Turn over a new leaf this fall -- start exercising
Did you spend the hot, sweltering days of summer sitting in front of an air conditioner? Then fall is a probably a good time for you to get up and get moving, medical experts say.
Why is now a good time?
If you start now, youll be well into your exercise program, which will help counter the overeating that typically occurs during the holiday season, according to UPMC Pinnacle, a health care system at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
In most of the United States, the fall means cooler temperatures and fewer bugs, which means ideal conditions for walking in local parks or going for hikes in state parks.
Having a dog can help motivate you to get out for regular walks. If a dog isnt an option, find a human walking partner to help keep you motivated.
And you dont need to limit yourself to walking. Other options include cycling, jogging -- even dancing.
While watching TV, use exercise bands or light weights for some seated strength training, or do standing exercise routines.
If you havent exercised in a long time or have health issues or concerns, you should talk to your doctor before starting a new exercise routine.
A walk in the park may soothe the mind and, in the process, change the workings of our brains in ways that improve our mental health, according to an interesting new study of the physical effects on the brain of visiting nature. Most of us today live in cities and spend far less time outside in green, natural spaces than people did several generations ago.
City dwellers also have a higher risk for anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses than people living outside urban centers, studies show.
These developments seem to be linked to some extent, according to a growing body of research. Various studies have found that urban dwellers with little access to green spaces have a higher incidence of psychological problems than people living near parks and that city dwellers who visit natural environments have lower levels of stress hormones immediately afterward than people who have not recently been outside.
But just how a visit to a park or other green space might alter mood has been unclear. Does experiencing nature actually change our brains in some way that affects our emotional health?
That possibility intrigued Gregory Bratman, a graduate student at the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources at Stanford University, who has been studying the psychological effects of urban living. In an earlier study published last month, he and his colleagues found that volunteers who walked briefly through a lush, green portion of the Stanford campus were more attentive and happier afterward than volunteers who strolled for the same amount of time near heavy traffic.
But that study did not examine the neurological mechanisms that might underlie the effects of being outside in nature.
Brooding, which is known among cognitive scientists as morbid rumination, is a mental state familiar to most of us, in which we cant seem to stop chewing over the ways in which things are wrong with ourselves and our lives. This broken-record fretting is not healthy or helpful. It can be a precursor to depression and is disproportionately common among city dwellers compared with people living outside urban areas, studies show.
Perhaps most interesting for the purposes of Mr. Bratman and his colleagues, however, such rumination also is strongly associated with increased activity in a portion of the brain known as the subgenual prefrontal cortex.
HealthDay
