September 23, 2026
Exercise is good for the body and brain, a wealth of evidence shows. But it doesn’t take a vigorous jog or miles-long run to get your blood moving and muscles pumped and provide a boost to brain health. A short, very slow run can provide surprising benefits for thinking skills and also lift your mood, a new study found.
The study was small, involving just a couple dozen healthy young adults in an exercise lab in Japan. But the findings add to growing evidence that whether you’re a tortoise or a hare, running may have unique benefits for brain health.
For the study, researchers at the University of Tsukuba had volunteers complete mood questionnaires to assess their overall mental health and well-being. Participants also underwent cognitive tests to assess thinking skills.
Participants then underwent two sessions of testing, during which they were outfitted with specialized caps that measured electrical activity in various areas of their brains. For one session, which served as a baseline measurement, the study volunteers sat for 10 minutes on chairs that were placed on treadmills. For the other session, the researchers asked them to run as slowly as possible on the treadmills for 10 minutes, taking smaller steps as needed to slow their pace.
A typical jogging pace is 4 to 6 miles per hour, or roughly 10 to 15 minutes per mile. But in this study, the slow runners ran at speeds as slow as 2 miles per hour, or about 30 minutes per mile, which is closer to a typical walking pace.
After each session, the researchers again measured any mood and cognitive changes. They found that after sitting for 10 minutes, there were no changes in mood or brain activity. But after slow running for 10 minutes, almost all the participants showed boosts in mood and performed better on cognitive tests. They also showed increased brain activity in the prefontal cortex, a part of the brain critical for decision making and higher-level thinking.
Interestingly, the researchers found that the unique movements of the head that occur during running correlated most closely to improvements in mood. Running, even at a very slow space, involves up and down movements of the head and various muscle groups that do not occur when we walk or ride a bike, for example. It is these unique up and down movements that seemed to provide a unique boost to mood, the researchers note. The findings were published in the journal Imaging Neuroscience.
More research is needed to better understand how slow running might benefit the brain. But earlier research from the same group found that running at a more vigorous pace also appeared to improve cognition and mood. And other studies have found that many forms of exercise, including walking and resistance training even for short periods, may provide a mood and cognitive boost and help lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia over the long term.
The authors note that because very slow running requires relatively little exertion, it may be an accessible option for many adults who find conventional jogging or running challenging. A brief, comfortable plod down the hallway before an office presentation or a glacially slow run around the block could be a practical way to get a quick brain boost and help support your physical, cognitive and mental well-being.
By ALZinfo.org, The Alzheimer’s Information Site. Reviewed by Eric Schmidt, PhD, of The Fisher Center lab at The Rockefeller University.
Source: Chorphaka Damrongthai; Ryuta Kuwamizu; Yudai Yamazaki; et al: “Slow running benefits: Boosts in mood and facilitation of prefrontal cortex function even at very light intensity.” Imaging Neuroscience, August 4, 2026
