10.7 Chapter Summary

• The Brain-Body Connection Enables and Benefits from Movement: The nervous system coordinates body movement through electrical and chemical signals. The frontal lobe, especially the primary motor cortex, initiates voluntary movement. In turn, physical activity enhances brain health and function.
• Exercise Improves Mental Health and Emotional Well-being: Regular physical activity helps reduce anxiety and depression, enhances mood, regulates cortisol (stress hormone), boosts endorphins, and improves sleep and social interaction—all of which contribute to better mental health.
• Physical Activity Enhances Cognitive Function: Both acute and chronic exercise improve cognitive domains such as attention, executive function, memory, and motor control by increasing blood flow, stimulating BDNF, and elevating catecholamines like dopamine and adrenaline.
• The Brain Has Four Lobes with Distinct Functions: The frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes control different aspects of movement, sensation, memory, and perception. Understanding these functions is key to recognizing how exercise can stimulate specific brain regions.
• Exercise Promotes Brain Health and Reduces Risk of Neurodegenerative Disease: Acute exercise boosts focus, memory, and mood, while long-term exercise reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety, enhances long-term memory, and lowers the risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

OpenAI. (May 27th, 2025). ChatGPT. [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat. Prompt: Summarize the following content into five key takeaways.

• Acute Exercise: A single bout of physical activity that can have immediate effects on focus, mood, and memory.
• Adrenaline: A type of catecholamine hormone released during exercise or stress that increases heart rate and energy availability.
• Attention: The ability to selectively focus on specific tasks or stimuli, either narrowly or broadly distributed.
• Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF): A protein that supports the growth, function, and survival of brain cells and is associated with improved learning and memory.
• Catecholamines: A group of hormones—including adrenaline, noradrenaline, and dopamine—that are released during stress or exercise and play a role in mood, attention, and cognition.
• Cerebrum: The largest part of the brain responsible for higher-order functions such as thinking, memory, sensory processing, and motor control; subdivided into four lobes.
• Chronic Exercise: Repeated bouts of physical activity over weeks or months, which lead to long-term benefits for brain and physical health.
• Cognitive Function: A set of mental abilities, including attention, memory, language, executive function, and motor control, that allow for information processing and response.
• Cortisol: A hormone produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress, often called the “stress hormone”; regulated by regular exercise.
• Dopamine: A catecholamine neurotransmitter involved in motivation, reward, and motor function, increased through exercise.
• Endorphins: Chemicals produced in the brain during stress or pain that reduce discomfort and increase feelings of pleasure or reward.
• Executive Function: High-level cognitive processes such as planning, decision-making, problem-solving, and self-control.
• Frontal Lobe: A brain region responsible for motor function, planning, decision-making, and initiating voluntary movement via the primary motor cortex.
• Language: The ability to understand and produce spoken or written communication.
• Learning and Memory: The process of acquiring, storing, and retrieving information.
• Mental Health: According to the WHO, a state of well-being is one in which individuals can cope with daily stresses, work productively, and contribute to their community.
• Motor Control: The ability to regulate and coordinate body movements in response to goals and the environment.
• Neurodegenerative Diseases: Conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are characterized by progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, often leading to impaired movement or cognition.
• Neuroscience: The scientific study of the nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves.
• Noradrenaline: A catecholamine hormone that helps regulate attention, arousal, and blood pressure, and is increased during exercise.
• Parietal Lobe: A region of the brain involved in processing sensory information such as touch, temperature, and spatial awareness.
• Primary Motor Cortex: A region in the frontal lobe responsible for initiating voluntary muscle movements.
• Social Cognition: The ability to process, store, and apply information about social situations and interactions.
• Temporal Lobe: A brain region responsible for processing auditory information and forming memories.

OpenAI. (May 27th, 2025). ChatGPT. [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat. Prompt: List the key terms and their definitions in the content provided.