Exercise Does a Mitochondrion Good

We know that exercise is good for your mind. It relieves stress, makes you smarter, decreases depression  and so on, but can it do more? The good researchers at the University of South Carolina hypothesized that perhaps the brain was improving the brain function by creating new mitochondria. (Mitochondria, from what I can deduce, is the chemical energy production unit.) We already know that exercise helps create and improve mitochondria in the muscles, but we weren't sure if the same was true of the same benefits occurring in the brain until recently when the researchers found that mitochondria was created throughout the body, to include the brain.

The possible advantages to this finding is that neurodegenerative (e.g. Alzheimer's, Parkinson's) diseases could possibly be curbed by producing more mitochondria. Also more exercise might promote the ability to withstand more exercise, through the strengthening of the mitochondria in the brain. Plus it could "reduce mental fatigue and sharpen your thinking" after exercise ends. But you already knew that. Wink.




http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/how-exercise-can-strengthen-the-brain/

Pless Replay

Is visualization part of your regular training? Or do you only do it the night before the big race? In his blog, Dr. Jim Amfremow tells us to not only to mentally see ourselves succeeding but to relax, visualize, and repeat. The better you are at seeing you accomplish your goal, the better your visualization will be and that will help when it comes to the big day.

Although I have to say, if the scenario is too specific, would that allow you space to adapt to any situation? If you're training for a hilly race and you envision only hills, what about when it rains? Or if you get a slight injury, that could throw off your whole mind rehearsal. Just something to think about.




 http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/trust-the-talent/201109/visualize-actualize

Lies We Tell Ourselves

We often tell ourselves that we can't go faster (even though we probably can). But there's a better lie we can tell ourselves that would make us just a little bit better. In a recent article from the New York Times, Gina Kolata describes how a little deception could help endurance athletes break free from their self-imposed restrictions and become better runners.

During a laboratory experiment, a field of cyclists were pushed to their limits on a stationary bicycle only to discover that an avatar could push them a little faster than they normally would by themselves. The trick was that the cyclists were told that the avatar was riding at their own maximum speed, however, it was actually traveling slightly faster than the cyclists' previous fastest time. Was the avatar forcing them to compete at a higher level? 

In an another experiment, cyclists were broken up into two separate groups. In one group they were told that the avatars would be traveling faster than the cyclists ever had. That group of individuals gave up from the beginning. In the second group was told that the avatar was going the same speed, even though they were going a little more than slightly faster than the previous experiment. This group fared much better than the other group by hanging onto the same speed as the avatar.

It appears that the brain allows "athletes to tap more deeply into energy stores than would ordinarily be permitted." Exercise physiologists had always believed that the heart, lungs, muscle, etc. were the most important factors in regulating speed, but maybe they were focusing on the wrong part of the body. Maybe it's the brain that should be further investigated. Perhaps the brain should be trained as vigorously as the muscles, heart and lungs.

In the experiment, the small deceptions of the mind seemed to have a positive effect on speed. Sometimes a little white can't hurt, and sometimes it just may help. 



http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/health/nutrition/20best.html?pagewanted=2&ref=health