You may be underestimating your muscles. In fact, most people do. For example, we all know that muscles are important, function-Few people realize how important muscles are for activities like walking, climbing, and lifting. Feeling.
If you’re unaware of this mood-muscle connection, rest assured. It’s just a recent discovery. Amazingly, the entire scientific community remained shrouded in darkness until around 2003, when a team of Copenhagen-based researchers reported a startling discovery (1). Working muscles secrete small chemical messengers called myokines that have powerful effects on organ function, including brain function ( 2 ).
Through the action of myokines, muscle tissue communicates directly with the brain about its activity, triggering a cascade of biological responses that improve memory, learning, and mood (see Figure 1 below). This newly discovered mechanism means that people who engage in physical activity that builds and maintains healthy muscle tissue can enjoy a range of cognitive and mental health benefits. shows exactly this effect (3).
Source: Thomas Rutledge
If someone has ever accused you of being complicated, they really didn’t know anything. increase. Cells are small. For example, if you put cells side by side in a police lineup, about 200 cells will fit in 1 mm of her.
But that’s just the beginning of the miracle we call you. Every cell in your body is a thriving civilization unto itself, made up of billions of proteins and other molecules, each with a work ethic that would put John Henry to shame. Cell citizens scaled to our size fly around at the speed of fighter planes, busy performing hundreds or thousands of life support functions per second. They must keep this frenetic pace uninterrupted for you to survive, and they collectively perform billions of precisely-executed chemical activities each day.
If you somehow have a superhuman imagination capable of imagining this cellular cacophony, it might make you wonder. Amazingly, the vast amount of energy we need to keep our cells moving ultimately comes from the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat.
The latter seems important to remember the next time you don’t feel like eating vegetables. Converted to an acid (ATP) molecule. Even normal cells may house thousands of mitochondria that produce these energies, but muscle cells are mitochondrial honeycombs, with tens or hundreds of thousands of mitochondria that contribute to their operation. Powering You. Once made, ATP is eaten by your cells like an exhausted runner devouring a power bar at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
It is you who emerges from this molecular mayhem almost impossible. All thoughts, feelings and actions arise from and depend on this constant cycle of energy demand and energy production. In case it’s not obvious from this description, the more cells function at the smaller levels, the better they feel and function at the larger levels.
This brings me back to resistance training. Given that muscle plays an important role in energy production and brain function, it may be time to start valuing strength training and muscle building as useful beyond athletes and magazine models.
For example, using muscle against resistance is far more effective at strengthening bones than any calcium supplement (4). cause of metabolic status) better than any prescription drug.
And now, it has been found that stimulating muscle tissue with resistance training has emotional effects that rival those of conventional antidepressants and psychotherapy (3). It suggests that the main reason for doing so is one: it works (5). The main function of the human brain is to coordinate complex movements (which is probably why giant, stationary sequoia trees have brains but not).
Recognizing this intimate connection between the brain and movement reveals the biological underpinnings of the mind-muscle connection and raises the debate about the importance of resistance training for optimal physical and emotional health. There will be no room left.
Source: Thomas Rutledge
