We often hear about the benefits of exercise, and how it can even change your brain.
But let’s take a moment to look at the flipside – how does living a sedentary lifestyle impact your brain?
Researchers at Wayne University School of Medicine wanted to find out, so first, they gathered up some rats.
They put half of the rats in cages with running wheels (on which the rats averaged about 3 miles a day) while the other half were kept in a cage with no wheels, and left to a more sedentary existence.
After 3 months of either running or resting, the rats were injected with a dye to color the neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla – a portion of the brain that controls breathing and commands the body’s sympathetic nervous system.
And, interestingly, researchers noted differences in the shapes of the neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla between the active rats and the sedentary ones.
They found that while the neurons in the brains of the active rats remained the same shape as before the experiment, the neurons of the more sedentary rats had sprouted far more branches, affecting the sympathetic nervous system (flight or fight response) and making them more sensitive to stimuli.
When the sympathetic nervous system is overly responsive, it can result in confusing (and often times too many) messages from the neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla. This causes the nervous system to respond erratically and dangerously.
So, not only does remaining inactive not produce the benefits exercise offers, but it appears that it can actually have a negative impact on the brain as well.
Now, while this study was conducted with rats and not humans, other studies do suggest that people have the same brain region and that it functions similarly.
You can read more about this study in The Journal of Comparative Neurology.
And click here for more ways that lifestyle can rewire your brain.
How do you keep your brain strong? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
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Fun, simple article. Couldn’t agree more. Another strategy that I employ with patients is to simply have them learn a new hobby. Novel experiences are very beneficial for the brain.
Ruth thank you so much for doing this important and much needed brain series especially with so much awareness around brain injury. I’ve experienced 4 brain injuries including brain surgery. As a psychotherapist and brain injury strategist/coach I’ve worked very closely with my clients helping them heal the emotional trauma that lingers long after the physical brain has healed. I just started my first blog “Women and Brain Injury” writing about “This Invisible Injury”.
I am interested in the brain’s works and in rewiring the brain to become a better me.Please send me this info.
Thanks
Seems from the comments that I have watched a different program, though I could join only about half time. However, this shorter time enabled me to ‘concentrate’ more maybe. Dr. Liptons’ enthusiasm and joie de vivre is contagious! Thank you Doctor for a wonderful and instructive lecture! 1% of our genes is responsible for our health should be a great incentive for all of us.
I wish I could share your and some of the commentators’ enthusiasm about the future. Shouldn’t healthy food and organic food be more available and less expensive to start with? In the long run it would be less expensive also taking into account the skyrocketing cost of the medical care. Same with providing exercise possibilites and FREE SELF HELP CHANNELS! It is not happening regretfully. So the gap between the haves and the have nots is further widening, isn’t it?
All that Moshe Feldenkrais said and wrote some 40-50 yrs ago (how we are affected by our parents, school and society – and how we could break out from this enslavement – how we could be free in our body and mind. How we can become free from the ‘gut reaction’, etc.) is now backed by science.
The exercise part must have been in the 1st part that I missed. There were many intriguing insights. How the fate of the child is determined in the womb was one of my favourite as well as the 1st seven years spent in a hypnotic state. Thank you again!
Thank you for the insights you provided as well as those I found in all the comments and posts here -especially Andrew’s , which was a bit difficult to read but interesting ;-).. I have become more and more sedentary in the last couple of years – and how I agree with Isobel that is really preferable to the judemental ‘lazy’!! – due to knee problems etc . – but now I think I’m just making excuses : ( … hope this will encourage me to become more active again !!
For those wanting exercise that can be indoors even in a small space, and that “massages” every cell in the body, try rebounding. A mini-trampoline offers infinite possibilities– from a person confined to a wheelchair putting their feet on it while someone else bounces, to fancy dances and gymnastics by the agile and physically fit. In nice weather take it outdoors – they are light enough to lift or roll.
Invest in a good quality trampoline, and use it in good health — like NASA astronauts do!
I keep my brain strong with my lifestyle behaviors and attitudes and spirituality. Physically I eat more fresh fruits, veggies, nuts and little meat, almond milk, and increasing fish and eliminating wheat in my diet currently. I get 8 to 9 hours sleep daily. I have a personal trainer and exercise at a gym about 3 times a week (Yoga, weights, tread mill etc.). Emotionally and Mentally I keep a positive attitude and spend quality time with family and friends often. I have been married 34 years to same person and we work at our relationship including exercising, Church and family together. Spiritually, I have a daily contemplative practice of centering prayer and scripture reading and weekly prayer groups. I am a Healing Touch Certified Practitioner and practice this alternative medicine, energy work and spiritual treatment on myself and others.
Clever words. So much insight. ank You All!! And especially, thank You Ruth, for creating us this forum!
I am a photographer and in my spare time I go out in nature 4 times a week. Walking quietly and looking for “subjects” I find to be very stimulating. I also swim 3 times a week or more. I work at a desk 3 times a week and find it very mind numbing. So on my days off I try to really stimulate it with different things. I also read and try to learn something new. When I am sitting at my desk I do listen to different lectures that I have downloaded onto an ipod. I find that I can’t just “sit” and think of nothing for 7.5 hours. I do meditate 5 times or more a week. Is there any other way while I am working that I can stimulate my brain? The lectures that I listen to are from Abraham Hicks or something of that nature.
www dot roomvues dot com (crazy y!a won’t let me post the auatcl link.You can upload a photo of your house to the makeover gallery and ask them to photoshop it with whatever colors you’re considering.
Thank you, Andrew, for your long, wise post: I found it impressively succinct given the density of good life advice it contains! With your permission, I’d like to pass it along to a few clients of mine who are struggling with the question of what to do with their lives (I only wish I knew your last name so I could give you full attribution).
Just walked the dogs around the block 🙂
(my husband usually does this but is recovering from an angiogram yesterday)
I came in to read these posts and was blown away!
Together with all this inspiration from the posts and webinars I hope to become healthy again after a long illness !!
Thank you so much Ruth for creating such a wonderful opportunity for growth for so many & as Andrew has so interestingly put it…for all the stakeholders – including future generations!!
I hope everything I learn & put to use will make me a better parent at least by being a better example of healthy well rounded living!!
Btw – I have also done Nia, yoga, out rigging, dragon boat training, running with the running room & made use of library fitness DVD’s and books as well as YouTube fitness videos – I want to try some indoor walking videos soon (on my todo list) & I am hoping to go swimming today!!
Wishing health & happiness to everyone!!
Because I have the Alzheimer’s gene (and had had symptoms resembling Alzheimer’s after my mother wasted away with the disease), I have to be extra vigilant about exercise – both body exercise and brain exercise. For my brain I do the Lumosity brain games (I have no relationship with the company) and I do The Five Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation and walk 3 miles every day. (Before I began my program 10 years ago, every time I got the urge to exercise, I’d lie down until it went away.) Those are just a few of my daily practices. Meditation, observing my thoughts while I brush my teeth, and EFT also strengthen my brain.
I watched your video .Congratulations Ellen ! It reminds me of my hatha yoga period and I must agree that I felt very very well when I did those kind of exrecise…(not able to do such exercises anymore after surgery… but I can recommend them.).
I remember that I had so much energy after my hatha yoga lessons that it was difficult to fall a sleep
at night. But I don’t know if my mind changed.How do you know?
Ellen have you read about how grain and GMO’s are a big factor in dementia and in the brain’s deficit. There are so many studies out there now proving how grain, wheat, dairy and GMO products cause so many difficulties in the brain as well as in the body.
i think behr paint (behr.com) has something like that, but i bevelie there is a $5 fee i’ve not used it, but i have looked at colors on the website before. also you can pick up the paint booklets/chips at home depot (from behr) and the booklets has complimentary colors and shows the paint in different rooms.i personally like the behr paint (semi gloss) because its wonderful for being able to clean it especially with kids and crayons, markers, finger paints, etc. it is a little costlier than most paints, but it covers great and last great also if you use the behr paint and there is something wrong with the paint itself a behr representative will come out and paint your walls for you (there has to be something
Thanks for the reminder about exercise. Winter months are a struggle for me. After a heart attack I have a body temperature control issue therefore I don’t go out much. The exercise I get is dancing in my living room and yoga. I find that it is not enough. I was very active before and now struggle with stamina. I do notice that when I don’t do any thing for more than a couple of days I start getting down. Much easier in winter to go there. Andrew, I get the impression that you are passionate about mankind. You have good wisdom in many things you shared. Thanks.
Universal Hug and Blessings Suzanne
Ruth, Isobel, & Andrew: Thank you! A rich, kind, better world, living in more human dimensions. Good food for thought: feeling, & action.
You ask “How do you keep your brain strong?”. Your brain is multifaceted and has nuero-plasticity. The area of your focus and how you perceive (which relates to what you do, think of and desire) is where your brain grows stronger towards. So I ask “What is it you want your brain to be strong at and why?”. Start there first because you can be certain you can strengthen your mind in some areas. It would be convenient if it aligned well to your: natural talent/gift you already have and your passion. Also for those of you with fine intentions wouldn’t it be wonderful if some of you sought to seek interests, and focus related to areas that are really important but which are not being given sufficient attention (and magnificent if you can find a role suiting your talent) because those are where you will make a big difference, compared to if you did not exist (choosing an area using common skills that people are competing to work in may make little difference compared to if you did not as someone else could have done it. As much as it is good to focus on something to be productive at it. We are not one dimensional and throughout our growth and seasons of our life will not be one purpose but many. It is useful to be a specialist, but it is also relevant to have some wider general skills and knowledge. There is a shortage of generalists and so a lack of common sense, unless we have people who have a wider view and everyone a specialist we will not be robust to change or have sufficient acuity for big change. Ideally we would improve all aspects of our mind but focus on a few key areas of expertise. Note that people who have had massive trauma like a blow to the head etc, some of them despite having parts of their brains practically shut down become geniuses because more of their brain energy is focused to one thing, for example there are such cases with people who after trauma went on to become incredible artists or memory recall or mathematical computation speed etc. To work the brain we can do brain exercises like on lumosity. We can practice improving our senses, recall, calculation speed, coordination, focus, exercises with words, numbers, patterns, face and name recall. We can use mind tools to enhance performance, for example Roman Emporers would use loci, to attach parts of thing to recall with that which we are talented at remembering (e.g. many people are exceptional at recalling how to get somewhere without need of names of road by visual recall in a car journey of hours some people who think they have poor memories could do the trip again right first time). To truly strengthen our minds however we must not just play our strengths, we must sufficiently address our weaknesses. What controls you, yourself or your subconcious or your emotions or your senses. Until you can lead your subconconcious by bringing to conscious unexamined assumptions, re-examining and adjusting you will not be aware of the control it has on you. If you do not just focus to IQ but emotional intelligence that really would help in relationships. Read about it. Perhaps read about the crazy 8 by Tony Robbins. We have emotional needs and we can meet them in inappropriate ways, do become aware if you want a strong mind, you must be able to have times where you stand back and be the observer (e.g. of a recent event or during) for situations where your performance does not gel well or that you stress etc. Find more productive wider perspective to help realign your emotional state to new more productive responses. This takes practice. Widen your perspective, challenge yourself to consider perspectives different than your own. Read about cognitive biases and mitigation. Know yourself, what cognitive biases are you using? So common to have a connfirmation bias, it takes practice to rise above it. Each bias and each emotion has a context of usefulness and contexts of inappropriateness. Learn to discern the happy boundaries. Read about multiple intelligences and be aware of them and so appreciate the diversity of strengths other than your own that get things done in the world and be greatful. Travel, meet knoew people, try different things out. Definitely plan time to help others, do some good cause work, even for free sometimes. Try doing a good deed without anyone else knowing, tell no one. What ever you think on an important decision, consider the opposite. Try to think of what problems your solution might produce and so create improvements. Take time out, exercise and get plenty of sleep. Do all this well and you will definitely strengthen your mind through practice. If things are ho hum, strengthen the meaning in your life, write all the reasons for what you want that influence not only you but others. Practice being grateful, learn to appreciate the smallest things. If you lack esteem write an asset list of all the things you have that many others don’t. For example those living in poverty and with major sickness and limitations. How about those who have turned up from another country for work and can’t speak language, don’t know way around time and don’t know the currency who go on to success. Is it not great to keep growing in appreciation and your ability to give increasing value to others, with that positive focus, planning and action your brain will grow stronger. Last of all and perhaps most importantly is the many connections, love and relationships. Old people left on their own can fin their brains deteriorate. Just by having people to talk to tests show their brains generally all over become more active and working better again. Use it or loose it. Challenge your mind regularly, try to extend it. Try to raise your game, for example a good one is to try and think how you can do something better to give greater good to all stakeholders not just the customer, including silent stakeholders like future people and ecosystem. Can you create more value than cost that is a net gain to the system? can you create even more value again in more dimensions than last time? e.g. rather than just monetary, how about other measures and meaning, like love, friendship, insight for others, inspiration, smile, a joke, wider consideration of their needs? Now whilst doing that think a sort of opposite like an enough paradigm, when should you give just enough, if we get too much for free do we become complacent and ungrateful and weaker at addressing change in that area. Who needs less to help them grow? How can you get more out of less? When is it better to help someone not make a mistake and when is it better for them to learn safely but more fully by letting them make the mistake? Create your own challenges along opposing views to create more value and discernment on different levels to enrich your mind and others lives. Cheers, Andrew : )
Always wondering how many thoughts 1 human brain can have ….’it seems an endless stream….”.
After this course , my brain needs some rest..
Btw On this forum, a few weeks ago ,a person mentioned that he/she used ZENTANGLE to become a better brain.I was so curious and subscribed for a workshop but still have to wait 2 months .
It seems to be a mixe between phylosophy,drawing patterns and that should have an impact on the brain…”Anyone knowing more ….?
Your writing style was a challenge for me to read, Andrew, but worth the trip. A comprehensive, stream of consciousness array of ideas and practices to consider for the good of our brains and the world. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this Andrew! If this were a meal it would be a feast! While physical activity is good, I have also discovered that if it is combined with mental and emotional engagement it is even better. I have been really strengthened by this post. Blessings!
I agree with Andrew. I would add to this list of suggestions to solve math problems, it is very good to develop and strenghten the reasoning, memory, speed of thought and the ability of association / link between topics.
Thank you Andrew. Wonderful food to nourish the mind and feed the sole! Just started tuning in, enjoying and taking in the ways to feel/be useful. Not that I haven’t considered these choices or heard about them. I was not motivated. My interest peaked reading these blogs and lectures. Thanks.
The abiilty to think like that shows you’re an expert
Very helpful prompt for me and reminder to keep active. I feel the word ‘laziness’ though is often used as a judgement and the words ‘sedentary’ is more helpful for me. The word lifestyle is also important here for me as it speaks of a way of life and the importance of building activity into our lives. And within this is the importance of rest and recuperation for balancing the sympathetic with the parasympathetic nervous systems which is sometimes lying back on the settee. Thank you for this information Ruth.