is that it isn’t the same old story that exercise is good for your health. Through keywords such as anxiety, focus, depression, addiction, memory and aging, and creativity, it explains scientifically how exercise actually changes the brain. Many readers also relate to the fact that the methods aren’t grand; anyone can start following them today.

After reading it, I realized how thin my vague knowledge of exercise had been. So today I’ve put together, in my own way, the brain-science practices Jennifer Heisz introduces in the book. If you’re wondering whether to start exercising, or you already exercise but can’t find your direction, I hope this post helps.

[Image concept: exercise that resets the brain’s biological clock] The biological clock at the center of the brain (top left) is broken, its gears spinning idly. With exercise, as if the clock were wound again, it glows gold and runs regularly (top right), sending a steady indigo sleep signal throughout the brain.

The answer a neuroscientist with anxiety found for herself

“Exercise normalizes the brain’s reward circuit. It tames ‘craving’ by filling the space addictive substances leave behind with natural pleasure chemicals.”

Jennifer Heisz is a neuroscientist who studies exercise and brain health at McMaster University. Ironically, although she was an expert on the brain, she reportedly suffered from anxiety for a long time. After experiencing her symptoms improve by moving her body, beyond medication or counseling, she began digging seriously into how exercise affects the brain.

The result is this book. In Korea it was published by Hyundae Jisung in a translation by Lee Young-rae, with the subtitle The Power of Exercise Discovered by a Neuroscientist Who Suffered from Anxiety. Many reviewers say it reads as trustworthy because it tells her story candidly while tightly weaving in the relevant research.

Why exercise reduces anxiety, according to brain science

The first topic the book tackles is anxiety. When you move, your heart beats fast and you get out of breath, and these physical responses actually resemble the ones that appear when you’re anxious. As you keep exercising, the brain comes to accept these sensations not as a threat but as familiar stimuli, and as a result it’s trained to react less sensitively even in anxious situations.

The book in fact cites studies in which as little as about 20 minutes of walking or light aerobic exercise noticeably lowered anxiety levels. What struck me is that it doesn’t have to be strenuous: a habit of walking for 20 minutes at the same time every day is enough to get started.

The secret of high-intensity exercise: six minutes is enough

One of the most talked-about parts of the book is the six-minute workout. Short, intense exercise sharply increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor, commonly called BDNF, which helps neurons grow in the hippocampus, the brain region responsible for memory.

The book explains that repeating even short bouts of high-intensity interval exercise that leave you panting can produce bigger memory-related benefits than exercising lightly for a long time. That’s also why “I don’t have time” doesn’t work as an excuse. Simply running up and down stairs quickly or repeating a few short sprints can deliver this effect.

When your focus slips, start with morning exercise

The book explains that exercise can also help when you feel scattered and can’t concentrate. Exercise increases the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and norepinephrine, which activate the brain areas in charge of attention and executive function.

It’s also interesting that the effect can differ depending on when in the day you exercise. Moving in the morning has a longer-lasting effect on that day’s focus and mood. Building a routine of loosening up, even briefly, before study or work is presented as one of the practices.

For low mood, walking in nature works twice as well

In its section on depression, the book emphasizes so-called green exercise: exercise done in nature. It cites research showing that mood improves more when you walk or run in a space with trees and grass than when you exercise indoors.

Running on a treadmill at the gym certainly has value, but the advice is to spend more time walking in green spaces such as parks and trails when you can. With the weather turning cooler this season, it strikes me as an especially easy practice to put into action.

Strength training also connects to dementia prevention

[Image concept: combining the brain’s focus mode and mind-wandering mode] “Creativity comes from the harmony of mind-wandering and focus. Exercise moves between the two brain states and integrates ideas.” Creative ideas arise when the default mode network (DMN), a state of free imagination, and the central executive network (CEN), a state of logical judgment, are flexibly integrated. Exercise activates the DMN to bring up free ideas, then raises focus (CEN) afterward to organize them logically.

The book also has concrete things to say about the memory and cognitive decline we worry about as we age. It presents studies showing that combining strength training with aerobic exercise helps slow the brain’s aging even more, explaining that various substances released as you use your muscles are linked to brain health as well.

That said, rather than concluding that this prevents or treats any specific disease, it’s better understood as regular strength training possibly helping you look after your brain health. The book also stresses that steadily keeping up light strength training suited to your fitness matters more than pushing yourself into high-intensity workouts.

A complete list of practices you can start today

The message running through the whole book comes down to one thing: rather than drawing up a grand exercise plan, start by moving your body right now. Here’s what you can put into practice:

• Start with a 20-minute walk a day
• Mix in short, intense bursts like climbing stairs whenever you can
• If possible, build a routine of moving in the morning
• Try parks or trails instead of the gym
• Combine light strength training with aerobic exercise

After reading this, I too shifted from grand exercise plans to moving my body for even six minutes a day. The phrase “brain science” may sound intimidating, but this book reminds you of a simple truth: when the body moves, the brain moves with it.

Move! is worth reading for anyone dealing with anxiety, poor focus or lethargy. Instead of trying to start exercising with some grand resolution, I hope you’ll start by moving your body for just six minutes today.

If the practices from this book helped you, please give the post a heart.

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