How Exercise May Bolster the Brain
The article “How Exercise May Bolster the Brain” was written by Gretchen Reynolds, and was very detailed about how exercise affects the brain and the processes associated with the exercise. The main idea of the article was that exercise makes the liver pump out some little known protein that rejuvenates the brains and memories of elderly, out of shape animals. The article then goes on to explain the mounds of evidence that has piled up over the years such as physical activities that prevent the brain from the decline of aging. A new study was published in July looked at the bloodstreams and minds of mice and basically transferred a memory of youth through the blood streams.
The idea that we could one day just take a pill that makes it feel like we worked out without actually having worked out scares me. It scares me because it sounds like we would only be getting the brain benefits and not the physical benefits, but some big company could make it sound like it would literally solve all of our problems as an obese country. People would likely just take it, feel good and not acknowledge the fact that it doesn’t actually help you maintain a healthy lifestyle but rather just mimic the idea to your brain that you are living a healthy lifestyle. If we get to that point, it will be highly unlikely that people in mass amounts will continue to work out just because they feel like it’s no longer a necessity of living a healthy life. It could also become a new drug that has issues and side effects or an addiction rating that could be problematic. The idea that a drug that just “solves” such a large part of our society’s day to day struggle, instead of having to actually go to the gym or go for a run, could be solved from a pill just screams problem to me.
Aside from the pill aspect, I totally agree with the idea that exercise helps the brain because I can feel it working when I work out. I didn’t need to be shown a study to be convinced that’s how relative it is to my lifestyle.In highschool I felt like I had a really good memory on lifting days, and I felt like i just generally performed better in class on days that I lifted or had practice because of all the energy I was putting in.