All in your mind, even with weights.....

I've previously pointed to the research of Dr Marcora with his psychobiological theories of fatigue.  I also highlighted Noakes paper on the role of the brain in fatigue. 

All that research seemed to focus on endurance exercise but it was interesting to see Alex point to new research that indicates that there are similar ideas at play with respect to lifting weights. 

What I thought was neat about the study was the distinction between "peripheral" and "central" fatigue: the former is the reduced ability of your muscle itself to contract, and the latter is a reduction in the signal from your brain to your muscle demanding contraction. If you pick up a heavy (above critical torque) dumbbell and lift it until you can't anymore, the limiting factor appears to be peripheral fatigue. Your muscles are simply no longer capable of contracting powerfully enough to lift the weight. In contrast, if you lift a lighter (below critical torque) dumbbell to failure, your muscles themselves fatigue to a much lesser extent, suggesting that fatigue somewhere in your brain or central nervous system is the problem.

The study is Distinct profiles of neuromuscular fatigue during muscle contractions below and above the critical torque in humans.

Placebo's evil twin....in the gym

Today I came across this new and very interesting study: Preventing motor training through nocebo suggestions

Here is the abstract:

Although placebos have repeatedly been shown to increase physical performance and endurance, much less is known about the effect of their negative counterpart, nocebos. Here, we employ negative suggestions and a sham electrical stimulation as a nocebo conditioning procedure in healthy subjects performing a leg extension exercise to total exhaustion. Using two different protocols, we analyze the contribution of expectation alone or the combination of conditioning and expectation to the nocebo effect evaluated as the change of work performed and rate of perceived exertion. We find that it is possible to negatively modulate the physical performance in both cases, and we argue that this effect can effectively offset the outcome of training programs.

The discussion in the paper is instructive:

The main finding of this study is that it is possible to negatively modulate the performance of subjects carrying out a muscle exercise to volitional maximum effort by employing discouraging suggestions and negative conditioning.

I do find this study absolutely fascinating.  The whole idea of the power of belief in health and healing is realitively well known - we have all heard of the placebo.  But what is less well known is the nocebo - the idea that rather than positive benefits, there can be negative impacts from certain contexts and expectations: you can get worse.

What is interesting here is how nocebo effects extend to exercise performance - hearing negative suggestions can impact how well you perform.

All this stuff about the impact of the mind is so important and could potentially trump all other effects - diet, exercise whatever.  If you think it is doing you good it will.  If you think it is harmful, then it will be.    It is like Samuele Marcora's work on the psychobiological model of fatigue - the impact of perception is so important.

By the way, coincidentally, Chris Kresser had a great podcast on this this week with a full transcript here: The Placebo Effect and The Power of Belief in Healing

In some ways this is all like epigenetics - the impact of environment, in this case perceptions and expectations, outweigh what seem to be the bigger more obvious factors.

The search for the perfect diet or exercise routine may be pointless.....the most important element to either is what you believe  about the diet or training regime.

Dr Kurt Harris has a good post on placebo here.

Posture Pain Mind

Todd has an excellent post on the impact of posture on pain:

Posture and Pain Tolerance

In the first experiment, participants who assumed a dominant posture displayed higher pain tolerance than those in submissive postures.

In the second experiment, subjects had differing strength and pain tolerance levels depending on whether they interacted with a partner who used either dominant or submissive posturing.

Think yourself slim

I think my posts in the past about TMS have shown that I believe the mind is a massive influence on our health.  We have only begun to scratch the surface of the importance of our attitudes, our subconscious and our thoughts.

Here is an interesting study that I came across via the New Scientist.  

IF YOU want to lose weight, convince yourself that everything you eat is highly calorific. It could lower your levels of a hunger hormone, potentially suppressing your appetite.

Alia Crum at Yale University and her colleagues gave 46 healthy volunteers the same 380-calorie milkshake but were told it was either a sensible, low-calorie choice or an indulgent, high-calorie one. The team also measured levels of ghrelin - a hormone released by the stomach when we are hungry - before and after participants drank the shake.

Ghrelin levels have been shown to spike half an hour before mealtimes and return to normal after eating.

Volunteers who thought they had indulged showed significantly greater drops in ghrelin levels than those who thought they had consumed less. The authors suggest that merely thinking that one has eaten something unhealthy can quell hunger pangs and perhaps help curb overeating

Here is the abstract of the paper:

Mind over milkshakes: Mindsets, not just nutrients, determine ghrelin response.

Objective: To test whether physiological satiation as measured by the gut peptide ghrelin may vary depending on the mindset in which one approaches consumption of food.
Methods: On 2 separate occasions, participants (n = 46) consumed a 380-calorie milkshake under the pretense that it was either a 620-calorie “indulgent” shake or a 140-calorie “sensible” shake. Ghrelin was measured via intravenous blood samples at 3 time points: baseline (20 min), anticipatory (60 min), and postconsumption (90 min). During the first interval (between 20 and 60 min) participants were asked to view and rate the (misleading) label of the shake. During the second interval (between 60 and 90 min) participants were asked to drink and rate the milkshake.
Results: The mindset of indulgence produced a dramatically steeper decline in ghrelin after consuming the shake, whereas the mindset of sensibility produced a relatively flat ghrelin response. Participants' satiety was consistent with what they believed they were consuming rather than the actual nutritional value of what they consumed.
Conclusions: The effect of food consumption on ghrelin may be psychologically mediated, and mindset meaningfully affects physiological responses to food

Exercise is good for the brain....

This is an interesting looking study.

The plasticity of the brain is something that I've been thinking on a little bit recently after reading The Shallows which details how too much internet use can change the way in which you brain is wired. (Basically it sets you up to be more easily distracted and less of a deep reader/thinker)

Anyway, this study sees exercise improving the brain's cognitive performance.  Basic walking is good for your brain.


Plasticity of brain networks in a randomized intervention trial of exercise training in older adults.
Abstract
Research has shown the human brain is organized into separable functional networks during rest and varied states of cognition, and that aging is associated with specific network dysfunctions. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine low-frequency (0.008 < f < 0.08 Hz) coherence of cognitively relevant and sensory brain networks in older adults who participated in a 1-year intervention trial, comparing the effects of aerobic and non-aerobic fitness training on brain function and cognition. Results showed that aerobic training improved the aging brain's resting functional efficiency in higher-level cognitive networks. One year of walking increased functional connectivity between aspects of the frontal, posterior, and temporal cortices within the Default Mode Network and a Frontal Executive Network, two brain networks central to brain dysfunction in aging. Length of training was also an important factor. Effects in favor of the walking group were observed only after 12 months of training, compared to non-significant trends after 6 months. A non-aerobic stretching and toning group also showed increased functional connectivity in the DMN after 6 months and in a Frontal Parietal Network after 12 months, possibly reflecting experience-dependent plasticity. Finally, we found that changes in functional connectivity were behaviorally relevant. Increased functional connectivity was associated with greater improvement in executive function. Therefore the study provides the first evidence for exercise-induced functional plasticity in large-scale brain systems in the aging brain, using functional connectivity techniques, and offers new insight into the role of aerobic fitness in attenuating age-related brain dysfunction.

Laughter is good for you.....

I thought this was an interesting study

Dr. Lee S. Berk, a preventive care specialist and psychoneuroimmunology researcher at Loma Linda University's Schools of Allied Health (SAHP) and Medicine, and director of the molecular research lab at SAHP, Loma Linda, CA, and Dr. Stanley Tan have picked up where Cousins left off. Since the 1980s, they have been studying the human body's response to mirthful laughter and have found that laughter helps optimize many of the functions of various body systems. Berk and his colleagues were the first to establish that laughter helps optimize the hormones in the endocrine system, including decreasing the levels of cortisol and epinephrine, which lead to stress reduction. They have also shown that laughter has a positive effect on modulating components of the immune system, including increased production of antibodies and activation of the body's protective cells, including T-cells and especially Natural Killer cells' killing activity of tumor cells. Their studies have shown that repetitious "mirthful laughter," which they call Laughercise©, causes the body to respond in a way similar to moderate physical exercise. Laughercise© enhances your mood, decreases stress hormones, enhances immune activity, lowers bad cholesterol and systolic blood pressure, and raises good cholesterol (HDL).

The Guardian also picked up on this.


We've pointed out before the various impacts that emotion can have on your well being. Strange to see the reports focus on appetite too.

optimism is healthy

the impact of the mind on your health is wildly underapprecited. I think many health problems are at root exacerbated by - if not caused by - psychological stress. It is not just our diet that is far divorced from what it should be, it is our psychological state. We are chronically stressed. Anyway typically, optimism is good for your immune system:

Optimism boosts the immune system

Feeling better about the future might help you feel better for real. In a new study, psychological scientists Suzanne Segerstrom of the University of Kentucky and Sandra Sephton of the University of Louisville studied how law students' expectations about the future affected their immune response. Their conclusions: Optimism may be good for your health.

Other studies have found that people who are optimistic about their health tend to do better. For example, people who are optimistic about heart transplant surgery recover better from that grueling operation. But it's not clear how optimism affects your health — or whether pessimism makes you less healthy.

It's the first time you've done what I asked on the clean....

Put some..XXXXX..life into it!



Superb 400lb C&J

Exercise - concentrate on what you are doing!

This article was just published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. It sounds really interesting, although each time I read the abstract I think it means something different!

Any bright ideas out there on the implications of this? I suppose I see it as a lesson in concentrating on what you are doing. If you are training and thinking about something else, the effect will not be so great. Maybe many of us have had that experience in the gym at least - you go to train preoccupied with something else in your life - a sick child, a job problem, a bill, an argument with you partner, whatever....and your mind isn't in it so somehow your strength is not there....

Let me know your thoughts!

A continuous mental task decreases the physiological response to soccer-specific intermittent exercise

Background: Epidemiological findings of higher injury incidence during the latter stages of soccer match-play have been attributed to fatigue.

Objective: To examine the interaction of physical and cognitive responses during soccer-specific intermittent exercise.

Method: Ten semi-professional soccer players completed a 90-minute laboratory-based treadmill protocol replicating the activity profile of soccer match-play. Two separate trials were performed in randomised order, with and without the added stressor of a continuous grid-based vigilance task. The exercise task comprised six repetitions of a 15 minute activity profile, separated by a passive 15 minute half-time interval. The vigilance task required continual attention and sporadic target response within a letter grid. Physical response (RPE, heart rate, blood lactate, salivary cortisol) and cognitive performance (response time, response accuracy) were quantified at 15 minute intervals.

Results: Completing the exercise task with the vigilance task resulted in decreased physiological (heart rate, blood lactate) response. This may be attributed to externally directed attention, resulting in association with the cognitive task and subsequent dissociation from the physical effort. Response speed generally improved with exercise duration, while there was evidence of impaired accuracy in the early stages of the first half and the latter stages of the second half.

Conclusion: The interaction of physical and mental work was not additive in nature. The mental task had a masking effect on the physical response. Performing physical exercise tasks without due regard for appropriate psychological stimuli may therefore overestimate the physiological response.

Attitude: if you think it will work.....it will!

I've mentioned a couple of times about the importance of the mind in training. We've also mentioned the placebo effect.

This study looks at this with respect to an ergogenic drug.

believing one had taken the substance resulted in times almost as fast as those associated with consuming the drug itself. In contrast, taking the drug without knowledge yielded no significant performance increment.

That is quite an interesting finding. Think about all the drug testing. The drugs might not even work, except by making people think that they will work!

How can we tap into this mental power?
It makes me think about the Hulk - Banner knew that there was more strength in him than he could normally access. I also put up a post way back about psyching up. There is much in our attitude and belief that affects our performance!




"Because I know it will!": placebo effects of an ergogenic aid on athletic performance.
McClung M, Collins D.


In the perpetual quest for better performance, athletes are using an increasingly diverse range of ergogenic aids. Some are permitted; however, this "drug" use is often seen as an ethically questionable behavior. A variety of research suggests that much of the impact of such aids may be due to expectancy-the belief that the substance will aid performance. It would be useful to demonstrate this to athletes considering such usage, especially as a pillar of antidrug education. Accordingly, this investigation used sodium bicarbonate and placebo additives in a double disassociation design, with athletes completing a series of 1,000-m time trials. Results showed that believing one had taken the substance resulted in times almost as fast as those associated with consuming the drug itself. In contrast, taking the drug without knowledge yielded no significant performance increment. Results are discussed against the backdrop of applying expectancy effects in high-performance sport, including dissuading athletes from using illegal aids.

Be healthy.....be active.

This should really be obvious. Being active promotes health.

We have looked before here about at insulin resistance. It is not really a good thing:

Insulin resistance is the condition in which normal amounts of insulin are inadequate to produce a normal insulin response from fat, muscle and liver cells. Insulin resistance in fat cells results in hydrolysis of stored triglycerides, which elevates free fatty acids in the blood plasma. Insulin resistance in muscle reduces glucose uptake whereas insulin resistance in liver reduces glucose storage, with both effects serving to elevate blood glucose. High plasma levels of insulin and glucose due to insulin resistance often lead to metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

Mark Sisson's diabetes post explains how eating too much sugar and exercising too little leads via insulin resistance to diabetes.

when we eat too many carbohydrates, the pancreas pumps out insulin exactly as the DNA blueprint tell it to (hooray pancreas!), but if the liver and muscle cells are already filled with glycogen, those cells start to become resistant to the call of insulin. The insulin “receptor sites” on the surface of those cells start to decrease in number as well as in efficiency. The term is called “down regulation.” Since the glucose can’t get into the muscle or liver cells, it remains in the bloodstream. Now the pancreas senses there’s still too much toxic glucose in the blood, so it frantically pumps out even more insulin, which causes the insulin receptors on the surface of those cells to become even more resistant, because excess insulin is also toxic! Eventually, the insulin helps the glucose finds it way into your fat cells, where it is stored as fat. Again – because it bears repeating – it’s not fat that gets stored in your fat cells – it’s sugar.



Over time, as we continue to eat high carbohydrate diets and exercise less, the degree of insulin insensitivity increases. Unless we take dramatic steps to reduce carbohydrate intake and increase exercise, we develop several problems that only get worse over time – and the drugs don’t fix it.

A new study however suggests that activity of any kind can help to improve insulin sensitivity, even among people with abdominal obesity.

"Total physical activity is the key determinant of insulin sensitivity," he said. "What we would say from this is even if you have an office job, if you sit around a lot of the day, if you then go out and increase your total activity by doing a period of swimming or cycling, that's good, as long as you get your total activity up, you have a positive association with insulin sensitivity."


Increasing total activity by other means, such as taking the stairs when possible or walking to work can also significantly reduce the risk of insulin resistance and associated cardiovascular risk, he added.


And the benefit was apparent regardless of central adiposity, which is considered a driver of insulin resistance.

The message is clear - be active! Move - you are not supposed to sit around doing nothing, you need to be in motion.

Anticip.........ation!

The importance of the mind in all this training.



The study below is interesting on a whole series of levels.

First of all it notes that endurance training can do damage to the body through oxidative stress. We have mentioned the potential downsides of endurance training previously on this blog.

This study though notes that your body seems to be aware that there is potential damage associated with this activity and it produces a protective anti-inflammatory protein. So your body is trying to cope with the danger.

However, the really amazing thing here is that your body produces this protein not in response to the exercise, but even before you do the exercise! It anticipates the stress that is coming! Somehow at some level your mind is aware of what is about to happen and it makes sure that the body's biochemistry does what it needs to in order to minimise the damage. The mind affects the body.

The interaction of the mind and body is fascinating and a huge untapped area. Think of the post I had a while back about the benefits of psyching up for a big lift. Or that on "Is it all in the mind". The mind is so important. It is all connected!

Anyway, the abstract:

Anticipation of subsequent demanding exercise increases the expression of haem oxygenase-1 mRNA in human lymphocytes.
Sport and Exercise Science, School for Health, University of Bath, Bath, UK.

Oxidative stress induces the expression of the cytoprotective and anti-inflammatory protein haem oxygenase-1 (HO-1). In the present investigation, we show that anticipation of subsequent exercise elevates the expression of HO-1 mRNA in lymphocytes. A between-groups comparison of HO-1 mRNA expression in subjects about to complete a half marathon race vs. subjects who were asked to sit quietly in the laboratory showed an elevated expression of HO-1 mRNA prior to exercise (2.6-fold higher in subjects prior to the half marathon, P < 0.01). This observation led us to examine whether anticipation of subsequent exercise leads to differences in lymphocyte HO-1 mRNA expression within the same subjects. In a second experiment, the same individuals completed two trials, one exercise and one rest, approximately 2 weeks apart in a randomised cross-over design. Lymphocyte HO-1 mRNA expression was greater prior to exercise (1.4 +/- 0.3-fold higher in the exercise trial, P < 0.05). These results suggest that knowledge of subsequent demanding exercise may lead to an anticipatory induction of HO-1 mRNA. We tentatively propose that this process has evolved to prepare lymphocytes for subsequent exercise-induced oxidative stress although the mechanism remains to be elucidated.

What makes us healthy?

I recently had a post here called be a bit sceptical about the science.

There, I said:

We need to be a bit sceptical about the science and the motivation and presuppostions of those who are writing.

This is a very well written article on the same topic by Gary Taubes: Do We Really Know What Makes Us Healthy?

There is a lot of dogma out there about health, fitness, diet and strength. Think carefully about all this stuff. Weigh up the arguments. Try to see if there is anyone making money out of you! Nothing against business but we need to be careful not to be sold dud information.

Anyway, a fascinating and instructive piece.

Training for Old Age

More on "What I am training for...."

Again, this one will not change how you train, but it is good to read of how exercise can help to promote brain health. With increasing levels of dementia in people as we survive longer, anything we can do to prevent such deterioration and promote such health is important.

As I said in a post a couple of days ago, I am in this for FUNCTION, to keep myself well for the long term. It is the difference that needs to be recognised between fitness and health. Some of this research I am highlighting may seem like it is focussed on elite athletes or sportsmen. But - importantly - there are applications for all of us in keeping healthy and avoiding the major health problems in society - diabetes, heart disease, cancer and overweight. A good diet and the right exercise - in terms of movements, intensity and frequency - are essential.


Perhaps an answer to those who asked me on Monday what I was training for is that I am training for old age?


Exercise builds brain health: key roles of growth factor cascades and inflammation.


Human and other animal studies demonstrate that exercise targets many aspects of brain function and has broad effects on overall brain health. The benefits of exercise have been best defined for learning and memory, protection from neurodegeneration and alleviation of depression, particularly in elderly populations. Exercise increases synaptic plasticity by directly affecting synaptic structure and potentiating synaptic strength, and by strengthening the underlying systems that support plasticity including neurogenesis, metabolism and vascular function. Such exercise-induced structural and functional change has been documented in various brain regions but has been best-studied in the hippocampus - the focus of this review.
A key mechanism mediating these broad benefits of exercise on the brain is induction of central and peripheral growth factors and growth factor cascades, which instruct downstream structural and functional change.
In addition, exercise reduces peripheral risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, which converge to cause brain dysfunction and neurodegeneration. A common mechanism underlying the central and peripheral effects of exercise might be related to inflammation, which can impair growth factor signaling both systemically and in the brain. Thus, through regulation of growth factors and reduction of peripheral and central risk factors, exercise ensures successful brain function.

What do you train for?

This one is more personal - no abstracts, no science!

You can probably tell the sort of training I do from the type of research that I put up here. Hard intervals, circuits, explosive jumps and lifts, functional movements trying to work all planes of motion - that sort of thing. I am nothing special really but for a 39 year old bureaucrat I think I am pretty fit.

Twice tonight at the gym I was asked what I was training for. The Polish guy that works in the gym asked me and we were able to have a good chat about what I was doing, then another guy that I work with, who had been watching me train, also asked what I was doing, what I was training for and who had written my programme. What I do is pretty unusual I suppose, but I think it is based on sound science.

What am I training for?

I said I was just keeping fit, but really that doesn't cover it.

I train for FUN - I really enjoy this. The feeling of the movements, the hard work;
I train for FORM - it sounds vain, but I want to look OK. I was a fat kid and now take a pride in being leaner than most guys my age; and
I train for FUNCTION - I want to be able to do things - walk up mountains, shift furniture; lift shopping....I want to be fit enough to have a good life as I get old.

I've been injured a few times and to be honest that last one is the most important - it is only when you can no longer do some basic things that you really appreciate, your fitness. Lifting huge weights or running fast times means nothing if your back is so bad that you cannot sit or tie your own laces. FUNCTION is the prime concern, staying healthy and mobile.


Why do you train? Put some ideas in the comments.

Is it all in your mind?

This is a really interesting and somewhat challenging study. The implication is that your belief about what you are doing as exercise has a big impact on the effectiveness of your exercise!

Mind-Set Matters: Exercise and the Placebo Effect

ABSTRACT —In a study testing whether the relationship between exercise and health is moderated by one's mind-set, 84 female room attendants working in seven different hotels were measured on physiological health variables affected by exercise. Those in the informed condition were told that the work they do (cleaning hotel rooms) is good exercise and satisfies the Surgeon General's recommendations for an active lifestyle. Examples of how their work was exercise were provided. Subjects in the control group were not given this information. Although actual behaviour did not change, 4 weeks after the intervention, the informed group perceived themselves to be getting significantly more exercise than before. As a result, compared with the control group, they showed a decrease in weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and body mass index. These results support the hypothesis that exercise affects health in part or in whole via the placebo effect.



Frank Forencich commented on this in a recent Animal Times Newsletter:
I am a wizard, a shaman, a healer and a magician. I can heal your body by the power of words alone. I can tell you a story and increase the vitality of your tissue, your posture and your disposition. My story doesn't even have to be true.

Skeptical? Well of course you are. But maybe my claims aren't so far-fetched. Consider this ingenious experiment carried out by Ellen Langer and Alia Crum (reported in the February, 2007 issue of Psychological Science):

Researchers took 84 hotel workers and told one group that "the work you do (cleaning hotel rooms) is good exercise and satisfies the Surgeon General's recommendations for an active lifestyle." They told a control group nothing.

Four weeks later, Langer and Crum returned to take measurements of both groups: the control group hadn't changed physically but the test group had decreased weight, blood pressure, body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and body mass index.

So what's up with this astonishing result? Both groups did identical tasks, yet one lived a different story, a story that had authentic, measurable effects on physical health. Making beds and cleaning bathrooms usually doesn't qualify as a "health and fitness program," but in this case, it worked.

Obviously, what we have here is yet another instance of a placebo effect; a very dramatic and revealing one at that. The stories we tellÐboth to each other and to ourselvesÐshape the entire health experience, from mind to molecules.

There are a lot of questions here, but the one I wonder about is this: What does this research say about all of our so-called expertise in the world of physical education and training? What does it say about all the boilerplate advice that's cranked out by the fitness-industrial complex? How much of it is reality-based? How much of it is simply a story? These are questions that demand our attention.

Exercise alleviates depression in kids

This is really just reiterating what the previous posts said - exercise can have a beneficial effect on your psychological outlook. Good for your body and your soul. I wonder if this is a chicken and egg thing? Are people depressed because they are not exercising; does the body desire exercise to maintain some balance in the mind?

The effects of aerobic exercise on childhood PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
Newman CL, Motta RW.


The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of aerobic exercise on childhood PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Fifteen participants, ages 14 to 17, who met DSM-IV Criteria for PTSD were recruited from an all female residential treatment center Participants engaged in an aerobic exercise program for 40 minutes, three times per week, for a total of 8 weeks. Measures included were the Children's PTSD Inventory, the UCLA Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index for DSM-IV, Children's Depression Inventory, and the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale. Measures were administered twice at pre-intervention, again at mid-intervention, post-intervention, and at a one-month follow-up. This small n study utilized a staggered baseline, pre/post repeated measures design. Results of this study provided support for the positive effects of aerobic exercise on reducing PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Fewer participants met full criteria for PTSD after exercising. This research is a starting point toward satisfying the essential need to establish efficacious methods to treat PTSD and associated symptoms in child/adolescent populations.

Intense Exercise is good for your soul!

Well maybe not your soul, but it can certainly have a positive psychological effect according to this study:



Acute exercise reduces the effects of a 35% CO(2) challenge in patients with panic disorder.


BACKGROUND: Chronic exercise has been shown to have therapeutic effects in panic disorder (PD). The mechanism of these effects is unknown. Acute exercise reduces the effect of a panic challenge in healthy volunteers. Such an effect has not yet been demonstrated in PD patients. The present study aimed at exploring the antipanic effects of acute exercise on a 35% CO(2) panic provocation in treatment-naïve PD patients to further elucidate the mechanisms of the beneficial effects of exercise on panic.
METHODS: Eighteen PD patients performed either moderate/hard exercise or very-light exercise before a 35% CO(2) challenge in a randomized, between-group design. The reactivity to CO(2) was assessed with the Visual Analogue Anxiety Scale and the DSM-IV Panic Symptom List.
RESULTS: Panic reactions to CO(2) were smaller in patients that performed moderate/hard exercise in contrast to those that performed very-light exercise. Increments in both measurements and panic rates were consistently reduced by intense exercise.
LIMITATIONS: Since this study focuses on the acute effects of exercise on CO(2) sensitivity in patients with PD, the results of repetitive exercise sessions on the rate of spontaneous panic attacks and overall symptoms are warranted. The small sample size and other limitations are addressed. CONCLUSIONS: Exercise reduced the panicogenic effects of a CO(2) challenge. In addition to its therapeutic potential, exercise may also be useful as a laboratory maneuver with heuristic value in experimental research into the mechanisms of antipanic treatment.

Exercise does make you feel good and I know from experience that when I am depressed or feeling low exercise - especially hard intense exercise - can really change my outlook on life very quickly.

Fitness helps you cope with stress

Stress is a real problem for many of us. Work related stress, pressure that we put ourselves under, issues that come out of our personalities. There are a host of problems that cause us stress and a host of physiological responses. Malcolm Kendrick has written a book called The Great Cholesterol Con (not to be confused with the equally good book by Anthony Colpo with the same name



Both Colpo and Kendrick do a great job of debunking the junk science around the "cholesterol is bad and causes heart disease" dogma, but Kendrick's particular theory about heart disease is that much of it is related to stress. (To be fair Colpo talks about this too) It is worth reading this very funny and well written book to review some excellent science. The fine writer and blogger Michael Eades reviewed this book recently.

Some of Kendrick's essays are available for free here and are a very funny and rewarding read.


If stress is so bad, what can you do about it? The article below looks at the effect of aerobic fitness on stress responses at work. It indicates that being fitter reduces the physiological and subjective markers of stress...this may be a mechanism by which exercise really can prevent heart disease......So one strategy to diminish stress is to get your self fitter. And if you have been following this blog, the more effective way of increasing VO2 max is via high intensity interval training.

Effect of aerobic fitness on the physiological stress responses at work.


Department of Physiology, University of Kuopio, 70211 Kuopio, Finland. tiina.ritvanen@uku.fi

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of aerobic fitness on physiological stress responses experienced by teachers during working hours.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-six healthy female and male teachers aged 33-62 years participated in the study. The ratings of perceived stress visual analogue scale (VAS), and the measurement of physiological responses (norepinephrine, epinephrine, cortisol, diastolic and systolic blood pressure, heart rate (HR), and trapezius muscle activity by electromyography (EMG), were determined. Predicted maximal oxygen uptake (VO(2)max) was measured using the submaximal bicycle ergometer test. The predicted VO(2)max was standardized for age using residuals of linear regression analyses.
RESULTS: Static EMG activity, HR and VAS were associated with aerobic fitness in teachers.
CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that a higher level of aerobic fitness may reduce muscle tension, HR and perceived work stress in teachers.

Are you letting yourself go?

I found this one interesting just because it reflects much of my experience. I can think of several friends who were once fit and healthy while at university but who now are not so impressive physically.

The thing is that the researchers here point out that the change in body composition and fitness as people leave university and get older is not inevitable - it is attributed to lifestyle. It does not have to happen! You just need to keep exercising and eat better. I am also aware of how many friends actually drink more...or at least drink more habitually. Anyway, read on.....

Changes over Four Years in Body Composition and Oxygen Uptake of Young Adult Males after University Graduation

Lifestyle changes and challenges following university graduation often present a sharp contrast to the relatively free and basically pleasant university life enjoyed by the typical college student. Adaptation to a new work environment, relocation to a new community, concerns of marriage and family, personal finances, including income and budgeting (automobile and mortgage payments, savings, etc.), and adjustment to independent living result in an unfamiliar schedule of duties, often too sedentary in nature.
The aim of this study was to analyse the changes observed in young working professionals by comparing selected body composition estimates, and physiological working capacity variables at the time of university graduation and four years later.
Anthropometric and functional cardio-respiratory exercise test data were collected in 26 physically active (but non-athletic) volunteer males at the time of their university graduation in 2000 and 4 years later in 2004. By the end of this four-year period body weight, body mass index (BMI), the sum of 5 skinfold thicknesses, and relative body fat content increased significantly. Both mean BMI and weight-related body fat content were within the categorized risk range at the time of the second data collection. Parallel with unfavourable changes in body composition, peak minute ventilation, aerobic power, oxygen pulse, and maximum treadmill running distance had decreased significantly during this time. We attributed the significant changes observed mainly to the dramatically changed lifestyle. The subjects could not maintain their previous level of habitual physical activity.