Almost everyone knows that exercise is good for you, but few are aware of all of the benefits of exercise, including researchers. With each new scientific discovery, it seems as if exercise has a positive influence on every corner of the body.

Those who exercise regularly appear to have healthier brains and are less likely to experience mental decline with aging. The brain reaches its peak around the age of 25. At that point, the increase in intelligence that occurs as a result of the brain’s continued development begins to reverse itself as the brain sustains damage from a variety of factors, including stress, pollution and oxidation.

But there are several ways for the brain to fight off these damaging factors, and exercise appears to be one of them. Exercise encourages the brain to not only reinforce old connections between neurons, but to also create new connections. The brain forms a denser neuron network, which is able to more effectively process and store information. So exercise is not only good for the brain and body, but can also help it become even stronger. It also slows down the rate at which the brain loses nerve tissue.

The benefits of exercise are the strongest on those who start exercising when they are young and continue to exercise into old age. This is because younger brains have not yet accumulated damage that is significant enough to impair cognitive function. But those who exercise their entire lives will be more noticeably sharper.

If excess weight is preventing you from being able to participate in regular exercise, then a visit to your weight loss surgeon in North Florida may be a good idea. By losing weight you can increase your activity level and help your brain fight aging as you improve the overall health of your body.