Trick Your Brain To Make Exercise Feel Easier

…and other brain-related items from this week’s health science news:

The neural trick to make exercise seem easier

Researchers (Dr. Florian Marchand et al.) have found that using a strap-on vibrating device reduces the perception of effort during exercise.

No, not that kind of strap-on vibrating device (although, in fairness, that can probably make exercise seem a lot less onerous, too)!

Rather, the researchers tested whether vibrating the Achilles and knee tendons for 10 minutes before cycling could reduce perceived effort, and what they found was that participants produced higher power output and had higher heart rates after vibration, yet their perceived effort stayed the same.

So in other words: more exercise for same perceived effort = reduced perceived effort, proportionally.

As for how it works,

❝Depending on the amplitude and frequency of the vibration, we can either excite or inhibit neurons in the spinal cord.

Prolonged vibration changes the reactivity of the neuromuscular spindles and alters the signal sent to the brain.❞

For their next trick, the team plans to use electroencephalography and MRI to study how vibration changes brain activity, and to investigate how pain and fatigue increase perceived effort.

Read in full: Tricking the brain to make exercise feel easier

Related: Increase Your Muscle Mass Boost By 26% (No Extra Effort, No Supplements) ← different technology, very similar physiological mechanism

It’s not fantastic to be plastic

While body-safe plastic does exist, there’s no plastic that’s good to go in your brain!

On average, a N. American adult ingests about half a pound of plastic per year, and while most of it is passed through the body, a little accumulates each time, and gradually builds up.

There are two places where this is particularly problematic, and that’s:

• in the arteries—it gets stuck in arterial plaque and thus becomes part of it
• in the brain—the smallest of microplastics can pass through the blood-brain barrier and into the brain (getting out again is much harder, a bit like a fly who is stuck in your house because of being too random to be able to use a window twice)

When it comes to the brain, there are 5 key ways this causes harm, namely:

1. Triggering immune cell activity
2. Generating oxidative stress
3. Disrupting the blood–brain barrier
4. Impairing mitochondria
5. Damaging neurons

…all of which are terrible things to be going on (apart from the first one, which is only circumstantially terrible—immune cells are supposed to be triggered sometimes, just, in this case it’s counterproductive, as the macrophages can’t eat plastic and the other immune cells have nothing biological to work against, so it ends up being neuroinflammation for no good at all).

In terms of what to do about it, the team advise reducing exposure by avoiding plastic containers and cutting boards, limiting processed and packaged foods, choosing natural fibers over plastic ones, and avoiding unnecessary use of the dryer.

Read in full: Five ways microplastics may harm your brain

Related: Microplastics are in our brains. How worried should I be?

Can Parkinson’s be beaten by a dance-off?

Researchers (Dr. Karolina Bearss et al.) (yes, it’s really spelled that way) have previously shown that dance can help with Parkinson’s-mediated depression and motor symptoms, and the latest research by Dr. Bearss and her colleagues and students has now also shown that people with Parkinson’s who took part in weekly dance classes showed no further cognitive decline over six years, and some even improved.

Of the participants in the study, cognitive scores improved significantly in the dance group but stayed the same or declined in the no-dancing group.

In the words of one of her students:

❝Dance engages many parts of the brain… you’re listening to music, learning new steps, remembering the different sequences, and you’re engaging with other dancers.

It’s physical, mental, and social simultaneously.

We can’t really fix the brain, but we’re trying to show that with dance, maybe we can delay the onset of further cognitive decline.❞

And it seems, they succeeded in that and more!

Read in full: Dance effective in fighting against cognitive decline in Parkinson’s, study finds

Related: Dancing vs Parkinson’s Depression ← this is about Dr. Bearss’ previous work that we also mentioned above

Take care!