Do a Brain-Gut Workout

Quick Win

Your gut microbiome and your brain can both benefit from regular outdoor exercise, which boosts exposure to beneficial microbes.

Try This Today

• Walk or cycle. Going for a walk or riding a bike are both great aerobic exercise options. When you do them outdoors, you reap the additional rewards of being out in nature. “The various bacteria and other germs in the environment interact with our own bacteria in a healthy way,” says Stephen Perrine, author of the microbiome-focused book The Full-Body Fat Fix.
• Go swimming, but not in a pool. Perrine suggests taking a dip in a lake, river or ocean to get exercise as well as a dose of beneficial bacteria.
• Tend to your garden. Digging in the garden exposes you to beneficial microbes and counts as a muscle-strengthening activity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and pushing a lawnmower is moderate aerobic exercise.

Why

Having a more diverse gut microbiome later in life is associated with healthier aging and greater longevity, according to a study of more than 9,000 people between ages 78 and 98 published in Nature Metabolism in 2021. You can help improve your gut microbiome diversity by getting regular exercise (which, of course benefits your body and brain in numerous other ways, too). When you take it outside, you’re exposed to beneficial microbes that can further improve your gut microbiome, research suggests. In a study of 720 adults ages 18 to 94 published in PLOS One in 2022, people who spent more time walking or cycling outside had greater gut microbiome diversity.