Fat Storage Regulation
An increase in strength is really just an increase in the efficiency of the body's nervous system. Our brain actually becomes more efficient at any repetitive movement we do, making those movements stronger. This may explain why strength is not very transferable.
The brain's motor cortex, which controls your muscles, has a very high rate of plasticity. It learns to fire more and more muscle fibers, simultaneously, with their usage. So, every time you exercise, you are improving the muscles signal to the brain and vice versa.
The same goes for fat cells. The more they burn fat, through exercise, the stronger their signal to the brain becomes and the better able the brain can regulate their storage and emptying.
There is one thing that holds universally true when it comes to the brain and the many processes it regulates - what you don't use, you lose.
Delivery Of Nutrients
Did you know that the cerebral spinal fluid delivers nutrients to the brain and is regulated by movement?
An increase in strength is really just an increase in the efficiency of the body's nervous system. Our brain actually becomes more efficient at any repetitive movement we do, making those movements stronger. This may explain why strength is not very transferable.
The brain's motor cortex, which controls your muscles, has a very high rate of plasticity. It learns to fire more and more muscle fibers, simultaneously, with their usage. So, every time you exercise, you are improving the muscles signal to the brain and vice versa.
The same goes for fat cells. The more they burn fat, through exercise, the stronger their signal to the brain becomes and the better able the brain can regulate their storage and emptying.
There is one thing that holds universally true when it comes to the brain and the many processes it regulates - what you don't use, you lose.
Delivery Of Nutrients
Did you know that the cerebral spinal fluid delivers nutrients to the brain and is regulated by movement?
Just like the lymphatic system, this fluid is not dependent on the circulatory system to move. This might be the reason why exercise is so beneficial for brain health and has consistently been shown to be effective in the prevention and progression of neurodegeneration.
Improvement Of Blood Flow
Did you know that recent research has found that the foot's impact, during walking, sends pressure waves through the arteries that significantly modify and increase the supply of blood to the brain? These waveforms, that are created by foot impacts, dramatically change the central blood pressures that drive blood to the brain. Some suggest that this is the cause for "walker's or runner's high".
More blood flow to the brain is vital for the prevention of vascular related dementias, as the hallmark of these dementias is interruption to the brain's blood supply from microvascular damage, causing a lack of oxygen and nutrients to parts of the brain, "starving" it.
Improvement And Preservation Of Working Memory
Our closest cousin, the chimpanzee, has a superior capacity for short term memory than we do. Short term memory, also known as working memory, allows the brain to juggle multiple thoughts simultaneously. This working memory helps chimps, in the wild, where they must make rapid and complex decisions in order to navigate through their environment for finding food and competing with other animals.
Human working memory is significantly poor in comparison. It has been theorized that if we had the same capacity for working memory as a chimpanzee, it would vastly improve our everyday performance. In fact, in order to have an equal working memory to a chimp, you would have to be a savant. How is it possible for our working memory to be so inferior, when we obviously surpassed all other animals in every other way?
There was a time when humans were required to have a very sharp working memory, because our lives depended on it. You can not hunt and gather efficiently if you do not have a well honed working memory. Our working memory is now so reduced, that we wouldn't be able to survive in the wild anymore. Something caused us to lose our working memory with time.
It is believed that as humans became "domesticated" and began depending on predictable external signals, to do their thinking for them, our working memory began to degrade. Once agriculture took over, you did not need much working memory, as the corn field was always in the same location and not going anywhere. No one hunts and chases down corn, except corn lovers at a barbecue. The growing of crops does not require any strategic, variable planning for physical movement. Once you recognize and learn the mostly predictable shifts in seasons, pests, soil and rainfall, you are pretty much done. You just walk out into the field and gather. The only predator you will encounter is a crow and he's not after you.
This constant predictability, of the surrounding environment, causes for working memory to degrade further through unawareness. Being unaware is something that chimps do not have the luxury of. Chimps are constantly engaged with their surroundings. But, the human dependency on static man-made cues for movement, such as a roads, pathways, signs and/or a "safe" environment, allows us to move around without the need to be engaged or even do much thinking. Things become clockwork and humans begin to live more like automatons than thinking, planning and completely aware beings.
How many times have you been at the store and forgotten where you parked your car or can't even remember parking it at all? This isn't that you have "forgotten", it's that you weren't paying attention to begin with, since the world around you guided you to the store, without requiring you to do much thinking, allowing you to be unaware. The store doesn't change locations, over night, and neither does your house. You do not have to remember where the clean stream is for water, you just turn on the tap. You don't need to hunt down an animal, through unfamiliar terrains, you just open the fridge. You don't have to remember where dangerous predators live or map out where sharp rocks and ditches are hiding, since you simply drive on a safe road to reach your destination. All of this begins to degrade your working memory - What you don't use, you lose. Now you can walk, around staring at your phone, rather than what's in front of you, as you have a safe pathway, to walk through, and other people will generally move out of your way without being told to.
This is most likely why mental activities, such as reading books, learning a new language or doing puzzles has not been shown to improve cognitive ability. Being active in the brain alone, is not enough for it to remain healthy. The brain was made to move the body. The connection between movement and the brain is vital. The brain must perform the job it was intended to do.
Physical movement and planning of those movements, within your surrounding environment, is one of the mechanisms that improves working memory and prevents brain atrophy. We were designed to move through our environment using our bodies, not some sort of vehicle or our rolling office chair. Coordinating movements and planning them is one of the mechanisms through which exercise improves working memory. It allows you to have to use your brain in order to drive your body, instead of it always being a passive passenger.
Improvement Of Cognitive Function
Any type of exercise, but especially aerobic exercise, has been shown to improve cognitive function. Regular exercise improves health dramatically, especially as we get older. Seventy five year old's that implement a routine exercise regimen have similar cardiovascular health to a 40 - 45 year old.
I have personally seen what the lack of exercise can do, as you age. Nearly all of my older family members are homebound, show cognitive decline and/or have lost their mobility in some significant way. And by older, I don't mean 90 or 100 years old, but rather, at 60 - 70. Their physical state is certainly not indicative of their age. These people, who would still have had 20 - 30 years left of life, drastically reduced their quality of life and overall lifespan, due to lack of movement.
Don't let that be you. Avoid future health issues by keeping your muscle mass intact through exercise and proper nutrition.
Improvement Of Blood Flow
Did you know that recent research has found that the foot's impact, during walking, sends pressure waves through the arteries that significantly modify and increase the supply of blood to the brain? These waveforms, that are created by foot impacts, dramatically change the central blood pressures that drive blood to the brain. Some suggest that this is the cause for "walker's or runner's high".
More blood flow to the brain is vital for the prevention of vascular related dementias, as the hallmark of these dementias is interruption to the brain's blood supply from microvascular damage, causing a lack of oxygen and nutrients to parts of the brain, "starving" it.
Improvement And Preservation Of Working Memory
Our closest cousin, the chimpanzee, has a superior capacity for short term memory than we do. Short term memory, also known as working memory, allows the brain to juggle multiple thoughts simultaneously. This working memory helps chimps, in the wild, where they must make rapid and complex decisions in order to navigate through their environment for finding food and competing with other animals.
Human working memory is significantly poor in comparison. It has been theorized that if we had the same capacity for working memory as a chimpanzee, it would vastly improve our everyday performance. In fact, in order to have an equal working memory to a chimp, you would have to be a savant. How is it possible for our working memory to be so inferior, when we obviously surpassed all other animals in every other way?
There was a time when humans were required to have a very sharp working memory, because our lives depended on it. You can not hunt and gather efficiently if you do not have a well honed working memory. Our working memory is now so reduced, that we wouldn't be able to survive in the wild anymore. Something caused us to lose our working memory with time.
It is believed that as humans became "domesticated" and began depending on predictable external signals, to do their thinking for them, our working memory began to degrade. Once agriculture took over, you did not need much working memory, as the corn field was always in the same location and not going anywhere. No one hunts and chases down corn, except corn lovers at a barbecue. The growing of crops does not require any strategic, variable planning for physical movement. Once you recognize and learn the mostly predictable shifts in seasons, pests, soil and rainfall, you are pretty much done. You just walk out into the field and gather. The only predator you will encounter is a crow and he's not after you.
This constant predictability, of the surrounding environment, causes for working memory to degrade further through unawareness. Being unaware is something that chimps do not have the luxury of. Chimps are constantly engaged with their surroundings. But, the human dependency on static man-made cues for movement, such as a roads, pathways, signs and/or a "safe" environment, allows us to move around without the need to be engaged or even do much thinking. Things become clockwork and humans begin to live more like automatons than thinking, planning and completely aware beings.
How many times have you been at the store and forgotten where you parked your car or can't even remember parking it at all? This isn't that you have "forgotten", it's that you weren't paying attention to begin with, since the world around you guided you to the store, without requiring you to do much thinking, allowing you to be unaware. The store doesn't change locations, over night, and neither does your house. You do not have to remember where the clean stream is for water, you just turn on the tap. You don't need to hunt down an animal, through unfamiliar terrains, you just open the fridge. You don't have to remember where dangerous predators live or map out where sharp rocks and ditches are hiding, since you simply drive on a safe road to reach your destination. All of this begins to degrade your working memory - What you don't use, you lose. Now you can walk, around staring at your phone, rather than what's in front of you, as you have a safe pathway, to walk through, and other people will generally move out of your way without being told to.
This is most likely why mental activities, such as reading books, learning a new language or doing puzzles has not been shown to improve cognitive ability. Being active in the brain alone, is not enough for it to remain healthy. The brain was made to move the body. The connection between movement and the brain is vital. The brain must perform the job it was intended to do.
Physical movement and planning of those movements, within your surrounding environment, is one of the mechanisms that improves working memory and prevents brain atrophy. We were designed to move through our environment using our bodies, not some sort of vehicle or our rolling office chair. Coordinating movements and planning them is one of the mechanisms through which exercise improves working memory. It allows you to have to use your brain in order to drive your body, instead of it always being a passive passenger.
Improvement Of Cognitive Function
Any type of exercise, but especially aerobic exercise, has been shown to improve cognitive function. Regular exercise improves health dramatically, especially as we get older. Seventy five year old's that implement a routine exercise regimen have similar cardiovascular health to a 40 - 45 year old.
I have personally seen what the lack of exercise can do, as you age. Nearly all of my older family members are homebound, show cognitive decline and/or have lost their mobility in some significant way. And by older, I don't mean 90 or 100 years old, but rather, at 60 - 70. Their physical state is certainly not indicative of their age. These people, who would still have had 20 - 30 years left of life, drastically reduced their quality of life and overall lifespan, due to lack of movement.
Don't let that be you. Avoid future health issues by keeping your muscle mass intact through exercise and proper nutrition.
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