Why exercise is the brain’s natural stress reliever

[tweetmeme]”Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tone the spirit just as exercise conditions the body.” ~Arnold Schwarzenegger

Have you ever noticed first-hand, or heard from someone else that exercise is a great way to relieve stress?

In the book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, there is a chapter dedicated to the topic of stress and how it affects the brain.  Dr. John Ratey, the author, discusses how stress (short term) activates a division of the autonomic nervous system, called the sympathetic nervous system.  This part of our nervous system is commonly referred to as the “fight or flight” system within our bodies.  When active, we prepare to run away from danger or prepare to fight for our lives.

For example, if you were sitting in a classroom, and someone suddenly ran into the room, wielding a gun and threatening to shoot everyone (you included), your pupils and airways would dilate, your heart rate would increase, you would breathe more frequently and deeply, and your digestive system would shut down.  Your body’s response is fueled by stress hormones that rush through your body as you quickly size up the scene and decide whether to stay and fight or try to make a run for it.  As our eyes are taking inventory of the situation at hand, our brains are busy taking notes of the experience and committing them to memory for future use.

Ratey points out that our brains don’t distinguish between good and bad demands on the body — our brains just know something has disrupted our body’s “natural equilibrium,” and it’s trying to determine whether the threat to the body is severe.  The amydgala, which is a more primitive area of the brain, is responsible for determining how severe the circumstances are, and then sending a jolt down the spine to activate the sympathetic nervous system.  If you ever got that sinking feeling in your gut when you received bad news, that’s essentially what you are feeling…

The result of this jolt down your spine is the release of the stress hormones that initiate the physiological changes within your body.  Those hormones are known as epinephrine and norepinephrine…You may not have heard of these, but you may have heard of their aliases — adrenaline and noradrenaline.  They are released by small glands that sit at the top of our kidneys, called adrenal glands (which is why the hormone is called “adrenal”ine).

The end result, as I had mentioned before, is to prepare the body to mobilize in some way — either the body is going to engage in a fight for its life, or it is going to run away.  Ratey explains, “After all, the purpose of the fight-or-flight response is to mobilize us to act, so physical activity is the natural way to prevent the negative consequences of stress.  When we exercise in response to stress, we’re doing what human beings have evolved to do over the past several million years.”

In other words, our brains have been worked into a frenzy, trying to take inventory of stressors and logging the experience for future knowledge.  Why not try to do what our bodies are designed to do, and alleviate the negative toll stress takes on the brain and go for a run or engage in some other sort of strenuous activity?  Exercise is the body’s natural stress reliever!

Just another reason why exercise does the brain and body good!

Have a great day!

-Victor

Photo source: freedigitalphotos.net