HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT AND KEEP IT OFF? PART 7

EXERCISE ON DAILY BASIS.

IT HELPS YOU TO HEAL YOUR MIND, YOUR BODY, CONTROL YOU WEIGHT AND HELP YOU FEEL FIT AND HEALTHY.

I know from personal experience that when I am stressed out or facing a difficult decision that I need to make, I would take a long brisk walk in the neighborhood or in a local park. It would clear my mind off my worries and anxiety and enable me to think more clearly and help to make me feel more energetic and assertive.

I always wondered why exercise would have such beneficial effect on us.

I should state that daily physical activities required for work, as claimed by some, are not considered exercise. Exercise must be intentional and extra to be effective.

While I was searching for an answer, I came across to an interesting book entitled Move Your Body, Heal Your Mind. This book written by Dr. Jennifer Heisz, who is the director of the NeuroFit Lab at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Dr. Heisz uses her own difficult real-life experiences (she is a divorced mother of a small child and university professor) to study and research how exercise can help to heal our mental and physical health problems.

We all feel an “exercise high” following a brisk work-out, and get a brief reprieve from our worries, anxiety and stress. The reason for this is that exercise makes our brain to up-regulate and produce multiple neuropeptide molecules and hormones. Among them Neuropeptide Y, which helps to sooth our anxious amygdala. Amygdala is a small center in the brain, in charge of our emotions. When our brain senses any danger or difficulty, amygdala puts us on high alert by creating an anxious and worrying state to make us ready to face the difficulties.

An interesting study conducted on university students who were facing high pressure, anxiety and or stress for final exams. The students were divided in three groups. One group rode stationary bicycle with a moderate pace for about 35-40 minutes, another group did a very intense cycling for the same time, while the last group did nothing for the study period. All students had physical, psychological and blood examinations before and after the study period.

The study showed that the group that did nothing had significant symptoms of clinical depression and elevated level of CRP in the blood test (a sign of inflammatory reaction in the blood). Moderate exercise group had no or very less stress, while intense exercise group had increased stress findings on their exams. Blood test shoved increased inflammatory reaction.

It is thought that intense exercise by itself could induces more stress on individuals, therefore it is not recommended very beneficial for physical and mental well-being.