The Astonishing Effects of Exercise on Your Brain

What changes take place in the brain during and after exercise? How does exercise support deep and focused learning? What are the best physical exercises for your brain? Can you bulk up and sculpt your hippocampus? What’s the connection between exercise and memory? Will there ever be personalized prescriptions for exercise to boost and protect brain health? Wendy Suzuki is a neuroscientist, professor of neural science and psychology at the Center for Neural Science at New York University, and a member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. Her major research interest is brain plasticity, the ability of the brain to physically change in response to the environment. She is best known for her extensive work studying areas in the brain critical for our ability to form and retain new long-term memories. More recently, her research has focused on understanding how aerobic exercise can be used to improve learning, memory, and higher cognitive abilities in humans. She is the author of the book Healthy Brain, Happy Life, which was turned into a PBS special. The Secret Science Club is a science lecture, arts, and performance series, based at The Bell House in Brooklyn, curated by Dorian Devins and Margaret Mittelbach.