Ratey, John J., and James E. Loehr. “The positive impact of physical activity on cognition during adulthood: a review of underlying mechanisms, evidence and recommendations.”
Reviews in the Neurosciences 22.2 (2011): 171-185.
A growing body of literature suggests that physical activity beneficially influences brain function during adulthood, particularly frontal lobe-mediated cognitive processes, such as planning, scheduling, inhibition, and working memory.
For our hunter-gatherer ancestors, times of famine interspersed with times of feast necessitated bouts of intense physical activity balanced by periods of rest. However, the sedentary lifestyle that pervades modern society has overridden the necessity for a physically active lifestyle.