Exercise is the factor most understood to slow mild cognitive impairment. If you want to have a healthy brain, you must find ways to move more.

Exercise is critical for heart health, metabolic health, and weight loss, but it’s also incredibly beneficial for brain-related health topics. Getting regular exercise can support unpleasant feelings of brain fog, mood problems, memory, and cognition. Aerobic exercise increases blood flow to the brain, and complex movements that target multiple muscle groups and joints can develop and maintain neuropathways.

Research shows that regular aerobic exercise appears to increase the size of the brain’s hippocampus, the area involved in verbal learning and memory. Physical activity is also known to reduce insulin resistance, lower inflammation, and boost the release of growth factors that affect brain cell health. In more roundabout ways, exercise supports brain health by helping to improve sleep and reduce stress. Studies also show that exercise increases levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which helps to protect and repair brain cells from degeneration and grow new neurons.

It doesn’t take a lot of exercise to reap these benefits. One hundred and fifty minutes per week of moderate aerobic activity, such as brisk walking, can be sufficient. It’s important that whatever type of activity you choose causes your heart rate to increase and the body to break a sweat. This will differ depending on your fitness level. Some people can achieve this moderate-brisk level of activity by simply walking, and others will need to jog, climb stairs, dance, or do any other number of more vigorous movements.

Complex movements are valuable for cognitive performance, as well. Particularly ones that involve coordination and balance, such as Tai Chi, Qigong, yoga, and dance. Agility drills using cones, a ladder, or objects you have at home are beneficial, as are simple movements like jumping jacks