Inactivity, not exercising, not reading or training, in short, not moving, is detrimental to health in general. This has been known for years. However, in this article we will present you specifically what are the risks of sedentary lifestyle for your brain.
We live in a time where physical activity takes a secondary place in our lives. Many work occupations imply that we sit for long hours, and we move around in everyday life through vehicles, without walking.
A sedentary lifestyle changes the structure of the nervous system
The nervous system is not a static structure, but a dynamic one. New synapses are continually being created, modified, others eliminated. However, the changes that are promoted with inactivity are not exactly good, and that is one of the biggest risks of sedentary lifestyle.
In a 2014 study by Mischel and colleagues from the Wayne State University School of Medicine, the specific changes that occur in the brain as a result of sedentary lifestyle were precisely found.
The researchers selected two groups of rats. One of them was moving and exercising regularly. Another, no. After 3 months, they found physical changes in the structure of the sedentary rats’ brains:
An excessive number of additional branches in neurons that overstimulated the nervous system, accelerating the heart rate and predisposing to hypertension.
Inactivity led the sympathetic nervous system to fail to regulate peripheral vasoconstriction, which also predisposes to hypertension and heart disease.
Other scientific research has found that sedentary lifestyle weakens memory and learning ability, as well as predisposes to neurodegenerative diseases.
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