Boost in nerve-growth protein helps explain why running supports brain health:
Exercise increases levels of a chemical involved in brain cell growth, which bolsters the release of the "feel good" hormone dopamine, new research shows. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is known to play a key role in movement, motivation, and learning.
Experts have long understood that regular running raises dopamine activity in the brain and may protect nerve cells from damage. In addition, past research has tied exercise-driven boosts in the dopamine-triggering chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and in dopamine levels to improvements in learning and memory. However, the precise way these three factors interact has remained unclear until now.
[...] "Our findings suggest that BDNF plays a key role in the long-lasting changes that occur in the brain as a result of running," says study lead author and neurobiologist Guendalina Bastioli, PhD. "Not only do these results help explain why exercise makes you move, think, and feel better, they also show that these benefits continue even if you do not work out every day," adds Bastioli, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neuroscience at NYU Langone Health.
[...] For the investigation, researchers provided dozens of male mice with unlimited access to either a freely rotating wheel or a locked wheel that could not move. After one month, the team measured dopamine release and BDNF levels in brain slices. They repeated this same process on a new group of rodents, some of which had been genetically modified to produce half as much BDNF as regular mice.
[...] "Our results help us understand why exercise alleviates the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, as well as those of neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression," says study senior author and neuroscientist Margaret Rice, PhD. "Now that we know why physical activity helps, we can explore it as a means of augmenting or even replacing the use of dopamine-enhancing drugs in these patients."
Journal Reference:
Guendalina Bastioli et al., Voluntary exercise boosts striatal dopamine release: evidence for the necessary and sufficient role of BDNF, JNeurosci, 2022.
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2273-21.2022
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 23 2022, @11:51PM (4 children)
After running for an hour or so, all the nasty crap stuck in your throat and lung due to smoking get "burned up."
Some general advices for noobs:
- start slowly and build up distance
- listen to your body and don't push it because you will suffer injury. Well, you will suffer minor injuries along the way, but you don't want something like achilles rupture or bunyyon.
- running shoe stores have annual sale when they tried to get rid of previous year's models. That's when you stock up on shoes that work for you. Them shoes ain't cheap.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 24 2022, @12:42AM
It's good for smokers because it improves lung function, which helps counteract the lung damage from the smoking. But it can't undo the damage, only mitigate it.
Your body will eventually heal, but it takes years, and you never quite get back to where you started, especially with respect to cancer risk.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by krishnoid on Tuesday May 24 2022, @03:58AM (1 child)
A runner told me it was ok to start by walking, and then break that up into a dotted-line between walking, running, walking, running, etc., until I could run. The 30-minutes a day of walking is really kind of dramatic in how much it affects so many unrelated bodily systems. It's as if it was intelligently designed into the base mammalian (or earlier) template as an all-purpose health regulation mechanism.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 24 2022, @08:16AM
This ia a goood theory. Lets get some monkeys, do strange and weird dna experiments on them, and.put them in an isolated place with no evidence of higher intelligence. For good measure manufactured bones of giant animals can be buried in the ground and a gas furnace hidden and configured to spew forth a stream of fire exactly every 769.54 days and blow up after 37 centuries. Come back in a few years and ask what their opinion is.
Can do a fly by every so often to check on them to see how they are going.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 24 2022, @05:39PM
yeah and every other house you're trying to run by has a soi dog. it's better to pass them on fossile fuel powered vehicles.
don't walk, don't even think about running, buy gasoline and diesel instead. oh, and get insurance.
you might run them over and/or if brave and walking fall down a hole in the street or trip and break a leg.
i love running but it's highly discouraged where i live (though "fleeing" is considered a art).
https://i.postimg.cc/SK9CnGPh/cyberpunk-2077-dog.jpg [postimg.cc]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 24 2022, @06:15AM (4 children)
I'd like to see a similar study for lower-impact aerobic exercise, like huffing and puffing up a mountain trail. It seems like there would be a similar affect since the heart rate still goes up; but you're not banging the crap out of your knees so you can do it when you're older. As someone who gave up running for this very reason in my 20s, I'd really like to know.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by inertnet on Tuesday May 24 2022, @07:36AM (1 child)
I'm far from an expert, but swimming might be a good alternative in your case. Mountain trails are extra challenging and may be too hard on your body, depending on how high you want to go of course. Also untrained people should consider that it may be difficult to get help on a mountain, in case you really need it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 24 2022, @04:16PM
GP AC here. I gave up the running in my 20s and I'm 54 now. I live in a rural county with plenty of steep hills, but no public pools. I'll be fine.
I grew up in a suburb with a pool though. Good times. Would gladly join one if the membership fees weren't ridiculous. Oh, we have some lakes and people swim in them, but I ain't goin' in that shit.
Point taken elsewhere in this thread about climbs also taking a toll on your knees, but I've found it to be nowhere near as severe as running. Before I gave that up, the sports doctor (we got free access to the same doctors that basketball players had), he told me I'd be the type who had to get my knees scoped if I kept running. He even got a custom orthotic for me but it didn't do much.
Forgot to mention cycling. That's another great alternative. I used to do that too when I lived in a more developed area; but I was never keen on road cycling outside the 25 mph zones, and I ain't gonna do it here with all the drunks and crazies.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Tuesday May 24 2022, @12:00PM (1 child)
> like huffing and puffing up a mountain trail.
Up hill is fine - I know a lot of folks who have knackered knees from hiking down hill.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 24 2022, @12:20PM
Yep, you'd think going downhill would be easier, but it isn't.
This is why I like biking. It's almost zero impact and anybody can do it. It even has practical value. And you don't need a fancy bike, either. A cheap bike is better for exercise than a good one, because expensive bikes mostly add performance features and reduce weight, and you don't want either of those for exercise. Just don't get one that's so cheap it literally falls apart and you'll be fine.