英语听力文摘 English Digest 488、运动可提高IQ？（在线收听）

Aerobic Exercise and Mental Performance
 

Stretching and toning are certainly important, but their benefits are different from that of aerobic exercise. Surprisingly, aerobic exercise isn’t just beneficial to your heart, it also sharpens your mind.

You don’t have to be a jock to enjoy the brain benefits of aerobic exercise. Moderateaerobic exercise is plenty. Several studies involving older adults demonstrated that simply walking a mile or so three times a week increases blood flow in the brain and strengthens connections between neurons, resulting in improved mental performance on tasks requiring attention.

One of the studies divided a group of seniors into two different six-month exercise courses–one course consisting of aerobic exercise, the other consisting of stretching and toning. Again, we’re not talking about marathon-training here. The aerobic-training course gradually built its participants up to walking 45 minutes at a moderate pace three times a week.

At the end of the course, the people who completed the aerobic training showed significant improvements in attention-related mental tasks. The stretching and toning group showed little improvement.

伸展和拉伸显然很重要，但是，对身体的益处有别于有氧运动。意想不到的是有氧运动不仅仅有益身心，还能灵活大脑。

享受有氧运动对于大脑健康的福利，并不一定要向运动员般剧烈运动。适度有氧运动就获益颇多了。一些有关老年人的研究证实，只需每周三次散步一英里左右就能促进大脑血液循环；增强神经元间的“互动”，提高注意力，从而提升智力。

一项研究将老人们分为两组：一组做有氧运动；另一组做伸展和无氧拉伸半年的时间。但是，运动量都是适度的而非马拉松式。有氧运动组让老人们养成了每周三次45分钟正常步伐走路。

有氧运动训练完后，参加者在注意力相关的智能测试有显著提升。而后一组受训前后并无明显差异。