Columnist Eunmi Yang
[칼럼니스트-양은미]Most people living in modern society spend about 90% of their day indoors. In particular, people in Korea spend an hour or two more time indoors than people in other developed countries such as the United States and Canada. If you spend a lot of time indoors, your exercise time will decrease, resulting in a lack of exercise. It is well known that when lack of exercise becomes a habit and accumulates, physical strength naturally decreases and immunity decreases. However, there are surprisingly many people who do not know that lack of exercise can bring about negative personality changes.
People who used to ‘walk’ regularly get tired or heavy quickly if they don’t walk for a few days, and feel a sense of sinking. At that time, the vitamin that gives vitality to the body and mind is to go outside again and take a walk.
■ Lack of exercise, affect on emotions
(Photo courtesy: Mind Thought Research Institute)
Studies have shown that lack of exercise leads to negative personality changes. A life without movement is unhealthy because the body is built for regular exercise. Due to inactivity, muscle mass decreases, immunity deteriorates, and health conditions deteriorate. And similar changes occur in the brain, where inactivity can lead to changes in general cognitive function and emotions.
When physical activity decreases, there are changes in three of the ‘Big Five’, which are the main factors that make up personality. The ‘Big Five’ refers to the five factors that make up personality: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. People with high openness are imaginative, creative, and interested in a wide range of fields. They are curious about their surroundings and enjoy traveling and learning new things. Conscientiousness refers to the ability to control impulses while conscientiously working to achieve a goal. Friendship is the disposition to show a cooperative attitude toward others, and includes such traits as altruism, affection, trust, and humility. People high in extroversion are sociable, feel comfortable expressing their opinions, and get energy from interacting with others. Neuroticism is the tendency to easily feel unpleasant emotions such as anger, depression, and anxiety. Among the five factors, when physical activity decreases, openness to experience, extraversion, and agreeableness decrease. This can negatively affect personality changes in the long run. Then, on the contrary, if you move your body and increase the amount of activity, you may be able to reverse the negative personality change. Let’s make good use of it.
(Photo courtesy: Mind Thought Research Institute)
Going outside on a sunny day and taking a walk is an uplifting experience. When my heart is stuffy, I often experience that my mind is organized and opened when I open the door and walk for a while. Anyone can experience mild, temporary depression. Temporary feelings of depression are natural. However, if the depression is severe and makes daily life difficult or affects social life, depression should be suspected.
The most common type of depression is major depressive disorder. Major depressive disorder is accompanied by depressed mood, decreased interest, changes in appetite and weight, sleep disturbance, worthlessness, fatigue, and suicidal ideation for at least 2 weeks or more during most of the day. Major depressive disorder may recur several times in a lifetime. 3-5% of Koreans show major depressive disorder at least once in their lifetime, and it is said that 5-10% of the current population suffers from major depressive disorder. These depressive disorders can be cured through medication, cognitive behavioral therapy, and psychotherapy. You shouldn’t just ignore depression thinking of it as a ‘cold of the mind’. Depression is a disease that needs to be treated.
According to a study by Dr. Samuel Harvey of the University of New South Wales, if you can exercise at least one hour each week, you can prevent about 12% of future depression. It was found that even a small change in the amount of exercise had a significant positive effect on depression. Walking can be a way to get rid of common unpleasant emotions or temporary discomforts such as stress, anxiety, and depression. Recent research has shown that regular walking improves mood and increases feelings of ‘well-being’ over the long term. Philosopher Bertrand Russel said, “My vacation in my youth was walking. I walked 25 miles a day, and in the evening, I didn’t need anything to soothe my boredom by simply sitting and enjoying it.” I am experiencing these days that ‘walking’ not only has a good effect on the body, but also has a positive effect on the mind. So, these studies are agreed.
■ ‘Walking’, the effect on the brain
Until the mid-20th century (1960s), it was believed that new brain cells were not created in adulthood. However, as a result of active brain science research in the 1990s, it was revealed that brain cells continue to grow or decline depending on learning or various environments. It turns out that new cells are created in some areas of the adult brain, especially in the hippocampus, the memory center responsible for memory.
(Photo courtesy: Mind Thought Research Institute)
There are about 86 to 100 billion nerve cells in the human brain. When the information received from the sensory organs is transmitted to the brain, the brain judges and gives orders. Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of neurons in the brain to grow and change throughout life with new stimuli. In other words, the brain changes its form while constructing a new neural network according to new learning or experience. There are many research results that support this. The London Taxi Driver experiment, published in 2006, compared the brains of London taxi drivers driving on very complex roads with those of normal people. As a result, it was found that the hippocampus region, which is responsible for long-term memory and space, was thicker in the taxi driver’s brain. In 2013, Dr. Jonas Frisen of Sweden published a study in ‘Cell’ that showed that the age of neurons in the hippocampus was different.
Aerobic exercise, such as walking, helps the proliferation of new brain cells in areas of the brain responsible for learning and memory. Regular walking during the day has a positive effect on the health of the heart, lungs and brain. The beating heart supplies blood to the brain and helps brain cells grow and develop. Regular movement of the body stimulates the growth of new blood vessels in the brain and subsequently supports the creation of new brain cells. So regular walking or movement leads to positive changes in the brain.
Just as muscle cells are weeded out if they are not used, so are brain cells. As unused muscles are lost, brain function also deteriorates. The role of the brain is to help people do everything they do in life. The brain supports many tasks, including thinking, memory, problem solving, and mood regulation. Therefore, deterioration of brain function means negative changes in personality, emotions, and brain structure itself. If you walk or move at a regular rhythm and pace, the overall function of your brain improves. Therefore, sitting or lying down for a long time and being lazy is not good for body and brain health.
Even just standing up from a seated position causes immediate changes in blood pressure, blood flow, energy expenditure, and metabolism. In particular, regular, brisk walking is a great way to exercise your heart. Walking helps activate the brain because 20% of the blood produced by the heart goes to the brain, which consumes a lot of oxygen and energy.
■ ‘Walking’, the best medicine for city sickness
According to a study published in the UK’s Lancet, 5 million people lose their lives every year due to increased sedentary time. However, it is said that even if you spend more than 8 hours a day sitting, you can reduce your risk of death by exercising for 1 hour a day. This study shows the danger of city sickness caused by lack of exercise. Representative urban diseases prevalent in modern people include heart disease, high blood pressure, and obesity. And as a disease of the mind, there is depression. These are conditions that increase the risk of developing dementia. Therefore, in order to prevent dementia, these city diseases must be prevented first.
Hippocrates said, “Walking is the best medicine.” Walking is the easiest aerobic exercise to start with. Before planning anything grandiose for your health, put on your shoes and go outside for a walk now. Let’s self-prescribe ‘the best medicine for city sickness’, the value of healthy walking.
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2023-07-25 05:40:00
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