Exercise hormone

By Marian Podoleanu

Health and Fitness Educator

We know that exercise makes us healthier and helps us lose weight, prevent injuries and build strength, but what effect does exercise have on our brains?

This year, let’s get “brainy” about our self-care so that we can plan, focus and process better for personal and professional success. Get your family engaged in an endurance sport like running, cycling, jogging, dancing, frisbee — any form of aerobic movement you enjoy for at least three times a week with an intensity that gets you sweating. Remember the benefits are for all ages! And take up yoga to learn how to breathe and practise it every morning before heading to work.

Most of us live in our minds, yet, very little housekeeping, maintenance or improvement is done for our brains. Cell biologist Bruce Spielgeman and his colleagues isolated the FNDC5 hormone and called it IRISIN after Iris, the Greek messenger goddess. Spiegelman foresaw the role of IRISIN as a ‘messenger’: “Exercise ‘talks to’ various tissues in the body.” 

Benefits of aerobic exercises

Studies on people ranging in age from four to 79 prove that aerobic activity in moderation and sustained for enough time to produce a sweat stimulates the muscle cells to produce IRISIN. This hormone is believed to stimulate the hippocampus, which plays an important role in helping our cognitive, memory and information processing capabilities. Stimulating IRISIN generation through sustained aerobic exercise: 

Helps maintain a healthy weight

Stimulates the growth of neurons and improves cognition

May slow the ageing process

Oxygen and water are well-being catalysts we cannot do without. The brain performs at its best when well hydrated and when the body captures enough oxygen to support the brain’s metabolic function. In practice, I have met very few people that know how to breathe. It is a practice we excelled at as kids but forgot as we grew older.

Remember that in order to succeed in life and give more of yourself to your family, company, friends and yourself, you must become more able, more focused and better planned to unleash the creative spirit within you. Have a fantastic 2018!

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine