Well written book on scientific aspects of exercise.How movement brings us hope,meaning and connection.
Recent studies have shown that a long run greatly increases levels of endocannabinoids in our brain. These are a class of chemicals, and cannabis mimics the effects of them on the brain. Endocannabinoids are known for lessening pain, boosting mood, and triggering additional feel-good chemicals and neurotransmitters such as dopamine and endorphins.
Endocannabinoids also help protect us against anxiety and depression. The weight-loss drug Rimonabant, for example, was designed to suppress appetite by blocking endocannabinoid receptors. Instead, it brought about dramatic increases in anxiety and depression in clinical trials, even leading to four suicides, and was permanently banned. Conversely, one recent study showed that just 30 minutes of exercise can make people immune to the severe anxiety induced by the drug CCK-4. In this study, the effect of exercise was equivalent to taking a sedative like Ativan.
And that’s not all: endocannabinoids also make us more social. In one experiment conducted by researchers at the Sapienza University of Rome, people who exercised for 30 minutes before playing a social game were much more generous and cooperative than people who didn’t. Initiatives like GoodGym in London harness the social energy generated by physical activity: they organize communal runs that send volunteers to do all sorts of social projects in their communities, such as visiting socially isolated elderly people.
Luckily for those of us who’d rather eat a broom than run a lap around the block, the runner’s high is not confined to running. It is proven to appear after all kinds of moderately exhausting physical activity that takes more than 20 minutes, whether that’s swimming, cycling, or speed-walking. Thus, the explosion of brain chemicals from prolonged exercise might be more accurately called a “persistence high.”Why would our brains make us feel so good about exhausting our bodies? The latest theory traces this phenomenon back to our earliest ancestors. It’s likely that the persistence high evolved to keep us hunting and gathering for longer periods of time, making us more likely to find food and survive. And the increased willingness to cooperate and share after physical exertion could also have had an evolutionary benefit: it made hunters more likely to share their spoils with the tribe.
......
“Green exercise” taps into the ancient human desire to connect with nature.
Now that you’ve learned about the numerous positive effects that movement has on our mental health, would you like to know what’s even better for your brain than exercise?
Exercising outside!
Nature has the power to fill us with wonder and awe, give us a sense of belonging, and make us more alert. Combined with physical activity, it has tremendous positive effects on our mental health. For example, within just five minutes of “green exercise," as it’s sometimes called, people report major positive changes in their mood and outlook.
If you’re wondering why, just remember that the human brain evolved over a long period of time, most of which humans spent outdoors running, walking, and foraging for food.
Indeed, brain scans show that our "default brain state" is different outdoors than it is indoors. Indoors, where Americans now spend an average 93 percent of their time, our default state shows activation in the brain areas responsible for memory, language, and social interaction, and slightly leans toward negativity – which is why we’re more likely to engage in rumination, self-criticism, or worry indoors.
But when we’re in nature, our default brain state more closely resembles the calm, disengaged state achieved by experienced meditators. We experience less anxiety, are more aware of our surroundings, and slip into a state researchers call soft fascination.
Psychologist Alexandra Rosati believes that these two different states of the human brain – indoors and outdoors, ruminating and mindful – correspond to two different types of cognition that were crucial to our ancestors’ survival. The ruminating state is the outcome of the evolution of social cognition, our ability to think about other people and cooperate within small groups. The mindful state derives from foraging cognition, our ability to be alert when hunting and gathering for food. Naturally, the latter is brought out best when we are outdoors.
People who feel connected to nature tend to spend more time in this foraging condition, and perhaps, as a consequence, experience greater life satisfaction, purpose, and happiness. They are also less likely to be depressed and anxious.
The Green Gym initiative in the UK makes use of the joy we derive from movement and nature by sending volunteers to do nature-based activities with a social focus, such as planting community gardens. Researchers at the University of Westminster showed that after eight weeks of the program, Green Gym volunteers showed a 20 percent increase in their cortisol awakening response – the hormonal boost that gets us up and going in the morning, and which is often suppressed in depressed people.
Source: blinkist.com