Feeling blocked? A quick 10-min run might be the perfect solution to clear your mind and boost productivity. Writer’s block, creative block, or burnout can induce feelings of lethargy and hopelessness, hindering goal achievement. Breaks enhance productivity. However, longer breaks may feel counterintuitive, causing us to overlook their effectiveness.
If you don’t like spinning your wheels while you wait for your brain to refresh, ten minutes of moderate running could be all you need! In a recent study, the increased blood flow and the activation of the brain functions necessary to propel the body to run benefited participants who were given cognitive tests.
Run for Brain Boost
Brain scans revealed notable cognitive function enhancement, with increased prefrontal region activation observed after the run. Despite facing tedious cognitive tests, participants reported improved mood, even during challenging tasks like the color-word Stroop test.
Participants not only experienced enhanced mood but also performed better, reducing the time needed for complex mental tasks. Researchers selected the color/word Stroop test because it demands the brain to process two types of information and filter out irrelevant data.
If that just sounds like a typical day of sifting and deflecting unnecessary input at your school/home/office, then you might want to give yourself ten minutes to run and see if you can get those cognitive wheels spinning again. At the very least, a ten minute run before playing the popular family card game of Taco-Cat-Goat-Cheese-Pizza (basically a Stroop test to the max) could give you a competitive edge!
Further Reading
Chorphaka Damrongthai, Ryuta Kuwamizu, Kazuya Suwabe, et al. Benefit of human moderate running boosting mood and executive function coinciding with bilateral prefrontal activation. Scientific Reports, 2021; 11 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-01654-z
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