Neuroscientist Ranks The Top Types of Exercise for Brain Health — Dr. Tommy Wood

TL;DR

Dancing ranks highest for brain health because it uniquely combines complex motor learning, social interaction, music, and open-skill movement into one activity.

Key Points

• 1.Open-skill exercise (sports/activities requiring constant environmental adaptation — dance, martial arts, ball sports) outperforms closed-skill exercise (running, cycling) for brain structure and cognitive function, even when physical intensity is matched.
• 2.Dance specifically shows the largest effect size for dementia prevention and depression reduction across physical activity studies, likely due to its combined cognitive, social, and musical components.
• 3.High-intensity interval training drives hippocampal growth via lactate — one Australian study using the Norwegian 4x4 protocol (4 min at 85–95% max HR, 4 rest, repeated 4x) showed hippocampal improvements that lasted 5 years after just 6–12 months of training.
• 4.Lactate is the key mechanism: it crosses the blood-brain barrier, acts as a histone deacetylase inhibitor, and stimulates local BDNF production — which is how exercise actually builds brain tissue. Even short all-out efforts (20–45 seconds) with several minutes rest can produce sufficient lactate.
• 5.Jiu-jitsu is cited as a near-ideal combination activity — it's high-intensity (3–5 minute rounds), open-skill, reactive, and socially complex, hitting multiple brain-health levers simultaneously.