What’s your role at Orangetheory Fitness?
I’m an applied exercise physiologist and research scientist at Orangetheory Fitness, so I oversee research projects and work in tandem with our fitness design team to ensure our workouts are the most beneficial for our members. I then communicate these evidence-based ideas to our coaches and members, making what the scientists say applicable for our coaches and members.
More research is emerging all the time about the impact of exercise and nutrition on brain-related illnesses and chronic diseases and we’re going to keep getting more robust evidence that will allow us to build stronger recommendations for certain groups of people.
We work on three areas: endurance, strength and power to engage the body in different ways. Our workouts prime the body's physiological systems to improve balance and strength and aerobic capability. Our aim is to support our members throughout their lives, as well as improving their cognitive wellness.
Brain fitness is having a moment, why do you think this is?
People are looking for benefits of exercise beyond just aesthetics, for example longevity. People are ageing, they’re stressed and struggling with their mental health and as a result they’re looking for evidence that exercise can help with these issues.
Cognitive wellness has also become a bigger topic of conversation. Thanks to more research being done on this topic, we know more than we used to about how exercise can positively benefit the brain.
How can you optimise brain health?
There are four foundational health pillars – movement, nutrition, stress management and sleep – and it’s important to focus on all of them. Consistently participating in exercise is one of the best things you can do. I'm a strong proponent of anything is better than nothing.
Aerobic exercise, especially if it's moderate intensity or higher, stimulates the release of brain derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF), which support mood regulation: the euphoric feeling often referred to as a runner's high. Moderate to vigorous intensity is also helpful because it allows the person to escape their stresses.
There are also studies that have found participation in resistance training can stimulate regions related to the memory, including the hippocampus. Sports also give the added benefit of social interaction, which is good for brain health.
Eating a healthy, balanced diet definitely plays a factor in managing health and as chronic stress is detrimental to our health, working on stress reduction strategies is important, as is quality sleep.
Working on all the foundational health habits will help individuals to improve their overall health, brain health and reach their goals.
What can people do to improve sleep?
The sleep strategies I recommend are not complicated, but they tend to be difficult for many people, such as limiting screen time one to two hours prior to laying down for the night. Reading before bed is much better.
Not sleeping with your cell phone in your room is another one – unless using a meditation app to get to sleep – so there is not the temptation to scroll in the middle of the night, which does happen and is a really poor sleep habit.
The constant influx of information is really overwhelming to us as humans. We aren't designed to be able to carry that, so it's leading to chronic stress which can contribute to issues with quality sleep. We need to give ourselves time to detach from our phones.
A dark, cool environment can be helpful for better quality sleep, as is establishing a consistent night time routine. Doing these things consistently will bring about a difference pretty quickly.
What is the information overload from phones doing to our brains?
We don’t have the data yet, but I think we are likely to see a decline in brain health if individuals are not participating in counteractive measures, such as limiting screen time and managing stress.
By and large, what we consume on a regular basis impacts our thoughts, emotions and stress levels, which can impact things such as hormones, sleep and overall health. The good work done with exercise and nutrition can be undone by participating in things that increase stress.
Focusing on health and just being aware of it is a really powerful tool. Not every day is going to be perfect and sometimes we can't control stressful environments, but we do have the power to control how much we scroll on our phones, to take a walk and not to watch really traumatic TV shows.
It’s also important to be aware of how negative things impact us, so we start to become more discerning about what we engage in. Many young people feel their whole world is Snapchat and Tiktok – they don't want to miss out on anything and want to be connected to their friends all the time. Many are also anxious and struggling with aspects of their mental health.
When I work with young people it’s astounding how well they respond to being separated from their phones. When someone else tells them to put their phone away they feel a sense of relief. At first they say they don't know what to do with their hands, but once they get past that, they say they feel amazing. They say their brains feel so much better, they feel free. I've had countless experiences like that, especially with girls.
One great thing about a group fitness class is not having phones and being immersed in the experience. We know our members crave the interactions and experience of a fitness studio, as well as the feeling of having done something really hard and accomplishing it.
