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It's a tried-and-true method for improving your focus: taking a break for a brisk walk.

But while research has shown that short bouts of exercise benefit your brain, it's unclear exactly how.

New findings from Northeastern University suggest the system regulating the body's fight-or-flight response might be an answer.

"For more than two decades, we've shown that there's a beneficial relationship of a single dose of exercise on cognition," said Charles Hillman, Michele and Anthony Manganaro distinguished professor and director of the Institute for Cognitive and Brain Health at Northeastern. "This is the first attempt to directly try and understand a mechanism that underpins that relationship in children."

The research provides more evidence that children need opportunities for physical activity to optimize their physical and mental health. Understanding a mechanism connecting exercise and the brain also enables further exploration of how to maximize benefits to cognitive and brain health.

Scientists have long connected regular exercise with beneficial changes in brain function and structure, including improved growth and survival of the neurons that receive, transmit and process information.

Hillman, who is in the departments of psychology and physical therapy, movement and rehabilitation sciences, and his lab have also found that short bouts of exercise—or "acute exercise"—make you feel more focused and improve cognition . But you're not really going to alter your brain structure after only 20 minutes, he said.

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