Learn how different styles of workouts impact your brainwaves — and, in turn, your cognitive functioning.
When you kick off a cardio session or HIIT workout, you know to expect your heart rate to increase, breath to quicken, body temperature to rise, and blood to flow toward your active muscles.
But these aren’t the only physiological changes occurring as you sweat: Exercise can also trigger changes in your brainwaves, leading to short-term cognitive effects that help you better tackle your workout and can impact your cognitive functioning in the long run. Here’s what you need to know.
Brainwaves, Explained
Simply put, brainwaves are rhythmic patterns of electrical activity produced by your brain cells (aka neurons) when they communicate with each other, specifically when you think, feel, or process information, says Erik Won, the president and chief medical officer of Wave Neuroscience. These waves are associated with different frequencies (read: speeds) and can be sorted into five main categories, each of which is associated with different types of mental activity, he explains. In other words, “brainwaves are like the music our brains play as they work, with each type of wave representing a different ‘tune’ that reflects our state of mind or level of activity,” says Won.
When you’re sleeping deeply, for instance, your brain will be creating delta brainwaves, the slowest type with a frequency of 0.5 to 4 hertz. However, when you’re awake, alert, and actively thinking — but not exerting too much mental or physical effort — your brain will likely be producing beta waves. These waves have a frequency of 12 to 30 hertz and are linked with concentration, reasoning, and decision-making, says Won. (It’s important to mention, though, that lifestyle factors such as sleep disruptions, alcohol use, and injury can all impact how efficiently your brain processes information, he notes.)
How Exercise Impacts Your Brainwaves
When you start exercising, your brainwaves switch from that midrange frequency into a different gear. During aerobic exercise, for instance, the amplitude and magnitude of brainwave activity increase dramatically, which leads to heightened alertness and focus, says Won. There’s also more synchronous activity with fast brainwaves, helping you process more information and make quick decisions, he notes. Along with aerobic activity, strength training and HIIT workouts tend to increase brainwave frequency, he adds.
Some research suggests that individual alpha peak frequency (a marker for your state of arousal and attention) increases after intense exercise, which may lead to quicker reaction times, improved working memory, and better memory performance, according to a study published in Neural Plasticity. What’s more, a 2019 study found that high-intensity exercises increase brain function and neural efficiency.
On the flip side, yoga and meditation often have a calming, focusing effect, says Won. “These kinds of contemplative arts appear [to] calm down a lot of the fast-wave activity in the brain that may be associated with anxiety,” he previously said while speaking at an Equinox event. Consequently, these activities may help minimize anxiety in individuals who potentially have too much brainwave activity at their baseline, he notes. “The outcome largely depends on the baseline individuals are starting from, but recent studies suggest a diversity of activity — particularly the act of learning new skills, sports, and talents — tends to yield the very best outcomes [for cognitive functioning],” he adds.
In the long run, exercise changes the number of active neurons in your brain and improves their communication, says Won. While playing a sport, for instance, different parts of your brain need to repeatedly work together to support your memory, attention, and multitasking and decision-making abilities as you avoid obstacles, anticipate your routine, and pass a ball, he notes. And bolstering this brainwave connectivity on the playing field may have positive impacts outside of the game, too; the cognitive demands of high-intensity endurance exercise may lead to improvements in non-sport task performance, research suggests.
Given the cognitive functioning insights that your brainwaves have to offer, taking steps to better understand them can be worthwhile. “We're entering an era where we can quantitatively assess so many data points utilizing wearables that measure our sleep, activity levels, caloric burn, resting heart rate, heart rate variability, continuous glucose monitoring — our brain health deserves similar attention,” says Won. “We now have the digital tools to increase our understanding of how our brain is functioning and how our activities and behaviors can both positively and negatively impact our health span and quality of life.”
To get personalized insights into your brain’s network behavior, reserve a non-invasive Brainwave Scan session with Wave Neuroscience at Equinox Sports Club Orange County and Equinox Culver City.