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It took about a year for me to realize that the rich vs. poor programming I had received as a child was the opposite of reality. The 233 rich people in my study shared nothing in common with the evil, greedy, fat and lazy rich people that existed in my indoctrinated mind.
One data point I uncovered in my Rich Habits Study indicated that 76% of the rich ran or jogged 30 minutes a day at least 4 days a week, while only 23% of the poor had this habit.
This took me down a rabbit hole; one that helped me to better understand the relationships between aerobic exercise and brain health.
Here’s what I found with respect to the habit of running or jogging:
- The brain uses 20% of your oxygen reserves. aerobic exercise increases oxygen flow into the brain. This oxygen nourishes brain cells and also acts like a janitorial crew, soaking up the waste (fee radicals) inside each brain cell. This additional oxygen from running and jogging helps make the brain cleaner and healthier.
- Twenty – thirty minutes of aerobic exercise every day has been found in numerous studies to stimulate the growth of the axon branches on each brain cell. The number of axon branches you have is directly correlated to how intelligent you are. Those with more axon branches on their brain cells are more intelligent than those with less.
- Aerobic exercise also increases blood flow into the Dentrate Gyrus. The Dentrate Gyrus is part of the brain’s Hippocampus, a region involved in memory formation and neurogenisis (birth of new brain cells).
- Aerobic exercise also stimulates the production of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDFN). BDFN is miracle grow for brain cells, which keeps brain cells growing and expanding.
In a study published in the February, 2016 edition of the Journal of Physiology, researchers at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland compared, head-to-head, the impacts of running, weight training and high-impact intensity interval training on the brain.
Here’s what they found:
Aerobic exercise increases brain volume more than any other exercise. When we exercise aerobically, we actually create more new brain cells at a rate that is double or even triple that of other types of non-aerobic exercise.
It’s now very clear to me why self-made millionaires developed this habit of exercising aerobically – aerobic exercise improves brain performance.
Put another way – Aerobic Exercise makes you smarter.
But what’s more interesting is the fact that the self-made millionaires in my Rich Habits Study had forged this almost daily aerobic exercise habit log before they made their first million. They had been doing it for many years while pursuing their dreams and goals. During their path to success, these self-made millionaires were actually fine tuning their brains, making them smarter and better thinkers.
Their brains, because of this lifelong aerobic exercise habit, were superior to the brains of those who did not exercise aerobically. That’s quite a competitive advantage, isn’t it?
When you have a superior brain, you have a significant advantage over the competition, which enables you to make more money.
Now, I’ll be the first to concede that aerobic exercise is not the only reason the rich get rich. But it is one of the reasons. Aerobic Exercise is another tool in the toolbelt for those who want to become wealthy.
So, if you’re committed to becoming wealthy, start exercising aerobically. It will literally improve and grow your brain.
