Integrating treatment and exercise:
A common finding of scientific research examining the effects of resistance and aerobic training
is that people who regularly exercise exhibit less depression, anger and confusion, are less
tense than non-exercisers. There is also compelling research available which proves exercise
has created lasting positive effects on patient’s lives during recovery. Not only is physical health
enhanced during the rehabilitation stage, but psychological health, lifestyle behavior, self
perception, self esteem, level of stress, coping mechanisms, and social support are also
improved. The goal and design of the integration, Physical activity becomes a viable, healthy
replacement for compulsive drug using habits that addicts develop, and can be a powerful
reinforcement tool for the same pleasurable physical experience that drug use once provided
the mind.
Exercise provides an emotional state of well being and satisfaction after accomplishing a
physical training routine. While integrating a physical component into a recovery plan,
especially in a group atmosphere, patients gain a sense of self worth, better self image and
increased motivation which is reinforced by team oriented instruction, unity, and like minded
purpose. There is also a significant decrease in the potential for relapse when patients become
actively engaged in a structured routine of exercise, diet and partnership.
In his book Brain Rules, author John Madina provides interesting information about our Brain
and exercise.
Go ahead and multiply the number 8,388,628 x 2 in your head. Can you do it in a few seconds?
There is young man who- can double that number 24 times in the space of a few seconds. He
gets it right every time. There is a boy who can tell you the exact time of day at any moment,
even in his sleep. There is a girl who can correctly determine the exact dimensions of an object
20 feet away. There is a child who at age 6 drew such lifelike and powerful pictures; she got her
own show at a gallery on Madison Avenue. Yet none of these children could be taught to tie
their shoes. Indeed, none of them have an IQ greater than 50.
Your brain may not be nearly so odd, but it is no less extraordinary. Easily the most
sophisticated information-transfer system on Earth. Your brain sends jolts of electricity
crackling through hundreds of miles of wires composed of brain cells so small that thousands
of them could fit into the period at the end of this sentence. You accomplish all of this in less
time than it takes you to blink. In fact, you have just done it. What’s equally incredible, given our
intimate association with it, is this: Most of us have no idea how our brain works.
The Brain developed in an evolutionary process, man was in constant motion in order to
survive, and had to be in top physical condition.
This has strange consequences. We try to talk on our cell phones and drive at the same time,
even though it is literally impossible for our brains to multitask when it comes to paying
attention. We have created high-stress office environments, even though a stressed brain is
significantly less productive. Madina states our schools are designed so that most real learning
has to occur at home.
Blame it on the fact that brain scientists rarely have a conversation with
teachers and business professionals, education majors and accountants,
superintendents and CEOs. Unless you have the Journal of Neuroscience
sitting on your coffee table, you’re out of the loop.
Move to Improve, is a classroom based curriculum designed by the New York City Department
of education and the New York City Department of Health to increase physical activity among
students k-5. There is a move to integrate short structured fitness breaks into elementary
classrooms, integrating grade-level academic concepts and physical activity. Studies have
shown the benefit of physical activity and learning and its relation to creating a positive
classroom.
In a similar study with school age children, kids jogged 30 minutes twice per week in an exercise
program, for twelve weeks, their cognitive performance and test scores improved significantly.
More importantly, when the exercise program was withdrawn, their test scores dropped back
to their pre-experiment levels.
Blame it on the fact that brain scientists rarely have a conversation with teachers
and business professionals, education majors and accountants, superintendents
and CEOs. Unless you have the Journal of Neuroscience sitting on your coffee table,
you’re out of the loop.
For starters, we are not used to sitting at a desk for eight hours a day. From an evolutionary
perspective, our brains developed while working out, walking as many as 12 miles a day. The
brain still craves the experience, especially in sedentary populations like our own. That’s why
exercise boosts brainpower in such populations. Exercisers outperform couch potatoes in longterm memory, reasoning, attention, problem-solving tasks, and more. I am convinced that
integrating exercise into treatment is not only beneficial but also necessary. Think about the
benefit if exercise was part of our workday or classroom curriculum.
Dr. Antonette Yancy, former model, athlete, and poet and research scientist, concluded from
her data:
Active children:
1. Show more attention to their studies
2. Are less likely to be disruptive in terms of classroom behavior
3. Show higher levels of self-esteem
Blame it on the fact that brain scientists rarely have a conversation with teachers
and business professionals, education majors and accountants, superintendents
and CEOs. Unless you have the Journal of Neuroscience sitting on your coffee table,
you’re out of the loop.
In Falkner and Taylor, 2006, edited edition, Exercise, Health and Mental Health: Emerging
Relationships, Marie Donaghy and Michael Ussher report on several treatment facilities which
have been studied for their exercise programs which included various aerobics, meditation,
strength training and team sports. Donaghy and Ussher note that limited research was
available on the subject of exercise in conjunction with alcohol and drug addiction
rehabilitation at the time of their study they found “ unequivocal support that physical exercise
regimes have a positive effect on aerobic fitness and strength if administered as an adjunct in
alcohol rehabilitation” for recovering addicts, and that exercise regimens may potentially
reduce depression and anxiety (which are major causes of relapse), suppress cravings, and
improve abstinence when combined with addiction rehabilitation.
In the 2009 edition of Principles of Addiction Medicine, Dr. James O. Prochaska states, “physical
activity helps manage moods, stress, and distress. Also 60 minutes per week of exercise can
provide a recovering person with more than 50 health and mental health benefits. Thus,
exercise should be prescribed to all sedentary patients with addiction”
Exercise and Learning:
Does strength training make you smarter? Gretchen Reynolds, in an article in the New York
Times, writes, “running causes a spike in blood movement to the brain-which may be linked to
the creation of new brain cells or neurogenesis”.
New connections between brain cells emerge in clusters in the brain as animals learn to
perform a new task according to researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The
study reveals details of how brain circuits are rewired during the formation of new motor
memories.
The researchers studied mice as they learned new behaviors, such as reaching through a slot to
get a seed. They observed changes in the motor cortex, the brain layer that controls muscle
movement.
In 2010 at the Society for Neuroscience researchers from Brazil secured weights to the tails of a
group of rats and had them climb a ladder five sessions a week. Other rats on the same
schedule ran on a treadmill, and a third group just sat around. After eight weeks the running
rats had a much higher levels of Brain-derived neurotropic factor ( B.D.N. F ),a growth factor
that is thought to help spark neurogenesis, than the sedentary rats. So did the rats with weight
tied to their tails. The weight bearing rats, like the runners, did well on tests of learning and
memory. Both endurance and weight training seemed to make the rats smarter.
In similar fashion, researchers from Japan found that loading the running wheels of animals
improved their brain functioning. In human terms it is like using a stationary bicycle with the
resistance set to high. The animals that were assigned to the running wheels showed
significantly increased levels of gene activity and (B.D. N. F.)levels within their brains. “This study
demonstrates for the first time that voluntary wheel running with a load increases a muscular
adaptation and enhances gene expression” in the rat brain said Min-Chul Lee of the University
of Tsukuba in Japan and lead author of the study.
Whether the same mechanisms occur in
humans who undertake resistance training of
some kind or another is not yet fully clear, but
the data is promising. Teresa liu-Ambrose a
researcher at the Brain research Center at the
University of British Columbia, in her lab found
that older women who lifted weights
preformed significantly better on various tests
of cognitive functioning than women who
completed toning classes. She noted
“Resistance training at first requires an
upsurge in brain usage, you have to think
about proper form and learning the technique’.
In resistance training the brain may demand
and create additional brain circuitry.
Led by researchers Dana-Faber Cancer institute has isolated a natural hormone from muscle
cells that triggers some of the key health benefits of exercise. They say the protein, which serves
as a messenger, is a highly promising candidate for the development as a novel treatment for
diabetes, obesity and perhaps other disorders, including cancer. Bruce Speigelman, PhD, a cell
biologist is senior author of the report; he dubbed the hormone “irisin’, after Iris, a Greek
messenger goddess. He said the discovery is an important first step in understanding the
biological mechanisms that translate physical exercise into beneficial changes throughout the
body, both in health people and in preventing or treating disease.
Exercise, emotional health and flawed decision making:
The brain wrestles every day; it’s not easy to choose long-term gain over an immediate reward.
Our cognitive ability and cognitive effort manipulates such decisions that are why change is
difficult and so important.
January 1, 2012, who has made a New Year resolution? How many people follow through and
how many people fail?
Do the people who fail lack discipline and perseverance? Are most people aiming to high, and
don’t care about their achieving the goals they set? Change and decision making start in the
BRAIN- the parts of the brain that effect the decision making process are the emotional brain
and the rational brain.
Emotional brain seeks immediate gratification and seeks to avoid what it perceives as pain and
loss. In a way of solving its problems the emotional brain looks for (non existent) patterns.
Example; using a credit card instead of pulling cash from your wallet.
The emotional brain LOVES credit cards, the average US citizen carries over 10,000 in credit
card debt.
Food choices are another example of emotional brain action. The reason, long-term negative
consequences of wrong diet take time to come to fruition, the emotional brain zeros in on
immediate gratification, craving sugar, sweets, ect…
The aspect of joining a gym, staying on a diet, and seeing results, takes time and too often too
much for the emotional brain to visualize. For lasting change we must engage the RATIONAL
Brain.
The rational brain comes into play every time you learn a new skill. Remember learning to ride
a bike for the first time? Over and over again you failed yet you kept at it until you were able to
accomplish a task that seemed so overwhelming. Everything was so new your rational brain
broke the skills down one by one. Over time, as you became more confidant the task shifted
over to the emotional brain and the rational brain played a less significant role.
Once you know what to do, you don’t need to consciously think about it.
Learning a new skill is the domain of the rational brain but once you’ve assimilated that skill,
the emotional brain retains the memory.
In 2008, in a post about addiction, battling addiction with Exercise Dirk Hanson highlighted
NIDA director Nora Volkow’s remarks on addiction treatment.
“Exercise has been shown to be beneficial in so many ways areas of physical and mental
health”, Volkow said “this cross-disciplinary approach is designed to get scientists thinking
creatively about its potential role in substance abuse prevention. “
At the same conference, Dr. Bess Marcus of Brown University, working on a NIDA funded study
of exercise for smoking cessation presented scientific evidence for the addiction/exercise
connection. Similarities in the effects on the reward pathways of the brain’s limbic system—
dopamine activity in particular—may tie two behaviors together more directly than previously
thought.
Among the findings:
Rats in cages with running wheels show less interest in amphetamine infusions than rats
without exercise options.
Baby monkeys who don’t roughhouse with their peers have higher levels of impulse control
problems and alcohol use when they get older.
In humans, exercise is known to reduce stress and tension—and anxiety is a well-known side
effect of withdrawal, from alcohol and cigarettes to heroin and speed.
Physical activity may enhance cellular growth in key areas of the brain involved in addiction,
thereby aiding the neural changes that take place during detoxification and withdrawal from
addictive drugs.
Long Term recovery from addiction is a process that requires discipline, focus and extended
effort:
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Exercise can improve the brain’s ability to resist the temptations of addiction. “Exercise has
been shown to help protect the brain against addiction” says mark A. Smith, professor of
neuroscience at Davidson University. His research on rats shows that access to exercise
reduces the appeal of cocaine.
“Vigorous exercise increases dopamine concentrations in the brain in the same sections
that are affected by cocaine”, Smith says “exercise mimics a lot of the effects of the drugs”
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The socialization factor and the power of togetherness:
Organized exercise is a source of considerable camaraderie and support. Whether it is the
dopamine high or the group support but the work outs have given participants hope that their
lives didn’t have to be boring and stoic because I had to change people, places and things.
The power of togetherness while working out and its ability to assist individuals who are in
recovery from addiction is a major factor that leads to higher recovery outcomes.
“Boredom is a very powerful stressor” says Nora Valkrow. MD and stress often leads to relapse.
Social interaction is also crucial to recovery. Individuals must learn to build relationships
without the use of drugs or alcohol.
Ironically exercise can be viewed as a sort of “positive addiction’” William Glasser put it in
1976—a habit forming behavior that can displace a habit forming substance or mitigate its
negative effects. Both exercise and addiction stimulate the release of dopamine neuropeptides
in the brain, both lead to changes in brain circuitry and the formation of new neural
connections; both induce tolerance and in some cases, withdrawal symptoms and physical
injury. Now you wouldn’t want to avoid exercise because of its habit-forming tendencies, it does
have its value and there seems to be no real down side.
Dopamine system in the brain:
Why do certain substances have the power to make us feel good? Why do some people fall into
the darkness of addiction to alcohol, cocaine, nicotine and other addictive substances, while
others can take them or leave them. The moment that you put that first sip to you lips, that
toke or snort, trillions of tiny potent molecules surge through your bloodstream and into your
brain. Once there, they set off millions of chemical and electrical events, a neurological chain
reaction and rushed inside the brain and changes the reality of the mind.
The answer may be quite simple, what ties all these mood altering drugs together is their ability
to elevate levels of dopamine in the brain. Surge in dopamine levels in addict’s brains is what
triggers the cocaine high.
Drinking Alcohol shrinks critical brain regions in mice lacking a particular type of receptor for
dopamine, the brain’s “reward” chemical.
The study was conducted at the U.S.
department of Energy’s Brookhaven national
Laboratory and published in the May 2012
issue of alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental
research. This study demonstrates the
interplay of genetic and environmental factors
in determining the damaging effects of
alcohol on the brain. This pattern of damage
mimics a unique aspect of brain pathology
observed in human alcoholics. Serotonin (the
brain chemical affected by such
antidepressants as Prozac), dopamine is a
neurotransmitter-a molecule that ferries
messages from one neuron with in the brain
to another.
Serotonin is associated with feelings of
sadness and well-being, dopamine with
pleasure and elation. Dopamine can be
elevated by a hug, a kiss, a word of praise,
exercise- as well as potent pleasures that
come from drugs.
Dopamine is not just a chemical that
transmits pleasure signals but may, in fact,
the master molecule of addiction.
Dopamine is not the only chemical involved, drugs modulate the activity of a variety of brain
chemicals, each which intersects with many others. Dr. Eric Nestler of the Yale University School
of Medicine states “Drugs are like sledge hammers… they profoundly alter many pathways”
Addiction is a dis/order of the brain no different from other forms of mental illness.
Serotonin:
Serotonin is the neurotransmitter that manages the biochemical messages leaving the brain. It
creates the electricity for sight and rest and also controls cravings. Serotonin keeps the right
and left hemisphere of your brain in balance. A serotonin loss creates a disconnect between the
brain’s left side’s rationality and the right side’s creativity. When this occurs you lose focus and it
affects our mood and overall ability to function. When serotonin levels are optimal you feel
alert, motivated, ready to set and achieve goals in your life.
Food cravings for simple carbs and salty foods often stem from low serotonin levels. These
foods may offer a quick fix but it is short lived. Thus a viscous cycle of more food cravings
occurs in order to get your fix. Foods that are high in sugar, sodium, fat, and chemical additives
are extremely addictive. The more you have the more you want.
Natural ways to increase serotonin levels:
1. Sleep; you need six hours of sleep to boost serotonin levels When sleep levels are low
growth hormones are compromised. GH is needed to control the ratio of muscle to fat.
2. Food/Nutrition Broccoli, pears, brown rice, oatmeal, increase serotonin and soak up
estrogens. Increase tryptophan, the body needs tryptophan from food and uses it to
make serotonin. Eating foods high in tryptophan can improve your mood. Some
examples of high tryptophan food, include; Avocado, chocolate, rolled oats, wheat
germ, organic yogurt, and whole raw milk.
3. Spices; saffron, marjoram, peppermint, spearmint, dill, nutmeg, turmeric are all great
antidepressants that boost serotonin. Nutmeg in particular has been shown to be very
powerful. Cinnamon has also been shown to reduce carbohydrate cravings and
increase insulin sensitivity.
4. Magnesium; according to Dr. Carolyn Dean author of The Magnesium Miracle,
magnesium is required for the release and uptake of serotonin in the brain cells. If the
magnesium is not replenished then serotonin is not picked up and depression results
(400-500 twice per day)
5. Meditation, stretching, restoration exercise, yoga, ect all contribute to a healthy state
of mind.
Computation in the brain:
The brain - that's my second most favorite organ! - Woody Allen
The Brain as an Information Processing System
The human brain contains about 10 billion nerve cells, or neurons. On average, each neuron is
connected to other neurons through about 10,000 synapses. (The actual figures vary greatly,
depending on the local neuroanatomy.) The brain's network of neurons forms a massively
parallel information processing system. This contrasts with conventional computers, in which a
single processor executes a single series of instructions.
Against this, consider the time taken for each elementary operation: neurons typically operate
at a maximum rate of about 100 Hz, while a conventional CPU carries out several hundred
million machine level operations per second. Despite of being built with very slow hardware,
the brain has quite remarkable capabilities:
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its performance tends to degrade gracefully under partial damage. In contrast, most
programs and engineered systems are brittle: if you remove some arbitrary parts, very
likely the whole will cease to function.
it can learn (reorganize itself) from experience.
this means that partial recovery from damage is possible if healthy units can learn to take
over the functions previously carried out by the damaged areas.
it performs massively parallel computations extremely efficiently. For example, complex
visual perception occurs within less than 100 ms, that is, 10 processing steps!
it supports our intelligence and self-awareness. (Nobody knows yet how this occurs.)
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As a discipline of Artificial Intelligence, Neural Networks attempt to bring computers a little
closer to the brain's capabilities by imitating certain aspects of information processing in the
brain, in a highly simplified way.
Neural Networks in the Brain
The brain is not homogeneous. At the largest anatomical scale, we distinguish cortex, midbrain,
brainstem, and cerebellum. Each of these can be hierarchically subdivided into many regions,
and areaswithin each region, either according to the anatomical structure of the neural
networks within it, or according to the function performed by them.
The overall pattern of projections(bundles of neural connections) between areas is extremely
complex, and only partially known. The best-mapped (and largest) system in the human brain is
the visual system, where the first 10 or 11 processing stages have been identified. We
distinguish feed forward projections that go from earlier processing stages (near the sensory
input) to later ones (near the motor output), from feedbackconnections that go in the opposite
direction.
In addition to these long-range connections, neurons also link up with many thousands of their
neighbors. In this way they form very dense, complex local networks.
Neurons and Synapses
The basic computational unit in the nervous system is the nerve cell, or neuron. A neuron has:
Dendrites (inputs)
Cell body
Axon (output)
A neuron receives input from other neurons (typically many thousands). Once input exceeds a
critical level, the neuron discharges a spike- an electrical pulse that travels from the body, down
the axon, to the next neuron(s) (or other receptors). This spiking event is also called
depolarization, and is followed by a refractory period, during which the neuron is unable to fire.
The axon endings (Output Zone) almost touch the dendrites or cell body of the next neuron.
Transmission of an electrical signal from one neuron to the next is effected by
neurotransmitters- chemicals which are released from the first neuron and which bind to
receptors in the second. This link is called a synapse. The extent to which the signal from one
neuron is passed on to the next depends on many factors, e.g. the amount of neurotransmitter
available, the number and arrangement of receptors, amount of neurotransmitter reabsorbed,
etc.
Synaptic Learning
Brains learn, of course. From what we know of neuronal structures, one way brains learn is by
altering the strengths of connections between neurons, and by adding or deleting connections
between neurons. Furthermore, they learn "on-line", based on experience, and typically without
the benefit of a benevolent teacher. The efficacy of a synapse can change as a result of
experience, providing both memory and learning through long-term potentiation. One way this
happens is through release of more neurotransmitter. Many other changes may also be
involved.
Long-term Potentiation: An enduring (>1 hour) increase in synaptic efficacy that results from highfrequency stimulation of an afferent (input) pathway
Hebbs Postulate:
"When an axon of cell A... excites[s] cell B and
repeatedly or persistently takes part in firing it,
some growth process or metabolic change takes
place in one or both cells so that A's efficiency as
one of the cells firing B is increased." Bliss and
Lomo discovered LTP in the hippocampus in
1973 Points to note about LTP:
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Synapses become more or less important
over time (plasticity)
LTP is based on experience
LTP is based only on local information
(Hebb's postulate
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Summary
The following properties of nervous systems will be of particular interest in our neurallyinspired models:
parallel, distributed information processing
high degree of connectivity among basic units
connections are modifiable based on experience
learning is a constant process, and usually unsupervised
learning is based only on local information
performance degrades gracefully if some units are removed
etc.........