What comes to mind when you hear the word “exercise”?
What does exercise mean to you?
Is it: hard work, effort, have to, know I should but don’t feel like it, won’t because others say so, you can’t make me, can’t be bothered, who cares, I’m too tired, there’s no time, it’s not as important as… most of us are very good at creating a list like this.
Let me reveal my latest breakthrough. I’ve discovered a totally new connection, my new purpose for exercise, and I’m really fascinated by the turn around in my thinking and the effect it’s having on my motivation and interest in exercise. It has expanded the meaning and purpose of exercise for me. Follow the story and see what happens for you.
Science is now telling us that new brain cells are created all the time, thousands of them, but more than 50% die. Now that’s tragic. These are our brain’s offspring, our brain’s babies. And they die from sheer neglect. That’s just not acceptable to me as a mother.
All human brains give birth to thousands of brain cells in different areas, and they need to be embraced and included into their family, the brain network of that particular area, to survive. When that family network isn’t communicating, the baby is ignored, left isolated, and eventually dies. That happens in your brain and mine when we don’t use that particular brain network in our daily life.
When that brain family network is active and communicating, regularly engaged doing it’s job, than the baby cells are needed and nurtured to fill in for the brain cells that die, just like in our human family. And if the network is learning something new and expanding, more babies have a place and can be accommodated and given a job. This goes beyond just replacing the parents or grandparents. The population of the family and the whole tribe of brain cells in that location is growing and expanding their reach.
New brain cells respond to being included in the activities and communication of their family. They learn from older sibling brain cells and from parents and any grandparents still surviving, and mature into fully functional and contributing family members. Now isn’t that what we want for our own kids? And here we have the template in our brain world for how to raise our kids in the big world.
So stimulus, exercise of any kind that activates multiple connected networks, is essential to save more baby brain cells. I’m on a rescue mission. Therefore I need to exercise and stimulate my brain in a variety of ways to save babies in different areas of my brain. And so do you.
As a result at the gym today I smiled, and changed my routine. Instead of mindlessly repeating my old gym program I engaged my new purpose for exercise. I looked for new ways to exercise different parts of my body, knowing that would exercise different parts of my brain too, and save many more baby brain cells than just following habit.
It’s much easier to exercise when I’m thinking of all the good work I am doing. My exercise recues baby brain cells. Puts a whole new meaning on “charity begins at home.”
Have a go and see if you smile too.
Cheers
Anna