When despair seems to be getting the upper hand, offer yourself a serving of hope.
Our bodies are designed to move. We know that getting consistent movement is a vital part of supporting a healthy body, mood, and mind in both children and adults. Yet modern life seems to be shifting us in the direction of less movement, rather than more.
We all have the power, however, about how we spend our days. This includes how much, or how little, we choose to move our bodies, both as individuals and as families. The lure of screens and virtual reality can be a barrier to getting outside and moving the way our bodies are meant to move.
The list of reasons to move is long, from mental health to physical health, including supporting better sleep. In the last few years, researchers have discovered a protein that is released into the blood by the contraction of muscles. These proteins, known as myokines, travel across the blood-brain barrier. Once in the brain, they have the power to increase motivation, enhance your ability to learn, elevate your mood, and protect you brain from the effects of aging.
Myokines have become more commonly known as “hope molecules” for the ways they benefit the brain, and who doesn’t need more access to hope?
All of these benefits are available without any fancy routines or complicated machinery. They simply require that you contract your muscles, which can be done with any form of movement. Finding new and different ways to move will also stimulate more muscle fibers to contract. More muscle fibers contracting means more hope molecules are released into your blood.
Ideas for releasing hope molecules:
- Visit your local playground. Instead of just watching the kids play, get involved yourself: swing from the monkey bars, climb up the ladders, ride down the slide, and crawl through the tunnels.
- At the beach: take a walk instead of laying on a towel, dive through the waves, dig a hole that will fill with water.
- Find a favorite trail and visit it often, inviting friends and loved ones to join you.
The more consistent your are with movement, the more you will be supplying a steady drip of hope to your brain.
