Formula for health, focus, and happiness

12/29/2020

When you decide to complete a task, to cut a fruit or perform a squat, that task is first modeled in your brain. Your brain, ultimately, controls your body. It is important to understand that you cannot train your body without also training your mind. More and more studies are now adding weight to the mind-body connection by revealing the complex biofeedback loop through which exercise helps the mind get tougher while the mind helps the body remain healthier.

To truly understand this, it is important to point out that unless you are asleep or protected in a room full of fluffy cotton balls, you are under stress. Stress is always lurking around the corner and is looking for an opportunity to cozy up to you via life, work, unexpected problems, or the amount of decisions you must make each day. Your body will respond to this stress by producing a stress hormone called cortisol.

Without diving deep into the biology, just understand that every cell in your body contains structures called telomeres. A telomere is made up of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end of a chromosome (DNA carrying structure) and its role is to protect the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes. Telomeres play a critical role in cell division, and as the cells divide, the telomere gets shorter. Short telomeres are linked to a variety of diseases including osteoporosis, heart disease, and several age-related problems.

Your body is so efficient that it has a natural defense that slows down, and in some cases, reverses the natural aging process. Your body produces an enzyme called telomerase and its role is to replenish and preserve the length of telomeres keeping the cells young and fighting off old age. You now know that when you are stressed, your body will release cortisol in order to help you deal with the stressful situation you are facing. If cortisol levels, however, remain elevated in your bloodstream for long periods of time, or in other words, if you are consistently stressed and are not dealing with this stress, then the elevated cortisol level will have a negative effect on your immune system and thus suppress the release of telomerase. Prolonged elevated cortisol levels in the bloodstream will then have a direct effect on your cell's telomeres. They will shorten as your cells divide and will not only contribute to aging but also to a weakened immune system.

How to deal with stress

There is not a single person on this planet that does not have to deal with stress. That being said, the best thing that you can do for yourself is to teach your body to better deal with stress. Now stay with me here, exercise itself is a stress inducing factor that will naturally elevate levels of cortisol in your bloodstream, in turn, exercise teaches your body to deal with the stress hormone quickly.

Regular exercise will help your body adapt against stress. Elevated levels of cortisol have also been linked to cognitive decline and depression. By teaching your body to deal with elevated cortisol levels successfully, you are also reducing the possibility that you will experience depressive symptoms or a decline in mental ability.

The benefits of exercise do not end here, beyond stress, we work to redefine our setpoints or limits of our physical capabilities. In order to push our bodies to move faster, do more push-ups, or perform extra sets, we must get past the annoying little voice in our heads that says, "I am tired. No more. Stop." Getting past this voice allows us to become more disciplined and capable of a greater focus.

Your body and your mind are not divided, networks of communication exist between the immune, endocrine, and neurological systems and they all communicate with the brain. What happens to one affects the other.

If your mind is unfocused then it is incapable of organizing your thoughts and prioritizing your actions, then similarly your body is unfocused and undisciplined and incapable of performing at its peak. Similarly, when your body performs like a finely tuned machine that is controlled by you, then your mind is healthier, and you will feel happy.

Take home message

When it comes to developing a strategy for better health, fighting the ravages of aging, and remaining mentally tough and happy, the recipe seems super simple:

  • Exercise regularly
  • Test your limits frequently
  • Vary your training to make it interesting
  • Workout your motivation and understand why you do things
  • Become engaged in what you do, focus on understanding how your body works

Majid Hodzic


Sources:

Adlard, P.A. & Cotman, C.W. (2004). Voluntary Exercise Protects Against Stress-Induced Decreases in Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Protein Expression. Neuroscience, 124(4), 985-992.

Brower V. (2016). Mind-Body Research Moves Towards the Mainstream. EMBO Rep, 7(4), 358-361.

Harris G. (2014). Impact of Meditation, Support Groups Seen at Cellular Level in Breast Cancer Survivors. Alberta Health Services. 

Karolinska Institutet. (2014). How Physical Exercise Protects the Brain From Stress-Induced Depression. ScienceDaily.

University of California - Los Angeles. (2008). Mechanism Behind Mind-Body Connection Discovered. ScienceDaily.

Vaisvaser, S., Modai, S., Farberov, L., Lin, T., Sharon, H., Gilam, A., Volk, N., Admon, R., Edry, L., Fruchter, E., Wald, I., Bar-Haim, Y., Tarrasch, R., Chen, A., Shomron, N., & Hendler T. (2016). Neuro-Epigenetic Indications of Acute Stress Response in Humans: The Case of MicroRNA-29c. PLOS ONE, 11.

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