Not being able to concentrate because you're just touching your smartphone,
Missing important things while thinking about other things
“It’s not a lack of concentration, it’s a lack of exercise!”

We easily lose focus for a variety of reasons, including lack of sleep, overwork, and smartphone use.
In addition, with the influx of information, there is too much to remember, and brain function declines due to aging.
All the problems inside and outside our brains prevent us from focusing properly.
But the solution is simple.
The most effective way to optimize and streamline our brain is to move our bodies.
Every time we move our bodies, our brain produces reward substances, which in turn changes both our brain and our body for the better.


Author Anders Hansen is Sweden's national doctor and the international bestselling author of "Insta Brain."
And this book is his masterpiece, and one in four Swedish citizens have read it.
It contains many studies and case studies on what specific exercises we need to do to make our brain work efficiently and what changes occur in the brain.
In particular, this book explains in detail the parts that help improve concentration.
The reason exercise is so important for improving focus is because physical activity boosts dopamine levels and fine-tunes your reward system.
When you start exercising, dopamine levels increase and remain there for hours.
So after exercising, I feel more focused and calmer.
Additionally, depending on the type of exercise, it can affect various memory functions.
Running improves your vocabulary memorization, and weight training helps improve your associative memory.


Our hippocampus shrinks by about 1% each year.
However, the results of the experiment showed that the brain volume of the group that participated in endurance training did not decrease at all; rather, it grew and increased by 2%.
Exercise stimulates the hippocampus region of the brain, which increases concentration and improves learning ability.
Your brain gets better oxygen and nutrients, which improves your creativity and problem-solving skills.
Beyond explaining the benefits of exercise, this book also provides practical information on which exercises to do and at what intensity, helping you develop a natural exercise habit.

Focus on cardiovascular strengthening exercises at first.
Aerobic exercise is more effective than weight training for stress relief.
Do it for at least 20 minutes at a time.
If your stamina allows, increase the time to 30-45 minutes.
Make exercise a habit.
Exercise is most effective when done consistently.
This is because it takes time for the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, the brain's stress brakes, to become stronger.
Do heart-rate-boosting exercises at least two or three times a week.
Then, your body learns that an increased heart rate is not something to be afraid of, but rather a phenomenon that brings about positive change.
This is especially important for people who suffer from severe anxiety disorders and panic attacks.
--- From "Chapter 2: How to Deal with Anxiety and Stress"

The most important reason exercise is good for focus, whether you have ADHD or not, is that it boosts dopamine levels, which fine-tunes your attention and reward systems.
Dopamine levels in the body rise within minutes of finishing exercise and remain at that level for several hours.
So, after exercising, your mind becomes clearer, your concentration improves, and your heart becomes more stable.
When you feel better, it's naturally easier to concentrate.
Because the noise is quiet.
--- From "Chapter 3 Modern People's Disease, Distraction"

The hippocampus, a memory center that resembles a seahorse and is the size of a thumb, is one of the brain regions that shrinks with age. There are two of them, one on each side of the brain, located on the inside of the temporal lobe.
The hippocampus shrinks by about 1 percent each year.
Because the hippocampus gradually continues to shrink, our memory deteriorates as we age.
For a long time, people believed that brain development was only negatively affected by substances such as alcohol and drugs, and not positively affected by any external factors.
Alcohol and drugs accelerate brain aging and shrinkage of the hippocampus.
It was thought impossible to stop or reverse this process.
But there's strong evidence that exercise has a surprising effect on your memory, as well as your entire brain.
A research team in the United States measured the size of the hippocampus of 120 subjects by taking MRI scans of their brains twice, one year apart.
For one year, the subjects were randomly divided into two groups and each group performed different exercises.
One group did endurance exercise, while the other did easy exercises that didn't raise their heart rate, such as stretching.
--- From "Chapter 5: How to Grow Your Brain and Improve Your Memory"

Many highly creative people have proven that exercise has a remarkable effect on creativity.
Einstein came up with the theory of relativity while riding a bicycle.
The great musical genius Beethoven composed three symphonies despite losing his hearing in his 40s.
Whenever he had time to rest during the day, he would take long walks to get inspiration.
Charles Darwin used to walk around his home, Down House, for an hour each way, and he called this walk his "Walk of Meditation."
It was during one of his long walks that he developed what is arguably his most important work in biology: his groundbreaking study of the origin of species.
More recently, there is Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple.
He enjoyed having meetings while walking, believing that conversations were more productive when they were walking together than when they were sitting in a conference room.
Many innovators in Silicon Valley, such as Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Meta (Facebook), and Jack Dorsey, founder of X (Twitter), also hold walking meetings because they were directly influenced by Jobs.
--- From “Chapter 6: Conditions for Creating Creativity”

Currently, scientists and doctors are mainly focused on other research, such as finding the genes that cause Alzheimer's disease, the most common type of dementia.
Of course, genetic research is very interesting, and genetic factors also play a role in Alzheimer's disease, and having a family member with the disease increases your risk of developing it.
However, for most people, physical activity is more important than genetic predisposition.
Research to date has clearly shown that the people who should be concerned about dementia are not those who have parents or grandparents with the disease, but rather those who do not move much.
--- From "Chapter 8: The Brain That Never Ages"

The same goes for nutritional supplements or other "miracle methods" that claim to cause amazing changes in the brain.
Don't even look at it because it doesn't work.
Instead, invest time in something scientifically proven to boost your brain: physical activity.
Plus, physical activity is free.
It doesn't matter where or what kind of exercise you do.
The important thing is to 'exercise in some way'.
Exercise has an immediate effect on happiness and mental performance.
And you'll see the greatest results if you exercise regularly over a long period of time.

--- From "Chapter 9: The Stone Age Brain in the Digital Age"