Bloggers spend a great deal of their day stuck in front of a PC, doing little exercise and rarely seeing the outside world. Well, that’s the tabloid image of a blogger. Of course, people who blog come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and with varying levels of inactivity.

But better bloggers are probably the physical ones; these are the people who lead an active lifestyle and who do things like home DIY, or gardening. And there’s a reason. According to Dr Kelly Lambert, a neuroscientist from Virginia, USA, complex tasks with our hands actually reward the brain. In other words, doing things like gardening or engaging in physical activities help our brains.

We have known for ages that physical activity reduces harmful adrenalin levels and stimulates the production of endorphins (the “happy” brain chemical). Now, Dr Kelly reveals in her book Lifting Depression that there is another beneficial effect in physical activity – one that works directly on the brain itself.

So what does this imply for the couch potato blogger? It suggests that your blogs will be more incisive, more engaging and more thought provoking if you do something physical. In other words, taking up gardening could very well improve your blog about tax planning; or becoming a part-time painter and decorator could make your blog about marketing so much more interesting.

So here’s my tip – don’t put finger to keyboard for your blog unless you have taken 20 minutes of physical activity beforehand. Not only will you feel more relaxed by changing the adrenalin and endorphin levels in your body, you will also have had a direct impact on your brain. In the long run, it can only result in a better blog.