Neurogenesis linked to aerobic exercise
nymag.com
nymag.com
Running promotes neurogenesis, but also enriched environment, many drugs, genetics etc. Its effect in mice is also somewhat elusive at this point: we aren't sure whether it promotes learning or forgetting.
That being said, all the nice cognitive effects from exercise probably all due to endorphins (literally endogenous morphine) released in the brain afterwards.
Billion dollar startup idea: insulin pump-like device that lets you watch hours of ads for heroin infusions..
[1] http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/well/2015/10/07/homing-in-on...
If you google for studies citing the one above, you will find many more. Purely from a standpoint of scientific evidence, running if one of the best things you can do for your brain. Bilingualism and cognitively demand work are also a good ideathough its less clear whether they have cognitive protective effects or actually lead to neurogenesis.
However, the PTSD specialist that worked with these two individuals suggested that running (and walking) long distances can create the same effect since the person is continually scanning the environment. This would alleviate PTSD symptoms plus anxiety and depression in her patients.
Beginning mushroom hunters find mushrooms by seeing them. Expert mushroom hunters just see things in their peripheral vision that are consistent with a mushroom being there. (E.g. some leaves out of place, a pop of color where there shouldn't be, a wisp of smoke, etc.) By the time you actually consciously focus your eyes/attention on the area and get close enough to see whether or not there really is a mushroom, you're already pretty sure whether or not you've found something.
These are really bad for you to breathe in though, so if you see this happening then definitely go in the other direction.
Peace and meditation is what it mostly does for me.
If you are interested do yourself a favor and check out the book "Total Immersion" by Terry Laughlin.
I wish had started to read it earlier - a total game changer for me, none of the "no-pain-no-gain" bullshit. I swear I've been having almost instant results, passing by most "better trained" swimmers with blissful ease, it really is unfair ;) Essentially it's about hacking swimming by seriously getting into the physics of the sport.
Highly recommended!
My dad has idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis or IPF it's probably from breathing in small particles over the years which causes scarring of lung tissue. Although the idiopathic part means how it occurs is not known for sure. He worked a blue collar job and often breathed in dust from various things.
Lungs are only for air don't mess with your lungs!
There is also this inhaler containing ectoine, but this wouldn't protect against particles entering the brain via olfactory nerve:
"An inhaler that protects the lungs against air pollution has been developed by scientists and could help the many millions of people affected by toxic air to avoid its worst effects."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/16/new-inha...
Then again, hauling your own air supply would result in far easier breathing and better cardio due to the added weight.
Runnning with it, however, is a whole different animal.
I've worked with plenty of smokers. Some who didn't take much exercise. But some of them were extremely effective programmers. As Bob Dylan said: You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
The negative effects of pollution have been well documented, so its not like this study is coming out of nowhere. But, I do agree that one study should not be given too much weight. And how pollution affects exercise needs more research before conclusions can be definitively reached.
I wonder how HIIT stacks up against running in this regard. When done properly, it's impossible to do it for the said 30 minutes, yet it makes one sweat no less than that 40 minute run. For example, the routine I follow daily takes about 15 minutes and consists of series of calisthenics a minute/half a minute long with 20 seconds of rest between them. By 15 minutes mark it leaves me breathless and drives every muscle to exhaustion. If it's all about blood movement, then I assume HIIT should compare well since the routine quickly drives my heart rate up and keeps it relatively high for hours afterwards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_traini...
It's more complicated than doing 20 seconds of >100% effort followed by 10 seconds of rest 8 times over, which is itself more specific than the range of ways in which you can do HIIT.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/which-type-of-exerc...
I could find being forced to randomly run on a treadmill and then slow down to be extremely stressful, which is bad for neurogenesis, so I don't know how representative this experiment is.
Actually that isn't true.
Those of us in technology should be even more worried.
I've been training for about three months now and I spent about 6 weeks of that feeling sick the entire time, and the more recent 6 weeks just not enjoying it.
For one, getting zoning out within no time, and second, being fit enough to comfortably run 45-60min.
I have since picked up (slowly) running without shoes on and it has made a real difference. It is difficult to acclimate, but it can be done. I now feel no knee pain and I have realized that I indeed enjoy running. Not only am I discovering that it's easier to run without shoes, but it's a lot more fun too.
Indeed I haven't seen most of the changes in my feet that others say they have seen in theirs. My feet are mostly the same, but with soles that are just a little less sensitive to pebbles and sticks than they used to be.
Maybe I'm lucky, but even in a big city that practically glitters with broken beer bottles and I don't find glass to be a problem. Injuries from broken glass are easy to avoid, and are much more often talked about than realized. Once a season I may get a splinter in my foot, or stub my toe on a root, but that's about the worst of it.
There are no real experts on barefoot living yet and if there are I would not be one. But since you asked, in my experience it took a month or so of being consistently barefoot for my soles to begin to feel like they were changing. They're still changing, slowly, a year later.
You get used to the feeling of the concrete on your soles, just like you get used to anything. Then, like anything you get used to, you notice it less and less.
The only real drawback to being barefoot outside is that a lot of people will look at you like you're crazy. They'll tell you you're going to get injured. That there's glass on the ground. Many of these people will be in pumps or wedges. You just learn to let it humor you on the inside.
One, do it gradually -- if you're feeling sick, maybe you should be ramping up more slowly. While muscle can grow quickly, tendons and ligaments take much longer to handle the new workload.
Two, form makes all the difference -- running can either feel heavy and difficult, or lightweight and joyous. But unfortunately, it can take a lot of learning and effort to get to the latter -- good relaxed form is not easy to learn, landing the right way on your foot is incredibly important, for some people things like Vibram shoes help, you might have severe muscle tension preventing good form (see a massage therapist, get a Theracane and use it religiously, etc.), you might have horribly tight hamstrings and need specific stretches for those, the list goes on and on. Me personally, I also had to lose a bunch of weight (getting down to my ideal BMI) for running to feel light and easy rather than painful and pounding.
And third, being in the right mood for enjoying running makes a huge difference too. When I'm not in the mood for it, but I run anyways (because I'm feeling guilty about not running, etc.), I generally stay miserable. But sometimes I really am in the mood for it -- I got enough sleep the night before, I ate a couple hours ago so I have energy, but not so long ago I'm hungry, it's not too early in the day (I'm not a morning person), but not too late either that I'm tired -- finding the right time is huge, and makes all the difference.
Honestly, I love running, but it took a lot of time and effort to figure out everything above that made it work for me -- in my case, years. (And pretty much everything about the programmer lifestyle works against you.) But when you manage to make everything align, it feels great, like you're tapping some kind of primal happiness where you're back on the African savannah tracking down antelope... I'm not even joking.
I guess every person has it's own rhythm.
I've heard about the endorphin thing; I think it's happened to me exactly once, after climbing a mountain, and it was really creepy and I don't want it to happen again. The only thing I feel when finishing exercise is 'oh thank god that's over'.
What I've found is that the more I train, the fitter I get, and so the longer I can prolong the discomfort, stress and boredom. Maybe you're not one of those people --- but if you are, I'm sorry.
(In fact, the most annoying thing are that the people who do enjoy exercise simply don't believe any of this, and produce unhelpful platitudes like 'you just haven't found something you like yet' or 'but if you keep doing it you'll find you're enjoying it'...)
Yes, I can walk reasonably long distances at the drop of a hat and without difficulty, and I can exercise in the gym, but every time I've done that, I never felt the high. I don't think I ever will.
I guess I'll just have to be glad when it's over.
I don't really follow my own advice, but I used to boulder regularly when I lived in Berlin, and I liked it.
Competitive sports --- flat no. They just don't keep my attention.
What I do is run, because I can build that into my commute, so it doesn't feel like it's a complete waste of time. Right now I'm capable of making myself run to work twice a week, 7km each time, which is okay. Hopefully when summer comes round again I'll start running back again as well.
This sounds counter-intuitive, but you should be going slow enough to hold a conversation.
If you're going much faster, especially when you're just starting out, it's no wonder you're not enjoying it.
Running really feels meditative at this pace. And it builds a strong aerobic base for more intensive work later on.
Here's a cheap book that lays out the research on why this is so often the advice that works: https://www.amazon.com/80-20-Running-Stronger-Training-ebook...
But yes, it is not the focus of the article, because the article has almost no focus. There is an irony in the idea that a runner writing an article about using running to get focus and calm would be so unfocused, disjoint, frenetic and confused, but only a minor irony.
Even more tangentially, there's a good chance that "runner's high" is actually caused by endo-cannabinoids rather than endorphins.