My Body Tutor : No More Excuses

I hope your weekend wasn’t as snowy as mine. In NYC, we got about a foot. I love snow, however, because I’m not a student, and the possibility of school being canceled is no longer an option, it’s not all that exciting once it turns to slush.

If anything, it adds to the stress some of us are facing – especially the week of Christmas as it only makes holiday shopping that much more difficult.

A good solution is to engage in some activities like exercise that aid in reducing anxiety as this time of year is certainly riddled with it!

So, how exactly does exercise make you less anxious?

Well last month, at the annual meeting of neuroscience in Chicago, preliminary results were presented. One group of rats were allowed to run while the other one wasn’t.

Then all of the rats were forced to swim in cold water, which they don’t like to do.

Afterward, the scientists examined the brains of all the rats. They found that the stress of the swimming activated neurons in all of the brains. The researchers could tell which neurons were activated because the cells expressed specific genes in response to the stress.

But the youngest brain cells in the rats that ran, that scientists assumed were created by running, were less likely to express the genes. They generally remained quiet.

According to the researchers, “the cells born from running appeared to have been specifically buffered from exposure to a stressful experience.” Through running, the rats had created a brain that seemed biochemically calm!

For years it has been known that exercise enhances our mood.

In another experiment done at the University of Colorado in Boulder, it proved that rats who had run prior to being exposed to a laboratory stressor, were less anxious and helpless despite the stress.

According to Michael Hopkins, a graduate student at Dartmouth, “It looks more and more like the positive stress of exercise prepares cells and structures and pathways within the brain so they’re more equipped to handle stress in other forms.”

Which means that what you do physically (exercise wise) absolutely affects your mental capacity to deal with stress! This is incredible.

(Two for the price of one. Make yourself physically and mentally stronger at the same time. I won’t even get into all of the other benefits of exercise for your future self and your current self!)

However, these changes don’t happen overnight. Rats that only ran for 3 weeks didn’t show much change. But those that did for 6 weeks or more did. Something happens between 3 and 6 weeks – another reason why it’s essential to keep on going!

They’ve only tested the benefits of aerobic exercise like running, walking, biking or swimming.

According to doctors you may not feel the change after your first session of cardio. However, in the long run the molecular biochemical changes that will occur are profound!

In short: Aerobic exercise *consistently* will make you less anxious and help you deal with stress better in the future.