Sedentary lifestyle has repercussions not only at the physical level, but also for the brain. However, we will examine what to do to permanently defeat the risks of sedentary lifestyle.
Inactivity, not exercising, reading or training, in short, not moving, is detrimental to overall health. This has been known for years. However, in this article we will specifically introduce you to the risks of sedentary lifestyle for your brain.
We live in an age where physical activity occupies a secondary place in our lives . Many occupations at work imply that we are sitting long hours, and we move in our daily lives through vehicles, without walking.
Sedentary lifestyle changes the structure of the nervous system
The nervous system is not a static structure, but a dynamic one . New synapses are continually created, modified, others removed. However, the changes that are promoted with inactivity are not exactly good, and that is one of the biggest risks of sedentary lifestyle.
In a research carried out in 2014 by Mischel and collaborators from the Wayne State University School of Medicine, the specific changes that occur in the brain, the result of sedentary lifestyle, were found with precision.
The researchers selected two groups of rats. One of them moved and exercised regularly. Another, no. After 3 months, they found physical changes in the structure of the brains of sedentary rats:
- An excessive number of additional ramifications in neurons that overstimulated the nervous system, speeding up the heart rate and predisposing to hypertension .
- Inactivity led the sympathetic nervous system to fail to regulate peripheral vasoconstriction, which also predisposes to hypertension and heart disease.
Other scientific research has found that sedentary lifestyle weakens memory and learning ability, as well as predisposes to neurodegenerative diseases .
How to avoid the risks of sedentary lifestyle for your brain?
Exercising improves physical and mental health
Thomas Stephens, in research published in Preventive Medicine , showed that moderate exercise improves mental health, especially in those with stress , anxiety and depression disorders. In addition, the results of their study yielded data that pointed to records of:
- Improved mood
- Reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression
- Increased physical well-being
- Significant increase in quality of life, especially in women and in the rest of the population over 40
The conclusion is clear: the best way to avoid chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, osteoporosis and cardiovascular diseases, is through exercise. In fact, a simple daily walk is enough to avoid many problems. That, yes, the exercise has to be moderate and progressive.
The dream is fundamental
It is known that one of the risks of sedentary lifestyle lies in the elimination of activity routines and a disorder in schedules, which results in poor quality of sleep. And of course, this only exacerbates the problem.
If we do not sleep well, we will be in a worse mood and suffer from greater emotional instability. Our attention and our memory will be greatly affected by reducing the rest time.
On the contrary, doing a little exercise improves the quality of sleep and favors it to be restorative . It is not surprising that one of the fundamental supports in the treatment of insomnia is exercising.
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Exercise avoids the risks of sedentary lifestyle and improves mood
That's right, exercise helps combat anxiety symptoms , so it also helps you to be calmer and more relaxed at bedtime. Sport increases self-esteem, self-confidence and promotes social exchange.
In summary, the risks of sedentary lifestyle for your brain and your physique have been demonstrated. Therefore, it is in your hands to combat them with some exercise and stimulation for your neurons, such as outdoor activities, visiting museums, or having a conversation with someone with whom you are walking or jogging .
Sedentary risks for your brain
By beauty tips
Lack of rest affects the brain, and we know this beyond scientific studies that can confirm it. The times we slept badly, we were irritated and less connected the next day.
When there is a lack of rest in our brain, the functions begin to lose effectiveness . We feel slower to respond, less memory, and significant muscle fatigue.
All these effects have a scientific explanation, and it points to the importance of brain tissue for daily life. However, the optimal maintenance of this tissue involves getting enough sleep.
Various factors intervene in the lack of rest . There are people who sleep poorly due to psychological disorders, such as anxiety insomnia, and others who do so due to bad habits when going to sleep.
The situation is somewhat serious in the long term. Let's think that a student with lousy rest will not be able to advance adequately in her career. A worker will not perform the same in their work, and even run vital risks if they operate machinery, for example.
What happens to the brain due to lack of rest? What are the processes that are affected? Next, we will review the effects of lack of rest on three main areas associated with brain health: humor, memory and the circadian rhythm.
Lack of rest alters mood
Parents who have spent whole nights watching over their children know this. The next day is filled with irritability, and everything seems too angry, even if they are minimal things.
This mood alteration comes from the disconnection caused by lack of rest between the cerebral amygdala and the rest of the nervous system tissue. A disconnected amygdala acts on impulse, without mediating actions in the cortex of the brain .
The negative becomes more negative and worse in the amygdala's interpretation of things. Under normal conditions, well asleep, this way of interpreting passes through other brain barriers that create a more consistent response. After a sleepless night there are no limits to anger.
It is not a permanent effect, since when sleeping after the necessary hours, the system reconnects. However, in people with poor sleep often, irritability can significantly alter their social relationships .
Worse results in the study
The Researches on sleep suggest that the hippocampus is another region hit hard by the lack of rest. And this area is key for students, since memory is made there.
A bad night's sleep decreases the chances of withholding new information the next day . Even the retention of images is ruined, beyond the data, which can affect the making of memories of the previous day and the one that is developing.
This reinforces the goal of achieving adequate sleep hygiene in students, especially university students. Careers require a degree of attention and retention that can be stimulated by night sleep.
When sleeping, the hippocampus transfers memories from its neurons to other brain lobes. This process is essential for the engraving of thoughts and future settlement.
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Lack of rest and melatonin
Humans move in a daily circadian rhythm that lasts about 24 hours. This wake-sleep cycle has been externally stipulated by the hours of sunlight. Inside the body, this regulation responds to the hormone melatonin.
Melatonin stops its production when it receives light, and on the contrary, it is produced in greater quantities in the dark. In this way, the hormone increases its concentration to encourage us to sleep and rest.
Lack of rest at the appropriate times runs our biological clock and takes us out of the regular sleep-wake cycle. This erroneously exposes us to light, both solar and artificial, which alters the production of melatonin .
In the medium term, if the wake-sleep cycle moves constantly, we can enter phase changes. This means that it is increasingly difficult for us to sleep at the time we want to do it and it is difficult for us to wake up to be active in the morning.
Sleep hygiene for lack of rest
We have seen how lack of rest affects the brain, but we can do something. There are sleep hygiene measures that we can take to help our brain tissue function properly.
Remember that through the nervous system we communicate with the outside and with our loved ones, so taking care of it is a priority. A good rest will ensure a better mood and more attention.
How lack of rest affects the brain
By beauty tips
Many people overeat when stressed. Their main argument is that food calms them down and makes them feel better. In this article we analyze the reasons.
Stress affects a large percentage of the population today. The overload of work, the amount of overstimulation to which we are subjected or the difficult reconciliation of family and work make millions of people in the world suffer from this disease.
Evolutionarily, we are adapted to having specific moments of stress because it is something that has facilitated our survival as a species. However, there is a very important mismatch between the design we have and what we are actually experiencing.
Living a stressful time is not the same as living stressed. The first is normal, unexpected and generated by the environment, while the second, living under stress, is toxic, sought and generated by ourselves because it has become a habit and we do not know how to live otherwise.Bernardo Stamateas - Toxic Emotions
From point stress to chronic stress
The stress maintained on a daily basis becomes chronic and affects health in many ways:
- Worsen hypertension and allergies.
- Pain increases .
- It generates anxiety, insomnia or depression.
One of the factors that are most affected when we suffer stress is appetite. Thus, there are people who, in the face of stress, can hardly eat a bite and, on the other hand, others cannot stop eating.
Also read: Why stop judging people?
Relationship between unhealthy food and stress
Many of us, when we are stressed, not only have a tendency to eat more, but also the type of foods that calm our anxiety tend to be inadequate.
A study published in 2006 in the journal Physiology and Behavior showed that people under stress tended to choose unhealthy, high-fat foods, such as M & M's chocolate dragees, over healthy, low-fat foods, such as grapes.
Another experiment by the same authors showed that more women than men significantly increased their dietary intake when stressed, especially if they were already following some type of low-calorie diet to lose weight .
In many occasions, this type of behavior responds to what we know as emotional hunger . This is characterized by being a type of hunger that leads us to compulsively eat highly palatable foods to calm annoying feelings and emotions such as stress, sadness, anger or loneliness.
What physiological factors influence increased appetite?
According to a study published in 2007 by the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology , excess cortisol leads to consuming unhealthy foods . This is one of the hormones that is most secreted when we are stressed.
Another study published in 2009 by the journal Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism shows how stress induces the secretion of glucocorticoids, which increases motivation for food, and insulin secretion, which promotes ultraprocesados food intake and obesity.
Thus, a diet rich in sugars and unhealthy fats reduces the stress response . The negative effect is that it reinforces the habit of eating improperly. For this reason, the experts emphasize the importance of teaching techniques to the patients so that they learn to identify their sensations and modify their responses of excessive intake.
What can we do to reduce our appetite when we are stressed?
Here are some tips that can help us reduce food anxiety caused by stress:
- Learn to listen to what the body tells us : we must know how to distinguish whether the hunger we feel is real or emotional in order to act accordingly.
- Eating real and satisfying food: If we eat enough real food and cover our daily needs for carbohydrates, proteins and fats, it will be much easier to feel satiated.
- Avoid having unhealthy food at home: The best way to avoid falling into a binge of ultra-processed food is to not have access to it.
- Substitute inappropriate foods for healthy snacks: if we feel excessively stressed and we cannot avoid eating, at least we consume foods that provide us with nutrients for the body.
- Substitute another type of binge eating : compulsive eating can become a habit and habits can change. Thus, instead of eating we can try to take a walk, call a friend or be with our pets.
- Analyze what happens: eating excessively is still the answer to avoiding feeling uncomfortable emotions. Recognizing them will be one of the solutions to our problem.
- Making room for our discomfort: feeling what needs to be welcomed will be another of the essential steps to take to overcome our stress.
- Thinking long-term: When we overeat, it's easy for us to focus only on the present moment. Therefore, it is important to think about the consequences of our actions.
- Being rational: When we are overly stressed, we are often overwhelmed by emotions. For that reason, it is key that rational thinking comes into play to regulate our behavior.
- Practicing acceptance: Being permanently stressed puts us in a situation of constant struggle between what happens and what we would like it to be. In order to solve any problem, there is nothing like accepting the situation in which we find ourselves.
Final recommendations to control appetite against stress
Excess appetite, weight gain, and stress obesity are the consequence of the problem, not the cause. Therefore, it is important that we not only try to eat better, but, above all, we investigate what leads us to maintain this type of behavior over time.
Only if we are able to understand what causes us chronic stress, we can begin to solve our inappropriate eating behaviors. In the event that we do not find an answer or do not know how to manage this stress, it is best to ask a mental health professional for help.
Why stress increases appetite?
By beauty tips
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