Posted on
05 Dec 2020,
in
Life Offline.
Recently, I lost my motivation to workout. I gave myself excuses, saying I am too busy with other work when in actuality, I just did not want to. I made attempts to work out a couple of times but it ended up being futile. I became less consistent and eventually stopped. I reflected on my situation and there was a burning question that kept popping up in my head, “what is the point?”. Why am I doing this in the first place? Without an answer, I went and did some investigation. For the last week or so I have put in the effort to get my motivation and discipline back. I am determined to bring back my inner boxer.
Benefits Of Exercise
As we learned in Physical Education class, there are many reasons why exercise is great for our bodies.
Lose Weight: Helps manage our weight by losing calories and body fat.
Muscle Gain: Lift heavier weights. Increase our reaction time and endurance. Helps prevent injury.
Stay Healthy: Reduce our risk of heart diseases. Help our body manage blood sugar and insulin levels. Reduce our risk of some cancers. Improve sleep. Increase our chances of living longer.
These are all great reasons to stay fit however, there is one more reason that is not talked about enough.
Exercise On The Brain
Exercise does wonders on our brain. As Mark Tarnopolsky once said - “If there were a drug that could do for human health everything that exercise can, it would likely be the most valuable pharmaceutical ever developed”. So what are some of the benefits for our brain?
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF): Helps to promote more BDNF. They help us to learn, retain information better and improve the function of our neurons. These are a crucial biological link between thought, emotions, and movement. Just 20 - 30 mins of exercise increase BDNF by 32%
Dopamine, Serotonin and Norepinephrine: Strongly influence mental behaviour patterns. Exercise boosts motivation by increasing dopamine storage and triggering the dopamine receptors. Giving us willpower, focus and relaxation. When we lack these, we end up becoming depressed. Exercise is known to bring people out of their depression.
Hippocampus: Increases the area of the brain involved in verbal memory and learning.
Reduces Cortisol (depending on the intensity): Cortisol is what gives us stress. Too much of it can cause high blood pressure, bone loss and, on occasion, type 2 diabetes. Depending on the intensity of exercise, it can increase or decrease cortisol so we need to be careful.
Reduces The Risk Of Developing Diseases: Studies have shown that the chances of having alzheimer’s and dementia are reduced.
Overall, this research has shown me that I should not only focus on the benefits exercise does for my body but, the power that it gives to boost my mood, reduce my stress and improve my capability to learn.
Conclusion
I have so much ambition to learn new things. Realizing now that exercise is not a waste of time and can change our mindset/mood to aid in learning more effectively has gotten my motivation back. I started looking into different websites and apps that would help inspire me to get back into working out. I even found an article explaining that exercise can even help us save money. In the end, we all know that exercise is important. Reaffirming that knowledge has helped me get back on track to become the best I can be.
