Brain neurons - Part of a healthy zombie breakfast
Yeah, it’s a stretch to Weird Al “Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room” that far, but work with me here. We’ve previously touched on the subject of exercise being an aid to relaxation, and the various ways in which stress sucks. So, there’s plenty of conventional wisdom saying that exercise helps you de-stress, but it was only recently discerned how that might actually work.
Cool stuff comes to light here, not the least of which is the fact that exercise stimulates the development of new neurons in the brain. This may or may not help dispel the stereotype of the “dumb jock” (it remains to be seen if those folks with an acute focus on athletic pursuits do anything intellectual with the extra neurons seems like excellent fodder for a future study, if you ask me). Whether or not that’s the case, these exercise-induced neurons are less apt to respond to stressful situations the same way that the old-school neurons do, at least in rats.
A similar study exposed rats to long-term stress, causing elevated serotonin levels (among other things). These perpetually-stressed subjects had a more pronounced stress response to the cold-water test than did rats who weren’t subjected to a regimen of wedgies every day, or however it is one stresses out a rat — maybe Animal Planet predator show reruns? Other studies focused on the chemicals that exercise produces and reduces — dopamine and antioxidants, respectively– affect the brain’s neurochemical responses, and both showed compelling results in favor of exercise’s impact on reducing stress.
According to Michael Hopkins, a Dartmouth College graduate student in the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Laboratory, ”It looks more and more like the positive stress of exercise prepares cells and structures and pathways within the brain so that they’re more equipped to handle stress in other forms. It’s pretty amazing, really, that you can get this translation from the realm of purely physical stresses to the realm of psychological stressors.” These collected findings tend to support, and are supported by, the stress research that focuses on elevated cortisol levels (and their attendant health effects), regardless of source. The scientists posit that the laissez faire neurons, since they were grown as an adaptation response to the stress of exertion, are predisposed to be more accustomed to it. So, to these neuron stress is just not as big a deal. Liken it to someone who grew up in, say, Buffalo, and then moved to Florida — they’re walking around in 50 degree temperatures and considering putting on jeans, while the folks who’ve grown up in the warm weather are reaching for their tuques and winter jackets.
Or maybe I’m just warped, masochistic, or dumb as a stump. I still like the cooler weather we’ve had lately, and will take 55 instead of 90 in the gym every single time.
[link courtesy of @doctorparadox]
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