Exercise and the Brain

Wellcasts’ video “Exercise and the Brain” shows an animated “gym rat” exercising and experiencing healthy mental clarity. Conversely, the other character in the video is an animated woman who is more sedentary and experiencing the symptoms of depression. Wellcast introduces their video with facts about exercise and the benefits of it as relates to depression. Wellcast then introduces a self care plan for the viewer. They instruct the viewer to take 3 steps: exercise for 30 minutes, journal about it, then do it for a week and write down how your mood has changed. Wellcast states that journaling in this process is essential as “the brain recognizes success as it sees it” (Wellcast).

In viewing this video, I learned that the general consensus regarding recommended amount of exercise for the average person is 30 minutes per day. The video also stated that physically active people are half as likely to show signs of depression in comparison to sedentary people.

Wellcast’s video is relevant to my studies because it presents the link between stress and exercise in a simple and accessible format. Wellcast uses humor to answer my question: what is the effect of exercise on stress?

Wellcast. [watchwellcast]. (2012, Nov 16). Exercise and the brain [Video file]. Retrieved from youtube.com/watch?v=mJW7dYXPZ2o