More Things Dopamine Does For Us

In this week’s news roundup, we have two dopamine items and one other for variety:

The real “dopamine switch”

Dopamine is well-known as “the reward chemical”, and indeed it is that, but it also plays a central role in many neurological processes, including:

• Linear task processing
• Motivation
• Learning and memory
• Motor functions
• Language faculties

Recent research has now shown its importance in cognitive flexibility, i.e. the ability to adapt to circumstances, and switch approaches appropriately to such, and generally not get stuck in a cognitive rut:

Read in full: Scientists confirm neurobiochemical link between dopamine and cognitive flexibility

Related: The Dopamine Myth

You may like the sound of this

It’s been known for a while that dopamine is involved in learning and memory (as mentioned above), but this has been established largely by associative studies, e.g. “people with lower dopamine levels learn less easily”. But scientists have now mapped out more of how it actually does that.

One more reason to ensure we have and maintain healthy dopamine levels!

Read in full: Songbirds highlight dopamine’s role in learning

Related: 10 Ways To Naturally Boost Dopamine

Resist Or Run!

When it comes to protecting against bone loss, resistance exercise remains key, but impact-laden activities such as running (but not lower-level everyday activity) can help too. There have been studies on the extent to which walking (a load-bearing activity) may be protective against bone loss, and the results of those studies have mostly been inconclusive.

This study looked into the incidence (or not, as the case may be) of bone-loading impacts in everyday movements, using accelerometers, and measured bone mineral density before and after testing periods. Those that had higher-intensity bone-loading movements (so, resistance training or running, for example) retained the best measures of bone density through menopause into postmenopause:

Read in full: Everyday physical activity does not slow bone loss during menopause, finds study

Related: The Bare-Bones Truth About Osteoporosis

Take care!