Deepalakshmi P
Yoga teacher
Many of us, start fitness journey to chase a magic number on the weighing scale or the inch tape. And more often, we give up after few weeks, as that number seems elusive. A wedding in the family or a vacation, the needle goes right back. So, why should we bother with exercising?
Body has a policy of use it or lose it. That is the cornerstone of evolution. When, some ranges of movements are done regularly, those muscles and neural patterns are continuously strengthened. On the contrary, when some movements are not done, those patterns are weakened or even erased.
Any movement, even as simple as flexing your fingers, involves, firing up a series of communication pathways within the body. Every movement in our body, is because of the coordination of
the brain – initiate movement
the nervous system – the messenger, carrying the command
the musculoskeletal system – to execute the movement
the respiratory system – to provide oxygen
the digestive system – to provide nutrition
the circulatory system – to carry that nutrition and oxygen to the cell
(Note: this is just indicative list, for understanding purposes, it is actually highly complex mechanism)
So, when we move, there is constant flow of information regarding - how much energy is required, how much tension is required, which cells to engage, which ones to stretch etc. For example, when a toddler tries to hold a baby, he doesn’t know how much pressure to apply to hold the baby. In the confusion, he may squeeze the baby a little more or hold him precariously at the verge of dropping. However, a grown up knows how much pressure to apply. How? As we grow up, we do a wide variety of movements, with different pressures, grips etc. and that is stored as neural patterns which makes us aware of the pressure and grip required for a particular job.
Anyone, who has done squats, will know that in the initial few days, there is soreness in the thighs. After regular practice, you can do more squats, but this time, there is no soreness. This is because, once your body has understood, that you are going to do this movement regularly, it figures out the efficient way of doing squats and diverts body resources accordingly.
Now, for some reason, you stop doing squats for few months. Again, when you try squats, the same pain returns. Why? Because the earlier patterns are forgotten and have to be built again. We can’t blame the body, for it has limited resources and always finds ways to use them efficiently. Once, it realised that the squat movement is not happening regularly, it diverts those resources to another part of the body.
Another example is, though, the fractured arm is healed and the sling is removed, still the mobility of that arm is limited. We would need some regular physiotherapy, to bring arm back into full action. This is because, the movement patterns of that arm, is erased by the body, since the arm was not functional. Hence, those patterns must be rebuilt using exercises.
The homeostasis of the body is maintained by constant communication between almost 30 trillion cells. There is not only, exchange of information between the brain and other organs through nervous system. There is constant information exchange among the organs also, through the blood, lymph etc.
By moving regularly and with awareness, we constantly establish communication channels and pathway between various systems of the body. Like the way, the internet company, increases the bandwidth when the traffic increases, the body also, builds more bandwidth for exchange of information. This helps the organ systems to work efficiently, constantly updating each other of changes happening in them and the feedback loop is connected. Important functions such as exchange of gases, assimilation of nutrition, removal of metabolic waste, feedback on hormone secretion etc happens smoothly. This smooth functioning is important to keep away diseases such as diabetes, cancer, hypertension etc. So, give yourself some love, exercise daily and stay healthy!!
Remember, if you don’t use it, you will lose it.
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