Exercise can strengthen the brain by improving all the important chemicals in the brain, so that the brain can exert its maximum potential and improve its learning ability and memory. During exercise, people will increase the content of protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which I call "a high-quality nutritional fertilizer for the brain". It can make replacement parts for the brain and induce neurogenesis. High intensity exercise can release important growth factors and strengthen the brain. Assuming there is enough recovery period, the repair response caused by exercise will make your neurons stronger.
We should give consideration to both skill training and aerobic training. Aerobic exercise and complex activities have different beneficial effects on our brains. They are complementary, and your health care must include skill learning and aerobic exercise. Therefore, choose a sport that can exercise the cardiovascular system and brain at the same time, and tennis is a good sport. The more complex the activity, the more complex the synaptic connection. Even if these neural circuits are established in exercise, they can be activated and utilized by other areas when thinking, which is why children who can play the piano are more likely to learn mathematics.
It is very important to add some complicated movements (such as aerobic dance or fighting skills) to regular sports. When people ask me how much exercise I should do to be effective for my brain, my best advice is to stay healthy first, and then constantly challenge myself. If you are going to do something good for your brain, your efforts will also protect your body from heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other diseases.
Aerobic exercise can consolidate the connection between brain cells, produce more synapses to expand neural network, and stimulate the differentiation of new stem cells in hippocampus to form functional neurons. Exercise prepares your neurons to connect with each other and creates a good learning environment for your brain, while intellectual stimulation enables your brain to take advantage of this readiness. Therefore, exercise has a positive impact on memory, attention and classroom behavior.
Once the free radicals, DNA fragments and inflammatory factors in brain cells are out of control, they will lead to cell rupture. Moderate-intensity exercise activates the role of metabolic cleaning groups in brain cells, producing protein and enzymes to remove free radicals, DNA fragments and inflammatory factors.
The concept of using muscle to compare with brain and using muscle to waste and retreat is established. Living in an environment with more sensory stimuli and social stimuli, the structure and function of the mouse brain have changed. Rats can not only complete their studies better, but also weigh a lot more than their peers living in empty cages.
1, understand the pressure
Under chronic stress, the chain reaction caused by physical stress will not only lead to comprehensive psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression, but also increase blood pressure, increase the incidence of heart disease and cancer, and even destroy the structure of the brain.
Under chronic stress, all energy reserves are finally concentrated in the upper abdomen, thus forming what we call a beer belly. In fact, the abdomen is just doing its duty, hoarding energy reserves to ensure that it can cope with the next famine, which is a physiological reaction under pressure.
Assuming that the stress is not serious and nerve cells have time to recover, the connections between neurons will become stronger and our psychological mechanism will be more effective. In other words, to a limited extent, stress triggers the brain's overcompensation mechanism, thus preparing for future challenges. Neuroscientists call this phenomenon: stress vaccination.
Emotional disorders actually have biological reasons, and high levels of stress hormones and cortisol will destroy neurons in the hippocampus. When we are under too much pressure, we may lose some memories. Therefore, you should take part in fire drills and think from the perspective of sports neurology. Fire drills are designed to make these neural circuits stronger, thus enhancing memory.
2. Biological model of stress and recovery
Stress and recovery, which is the basic model of biology, will produce huge and sometimes even amazing results. Pressure is necessary, and the key is control. In the experiment, dietary restriction was used to trigger slight cell stress, that is, there was not enough glucose to produce enough ATP. It was found that 40% of mice with normal diet 1/3 calories lived longer than average.
The results show that the special benefits of many vegetables are not rich in antioxidants, but contain toxins! Mild toxin produces stress response and enhances cell adaptability. It can be seen that diet control and physical exercise have the same effect.
Adaptability is a process in which enzymes for removing wastes, factors for protecting nerves and protein for preventing natural cell death gradually increase. The best way to increase these factors is to give yourself a little pressure, let your brain study, limit diet, exercise and eat more vegetables. Without pressure, we won't have excellent adaptability and growth ability. Without minor setbacks, there will be no success. Challenges can enhance our adaptability, so this is very important.
The more you press, the braver and healthier you are. As we all know, the way to exercise muscles is to rest them after fatigue. The same model can also be applied to nerve cells. Mild stress can activate the repair and recovery mechanism inside neurons, so periodically bearing mild stress is beneficial to improve the ability of cells to cope with more severe stress.
3. Scientific means to deal with anxiety and depression.
Fear is eternal, and we can't erase the original memory of fear, but we can actually cover it up by building new memories and constantly strengthening them. The strategy of cognitive behavioral therapy is to expose patients to low-dose fear sources accompanied by therapists. Cognitive behavioral therapy under the premise of exercise can get particularly remarkable results. Exercise has played a catalytic role and accelerated the efficiency of the above-mentioned "challenge-cognition-consolidation" continuous improvement model.
Distraction. Studies show that anxious people respond well to any targeted pastime, such as sitting still, meditating, having lunch with everyone or reading magazines, but exercise can last longer to resist anxiety and provide other known effects.
Cultivating self-control ability is an extremely effective means to prevent anxiety and depression, because anxiety can also lead to depression. No matter what kind of danger or difficulty causes anxiety, we should "do something" to deal with it, not passively worry. Moving from fear line to action line and actively coping with it can effectively help patients control the process of anxiety. Exercise is a typical positive response. We use our bodies to deal with emotions, not words.
4. Coping with stress through exercise
The instinctive response to fight or flight makes us take action. Physical exercise is a natural way to avoid negative results caused by stress. Stress makes us exercise, and the body releases protective molecules under various types of stress, such as aerobic exercise, which has evolved for millions of years.
Like neurochemicals in the brain, our stress threshold is always changing. Although the aging process naturally lowers this threshold, we can raise it by several levels through aerobic exercise. Because exercise is an independent behavior, the stress of exercise is predictable and controllable, which are two key variables in psychology. The molecular by-products of brain activity caused by exercise will damage cells, but under normal circumstances, the repair mechanism will leave stronger cells for the upcoming challenges.
Stress and sedentary are the dual characteristics of modern work. On the contrary, employees who exercise in the company gym are more efficient and comfortable in dealing with work pressure. Pailes insists on running. He runs not to keep fit, but to keep a clear head. He said: "I was helpless at that time, but I felt more scared and nervous. All I can do is start running. "
5. Coping with anxiety and depression through exercise.
Aerobic exercise is effective and anti-anxiety, which can reduce the incidence of anxiety symptoms by more than 50%. The principle is that when we increase our heart rate and breathing under the background of exercise, we know that the physiological signals at this time will definitely not cause anxiety attacks. Amy quickly learned this trick. Once she felt anxious or panicked at home, she exercised on the treadmill for 65,438+00 minutes, which immediately calmed the feeling of anxiety or panic. Research shows that engaging in more intense short-term exercise can improve symptoms such as irritability, anxiety, depression and emotional instability more significantly, and it takes faster time to play a role.
Aerobic exercise is a natural way of excretion, and exercise is as effective as antidepressants in treating mild to moderate depression and helplessness. In some aspects, the preventive effect of exercise is more important than the therapeutic effect. It is recommended to take a walk or jog for 30 minutes three times a week, the intensity of which is 70%~80% of its aerobic exercise capacity, excluding 10 minute warm-up exercise and 5 minutes relaxation exercise. If you want to do the least amount of exercise, you can do aerobic exercise for 30 minutes.
Endorphins relieve physical pain and produce euphoria psychologically. They are natural analgesic molecules in the body and act like morphine. In addition to increasing endorphins, exercise also regulates all neurotransmitters anchored by antidepressants. Exercise also promotes the secretion of dopamine, which is considered as a neurotransmitter that affects learning ability, reward system (satisfaction), attention and exercise, and can improve mood and happiness and start the attention system. Long-term exercise can increase the storage of dopamine in the brain and trigger a large number of enzymes that make dopamine receptors in the reward center of the brain, thus producing a sense of satisfaction similar to that after successfully completing a thing.
It is easy to get distracted in today's world. It is full of information, noise and interference, which sometimes makes us feel overwhelmed and unable to concentrate. Concentration needs to be managed, and if you are distracted, you will become more and more impetuous.
Patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have insufficient dopamine content, so it is difficult to concentrate, or they can concentrate completely in a state of high excitement. Dopamine and norepinephrine are the protagonists in regulating the attention system. The principle of exercise to relieve ADHD is that it can increase these neurotransmitters and have immediate effect. Regular exercise will stimulate some areas of the brain to produce new receptors, thus improving the basic levels of dopamine and norepinephrine.
Attention system is closely related to exercise. Complex and highly focused sports, such as fighting and gymnastics, are the best way to get your brain fully engaged in work. Exercise makes you concentrate by mobilizing every link of your attention. These sports are more attractive than running on a treadmill. Once you take part in these sports, you will probably never give up, which makes it easier for you to stick to it.
A specific figure illustrates the great power of drugs. Sexual stimulation can increase dopamine to 50%- 100% of normal level, while cocaine can make dopamine level soar to 300%-800%. In 2004, a study in London proved that even 10 minutes of exercise can reduce the addictive behavior of alcoholics. For smokers, as long as 5 minutes of high-intensity exercise can produce beneficial results. Exercise can relieve withdrawal symptoms by calming amygdala and increasing dopamine.
After entering adolescence, men maintain fairly stable hormone levels, but women's hormone levels fluctuate very regularly. Exercise will bring improvement. Exercise increases the concentration of tryptophan in the blood, thus increasing the concentration of serotonin in the brain. At the same time, exercise can also balance synaptic media such as dopamine, norepinephrine and BDNF. Exercise can balance a series of variables and alleviate the chain effect caused by hormone changes. Obviously, women who work hard at fitness are not bad at IQ and EQ.
Why do some people live to 100 without any health problems, while others are deprived of normal psychological and physiological functions by chronic diseases? We will always get old. No matter what you do, you can't stop it, but there must be a way to change the time and degree of aging. There are three magic weapons for health and longevity: diet, exercise and keeping active thinking.
Between the ages of 40 and 70, we lose 5% of our brain capacity every 10 year on average. From the age of 70, any disease will accelerate this process because we can't continue to exercise. About 20% of elderly people with hip fractures will die within one year. It is inevitable to grow old slowly, but we may not have a nervous breakdown.
Studies have shown that people who eat fish once a week reduce their cognitive decline rate by 65,438+00% every year, and those who eat fish oil three times a week are half as likely to suffer from dementia. In countries that eat a lot of fish, the incidence of bipolar disorder is relatively low.
A lazy brain is the devil's factory. Being a volunteer is very beneficial, because it requires interpersonal communication, which is a natural challenge to the brain. Anything that requires you to get in touch with others will help you live healthier and longer. The more education you receive, the more likely you are to maintain your cognitive ability to prevent dementia. Those who spend a lot of time studying are more likely to just like studying.
It is very important to start exercising when you are young. If you can have a healthier, stronger brain with more neural networks when you get old, it will certainly have stronger adaptability and resist nerve damage for a longer time. Exercise is not only a preventive medicine, but also an antidote. Magnetic resonance imaging scans of elderly people who have been doing aerobic exercise for a long time show that their brains are better protected. One reason is that exercise can restore dopamine reduced by aging.
A recent study on the elderly found that the subjects who lifted weights twice a week for six months were stronger and could actually reverse the aging process at the genetic level. Genes responsible for producing key factors of brain growth (VEGF, FGF2 and IGF 1) behave like they are 30 years old instead of 65 years old.
How exercise can make you healthy and live longer;
1, exercise strengthens cardiovascular system function; 2. Exercise regulates energy; 3, exercise can lose weight;
4. Exercise increases the pressure threshold; 5. Exercise improves mood; 6. Enhance the immune system;
7. Exercise to strengthen bones; 8. Exercise to improve motivation; 9. Exercise promotes neuroplasticity
1, overall scheme
You should make an overall plan from four aspects: aerobic capacity, strength, balance and flexibility. As for aerobic exercise, I think the best advice is to take a walk and jog every day, run long distances several times a week, and then run as fast as chasing prey from time to time.
The public health recommendations of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Sports Medicine Association suggest that moderate-intensity aerobic exercise should be carried out for at least 5 days and 30 minutes every week. However, I think their proposal is more neutral. Americans have too little activity, and experts also avoid recommending sports suggestions that are too demanding, for fear that the entire American people will give up.
Do weightlifting or resistance equipment exercises twice a week, and do three groups of weightlifting equipment exercises. Each group repeats 10 to 15 times. This is very important to prevent and reduce osteoporosis: even if you do all the aerobic training in the world, your muscles and bones will still deteriorate with age, and strength training has obviously affected human growth hormone (HGH). Balance ability and flexibility, exercise twice a week for about 30 minutes each time.
Surprisingly, a month later, the effect of the exercise group every other day was on a par with that of the daily exercise group. Coatman concluded that daily exercise is of course the best, but even intermittent exercise has amazing effects.
2. Aerobic intensity
It is useful to distinguish between low intensity (walking), moderate intensity (jogging) and high intensity (running).
I suggest you go for a brisk walk, jog or play tennis at least four days a week, and do some activities that can raise your heart rate to 60%~65% of the maximum heart rate, and you must stick to 1 hour or more. People always want to know which aerobic exercise is the best. In fact, any aerobic exercise that can be integrated into your lifestyle is the best. It is important to insist on this kind of exercise and ensure the heart rate intensity that can achieve the exercise effect.
Try to walk twice a week for 20 to 30 minutes each time, with a fast speed and an intensity of 70% to 75% of the maximum heart rate.
When you maintain high-intensity exercise with a maximum heart rate of 75%~90%, your body enters a state of comprehensive emergency, which is a tolerable and powerful response. One difference between high-intensity exercise and moderate-intensity exercise is that when you approach the maximum heart rate, especially when you enter anaerobic state, the pituitary gland secretes human growth hormone (HGH), which usually stays in the blood for only a few minutes, while a sprint can maintain the increased HGH in the blood for 4 hours.
Exercising on a fitness bike, with only a 30-second accelerated sprint, can raise the level of HGH to 6 times, and HGH will reach its peak after two hours of sprint.
3. Some extra gains from exercise
From a psychological point of view, that's where you "fight against your nature", which is beyond your own ability limit. Even if you persist in this pain for a minute or two, you can surpass yourself and enter a pure mental state, and you will feel that you can overcome all challenges.
Aerobic exercise can produce obvious regulatory effect: adjust the system that may have been unbalanced and optimize the system that has not been unbalanced. This is an indispensable tool for anyone who wants to give full play to their potential. Exercise can significantly improve the immune system function. The more sports we take part in in life, the more active we are socially.
One of the best ways to form the exercise habit is to join a sports group. The stimulation of social interaction makes your neurons start to have an unprecedented impulse, which is both elusive and challenging, satisfying and enjoyable.
I try to take exercise as the first thing in the morning, which is good for my health and lays a good tone for the day. Many times, it is my motivation to move forward. Play squash three times a week for nearly 25 years. We not only compete with each other, but also encourage and comfort each other. Although everyone is busy, we never miss our squash party. This is a wonderful time.
Researchers describe self-discipline as a physical resource, which is sometimes exhausted, but can be repaired as new. In essence, the more you use this ability, the stronger it will become. Exercise obviously makes our self-discipline reach its best. Sports has paved the way for this unique future, which will be a dynamic future, not a future that only seeks survival.
Gaining experience from mistakes is extremely important in daily life. Hillman's research shows that exercise or at least the health level gained from it has a great influence on this basic skill.
What physical education class really teaches is a way of life. Students are not only learning how their bodies work, but also cultivating healthy habits, healthy skills and hobbies. Physical education class is also a training ground for social skills. In physical education class, Paul graded students according to their efforts rather than their skills. I was deeply shocked by the transformation from a coach to a sculptor of body, mind and mind.
The sedentary modern lifestyle destroys our nature and becomes one of the biggest threats to our long-term survival. Sedentary lifestyle will accelerate aging, and high levels of cortisol, insulin resistance and excessive fatty acids in the blood will further inhibit the release of hormones.
Combining his growing personal interest with his major, he began to work as a sports psychologist, treating athletes who suffered from depression because they were injured and could no longer exercise.