8 Unexpected benefits of drinking turmeric milk

This article is written by Sparkle Purpose. Follow Sparkle Purpose on Twitter and Pinterest.

Health benefits of turmeric milk

1. Turmeric milk can help to prevent cancer

Turmeric kills cancer cells and prevents them from proliferating.

Turmeric milk works as a furious combatant against cancer. Turmeric acts as an antioxidant. It reduces the oxidative stress that helps free radicals (cell damage) flourish throughout your body. This strengthens cancer development. Studies have linked the turmeric found in the beverage to lowering your risk of various cancers.

Turmeric milk also contains the chemical curcumin, which is known to kill cancer cells and prevent the growth of blood vessels in tumors. Keep in mind that this research is compelling; but it’s also limited.

While our chances of getting cancer in life are never fully eliminated, the evidence for turmeric milk lowering the odds seems very optimistic. 

2. Turmeric milk boosts your immune system 

If you are vulnerable to the common cold, turmeric milk might be great for you. Golden milk can have great benefits if you're suffering from a cold or sickness. Curcumin (an active ingredient in turmeric) contains plenty of antibacterial, anti-fungal and antiviral properties that fight against illness.

Curcumin tackles dangerous cells and foreign agents, preventing them from infecting your body. If you’re stuck at home with an awful cough and stuffy nose, try some turmeric milk as a healthy remedy.

This may interest you: 9 foods to boost your immune system

3. Turmeric milk helps to prevent heart disease

Did you know that drinking turmeric milk every day can help to reduce your risk of heart issues?

Ingredients such as turmeric, ginger and cinnamon all have links to lowering the chances of heart disease.

In one particular study, 41 patients with type 2 diabetes were given 2 grams of ginger daily. After 12 weeks their risk factors were 23-28% lower than before. 

Keeping consistent with our curcumin theme, the chemical may improve your blood vessel lining. People undergoing heart surgery are normally given curcumin. During your hospital stay, you are 65% less likely to suffer a heart attack if you consume the chemical.

4. Turmeric may lower your blood sugar levels

Some research has shown that golden milk ingredients - particularly cinnamon and ginger - help to lower blood sugar. While more compelling evidence is necessary for a conclusion, one study states that 1-6 grams of cinnamon per day for 40 days lowered blood sugar by 24% and lowered cholesterol by 18%. 

This may interest you: 8 techniques to lower blood pressure

Turmeric may also reduce insulin resistance. Cinnamon reduces the glucose level absorbed in your gut after eating. Adding ginger to your diet helps lower your blood sugar by about 12%.

While it may have these benefits, you need to make sure that your golden milk is unsweetened. Certain brands contain honey and maple syrup. For the best chances of lowering blood sugar, stay away from those ingredients.

5. Turmeric milk detoxifies your liver  

If you suffer from an unhealthy liver, turmeric milk might be able to improve your condition. It is important for your liver to cleanse itself regularly. Drinking golden milk will cleanse the liver of toxins. It prevents toxins from damaging the liver.

Turmeric milk will also help to prevent fatty acids and other harmful chemicals from building up in your liver. This purifies your body and enables you to process food better without building up the toxins that are left behind.

6. Turmeric milk has powerful anti-inflammatory properties

Golden milk can reduce inflammation in the body. Reducing inflammation can reduce your chances of developing arthritis, pancreatitis and bowel disease. Inflammation also plays a major role in heart disease, Alzheimer's and cancer.

If you make turmeric milk a regular part of your diet, you will most likely see a reduction in overall inflammation.

Studies have shown that consuming about 500 mg of curcumin (three times daily) has the same effect as 50 mg (twice daily) of regular arthritis medication. Turmeric milk has a better effect on osteoarthritis patients than placebo medication given out by doctors. Golden milk works by blocking certain enzymes that allow inflammation to take place.

7. Turmeric milk improves your mood 

Is there anything that curcumin can’t do at this point?

Do you feel depressed? Curcumin can most likely help you with that. While the jury is still technically out, research points towards golden milk improving your overall mood. 

During a study on 60 participants with depression, curcumin reduced depressive symptoms with the same effects as regular antidepressants. Other research links depression with inflammation. 

The curcumin goes to work fighting free radicals, preventing inflammation and reducing oxidative stress. More research needs to be done, but if you’re experiencing mental health issues, drinking a glass of golden milk won’t hurt.

8. Turmeric milk improves your memory 

Things don’t just stop at the mood-enhancing benefits of turmeric milk. Turmeric has plenty of other healthy effects on brain function. While current research is still uncertain, there is reason to believe that the ingredients of golden milk improve your memory and state of alertness. 

Curcumin can increase your levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). 50 mg/kg increased BDNF by 78% while 100 mg/kg increase BDNF levels by 95% in this study.

This helps your brain connect and grow new brain cells. If you are suffering from low BDNF, you may be vulnerable to memory loss.

The cinnamon in turmeric milk fights against the buildup of tau protein. This protein is crucial for the development of Alzheimer's disease. Considering that an estimated 5.8 million Americans are living with this horrible condition, a drink that fights against it is exciting news.

Ginger also improves brain function and enhances memory.

You might find this interesting: Hot water helps with weight loss.

This article is written by Sparkle Purpose. Follow Sparkle Purpose on Twitter and Pinterest. Check out their article on 15 foods highly rich in calcium.

Train your brain with meditation

Benefits of meditation

Meditation is one of the most powerful activities that you can do.

Everyone knows about it but not everyone does it. Only some people practice meditation regularly. 

The current population is roughly around 7.8 billion. Only 200 to 500 million people meditate. This means that only 2-6% of people in the world practice meditation.

There are a lot of benefits of doing meditation.

Through meditation, a person can control the world’s powerful tool. That is nothing but their brain.

You are not controlling your brain. Your brain is controlling you.

You can do anything with your belief system.

Mental benefits of meditation

1. Slows down the aging process

2. Relieves stress and chronic anxiety

3. Builds self-esteem

4. Treats and prevents depression

5. Increases attention span

Mediation is good for your brain.

1. Mediation slows the aging process 

As you age, your body gets slower and you start to lose your edge.

Meditation can actually slow down the aging process in your brain.

This comes from a 2015 study from UCLA that found that people who meditate have healthier and younger brains than people who don't.

Even the researchers were shocked by their findings!

They expected a small difference, if any, in the size of their brains.

Instead, they found significant changes in brain volume.

By meditating regularly, these people developed more gray matter. Their brain volume stayed far more consistent.

In other words, meditation held back many of the most detrimental effects of aging in the brain.

This awarded them a healthier and more productive mind for years to come.

Meditation keeps your brain young.

2. Meditation relieves stress and chronic anxiety

By learning how to meditate, you significantly reduce your stress without having to make any other major changes to your lifestyle.

The more positive lifestyle changes that you make, the better. The point is that meditation on its own is a very powerful tool.

 

Sitting in silence for 10 or 15 minutes has such a huge impact on your life.

When we're stressed about repaying student loans or giving a big presentation, our bodies produce a hormone called cortisol.

Cortisol is responsible for most of the common negative side effects associated with stress.

Cortisol can impair your memory and increase your blood pressure. It can disrupt your sleep. These things make you feel fatigued and unmotivated.

Cortisol can also lead to depression and chronic anxiety. This can bring your productive lifestyle to a crashing halt.

Luckily, a 2013 study found that meditation (specifically mindfulness meditation) effectively deals with stress by decreasing the negative side effects of cortisol production.

Another study that examined over 1,200 participants found that regular meditation lowered stress more than any medical treatment on the market.

In both of these studies the results were consistent for people of all ages and experience levels. 

No matter whom you are or how much you know about meditation, it can be an incredibly effective way to reduce your stress.

Mediation reduces stress and anxiety.

3. Meditation builds self-esteem

Self-confidence is something that almost everyone struggles with on a daily basis. 

In a world filled with critics and bullies, it can be really difficult to develop and maintain a lasting positive self-image.

Without a strong self-image, you may be struggling every day just to avoid another period of depression.

If this sounds like you, mindfulness meditation can help you build a kind of self-esteem that won't fall apart the next time that something doesn't go your way.

Mindfulness meditation is actually a pretty simple concept. To practice mindfulness all you need to do is bring your complete attention to the present moment.

By focusing exclusively on where you are and who you are; mindfulness can help you stay calm, relaxed and aware.

It can also reduce your anxiety while allowing you to think clearly and rationally.

The ultimate goal of mindfulness meditation is to get you in touch with your senses and emotions. This gives you a deeper understanding of yourself.

A 2005 study showed that this deeper understanding results in the development of positive self-esteem.

In this study researchers had a group of individuals diagnosed with breast cancer practice mindfulness meditation exercises for 12 weeks.

At the start of the study, each participant was tested and showed very low levels of self-esteem but after 12 weeks of meditation, the entire group showed dramatic improvements despite their chronic illness.

While mindfulness meditation does help build self-esteem it's even more effective at stopping your self-esteem from decreasing.

When you experience failure or social rejection you might start having cyclical negative thoughts which can quickly destroy all of the self-esteem that you built up.

These harmful thoughts discourage you from doing the things that make you happy so it's incredibly important to address them before they get out of control.

Mindfulness meditation is a great way to do just that because it offers you the opportunity to bring your attention to the negative thoughts or habits and find ways to correct them.

Improve your self-image.

4. Meditation helps you to avoid depression

Mindfulness meditation has been used as a form of therapy for individuals struggling with depression. 

Not only does it reduce the production of chemicals in our brains associated with depression, but meditation also fosters a more stable emotional mindset by decreasing the presence of unhealthy behaviors.

Brooding, for example, is common among individuals with depression allowing for negative emotions like sadness, anger and self-criticism.

A study by the University of Exeter looked for this kind of behavior in two groups of people who were recovering from depression. 

The first group used only depression medication while the second group practiced mindfulness meditation at least once every day.

The researchers found that about half of the medication group ended up relapsing because of unhealthy behaviors like brooding which prevented the medication from doing its job.

On the other hand, those who practiced meditation were significantly less likely to relapse because they were less likely to engage in any of these depressive behaviors.

If you're hoping to improve your emotional health, mindfulness meditation can be a safe and effective way to cut depression off at the source.

Meditation helps with depression.

5. Meditation increases your attention span

Most people are not able to concentrate on their work for a long amount of time without drifting off. 

Mindfulness meditation can help you to build your attention span.

At first, you will find it harder to concentrate while meditating.

As soon as you have learnt this important skill, you’ll find it so much easier to concentrate on any type of mental work.

The hardest thing about meditation is keeping your mind from wandering.

You're so used to constantly thinking about your work and all of your responsibilities that it can be hard to focus on something simple like your breath or the present moment.

But by practicing this kind of concentration, you're actually increasing your attention span so that you'll be more clear-headed and productive. 

Meditation improves mental output.

Check out more articles from Sparkle Purpose:

16 benefits of laughing

4 miracles of rubbing hands

41 remedies to treat acne scars

Exercise improves mental health

Exercise for the sake of your mental health.

Exercise will help you to improve your mental health. Here's how.

Mental health benefits of exercise

1. Exercise gives you a sense of accomplishment.

2. Exercise releases happy hormones like endorphins, serotonin and dopamine.

3. Your brain needs blood flow for oxygen and nutrients.

4. Exercise provides the perfect, healthy escape.

5. Physical activity improves sleep quality.

Exercise for yourself.

1. Exercise gives you a sense of accomplishment

One of the challenges that many people face when they struggle with mental health is an overwhelming sense of worthlessness or failure.

Exercise improves your mental health because it gives you a sense of accomplishment – it gives you a reason to be proud of yourself.

Exercise will give you a goal to work towards. The human brain thrives on challenge. When you have something that you want to achieve, like becoming more fit, you have another reason to wake up in the morning.

Exercise causes a positive chain reaction.

2. Exercise increases the release of happiness hormones like endorphins and dopamine

Exercise leads to the release of endorphins in the brain.

Endorphin release during exercise is often referred to as the runner’s high.

Endorphins do two major things in the brain: They are a natural pain killer and they make you feel happy by triggering the release of dopamine.

Dopamine is known as the happy hormone. It is also known as the reward hormone.

Depression occurs when the brain does not release enough dopamine.

Exercise is a great way to boost your dopamine levels naturally every day.

Exercise to be happy.

3. Movement increases blood flow to the brain

Exercise helps the body to increase blood flow to the brain.

This is very important because the brain needs blood flow to function properly.

When you exercise, your body increases the amount of oxygen in your blood. Your brain needs oxygen to work at its best.

The increased blood flow also allows the brain to regulate its hormonal and chemical levels better. It is able to get rid of the chemicals it doesn’t need while allowing for faster transportation of the nutrients that it does need.

Mental function declines without exercise.

4. Exercise gives you a mental break from the rest of your life

Many of us work or study really hard.

This puts a lot of pressure on our minds to perform at their best all of the time.

Exercise gives us a mental break where our minds can relax and enjoy the endorphin release with extra blood flow.

When you exercise for long enough, you start to look forward to your exercise sessions because they become your special ‘me time’ where you can think about the rest of your day and reflect on life in a positive way.

Exercise is a great coping mechanism.

5. Physical activity helps you to sleep

Sleep is very important for your health.

It can be hard to get good sleep when your brain is drained but your body has plenty of energy to spare.

Exercise increases sleep quality by increasing the body’s physical need to recover.

As sleep quality increases, your brain can recover better every night.

Very often a lack of physical activity reduces our ability to sleep well, which negatively affects our brain health.

A small amount (20-30 minutes) of exercise every day will help your brain to recover better because of improved sleep.

I used exercise to improve my own sleeping patterns and it worked out wonderfully.

Sleep improves with movement.

Start a new exercise plan slowly

If you've decided that you want to start an exercise routine to boost mental health, start slowly. Give your body time to adapt. The worst thing that you want is an injury. That will stop you from building the habit.

Also make sure that you drink enough water and give your body plenty of rest between exercise sessions. Stay Strong!

Be happy for the sake of your health

Improve health by being happy.

 How happiness improves your health

Being happy can have major physical health benefits. The connection between your emotional state and your physical state is quite profound. Happiness and positivity can help to prevent many diseases like chronic pain, inflammation and heart disease. Happiness also helps to reduce the negative physical effects of stress. It can also boost the immune system. Happiness can even increase your life expectancy! 

In short; the happier you are, the healthier you can be.

Your mood affects your body.

How to be happy

What makes people happy? What is the difference between happy people and those who need a little cheering up? There could be a whole range of answers to that question (I'm already thinking about genetics, upbringing, hormones, exercise, nutrition, chronic diseases, medications etc.)

Let's make it as simple as simple as we can. Happy people have different habits. Happy people act and think differently to those that aren't so happy. This is called deliberate happiness.

In all truth, happiness doesn’t depend on whether you’re rich or poor, or whether you drive a sports car or take the bus. It doesn't matter whether you’re the best looking person in the room or just an average Joe.

This sounds like a bunch of over-used phrases, but it's actually good news! It means that your happiness lies in your own hands. You can be happy right now. And it doesn't have to cost you anything. If you want to be happier, you can simply implement one or more of the following habits into your life.

1. Be optimistic

Negative situations and having to deal with uncomfortable things are, unfortunately, a part of life that we can't avoid. Thankfully, this doesn’t have to define you or your happiness. You should always try to find the silver lining in every situation.

Start by realizing that you can change the way you think. It will take a little effort at first, but you can train your brain to be positive about almost everything that you encounter. 

A positive outlook will inspire feelings of trust and allow you to connect with others better. It will also give you the motivation for longer term life changes (like exercising and eating healthy).

It is easier to make better choices when we aren't running away from an emotional black hole. It is almost impossible to make healthy choices when you're battling with depression.

A positive outlook will also reduce the amount of stress that you face in tough times.

Drop negative thinking. It doesn't serve you. Let go of negative thoughts and emotions. Learn to see problems as challenges and opportunities. If you can't figure something out at work, see it as an opportunity to improve your skills.

Instead of pondering over what’s impossible, think about what is possible - and how you can make it happen.

A better mood leads to better decisions.

2. Focus on what you can control

Too many people worry about things that are far beyond their control. It could be a debilitating illness, a disastrous storm, or an unstable job market. This kind of thinking is exhausting.

It will drain what little energy you have left - and that's why you feel like you don’t have any energy left to think positive and feel happy.  

The next time you catch yourself thinking about things that you don't have any control over, let go of them as soon as you notice it and turn your thoughts into things that you can control instead.

I can't control how my boss treats me, but I can control how many positive things I notice about my job.

The one train of thought makes you feel like a victim to circumstance. The other makes you feel like the superhero of your own destiny.

Negativity drains you.

3. Practice self-acceptance

You are almost always your own worst enemy. You need to accept yourself before you can be comfortable with who you are. You can't feel good if you don't feel good about what you are as a human being.

One of the biggest things that make us unhappy with ourselves is what we see from other people around us. If you compare yourself to others and focus on your own flaws in comparison, it will color your world in a terrible shade of negativity.

Know this: We all have flaws.

Embrace this fact to become happier with yourself. Ironically, this will also help you to accept other people for who they are as well.

Be happy with what you are - today, in this very moment. 

Find ways to be a better version of yourself instead of comparing yourself to other people.

Happiness starts with the way that you see yourself.

4. Be kind to others

This is by far one of the most common habits of happy people. It's also quick and easy to do. Doing things for others and small acts of kindness will give you more than just fuzzy feelings. There is a very real effect on your own happiness when you show kindness to others.

There’s more to kindness than just giving money to charity. Kindness includes donating your time, energy, and experience for the benefit of others. It can also include smiling to someone as you walk past them, saying thank you or helping a co-worker that seems to be struggling with something.

Along with boosting your happiness, kindness will strengthen your social connections and improve your health.

You get what you give.

5. Make your physical health a priority

Our general state of physical health is a good predictor of our personal happiness levels. This is especially true since hormones, happy hormones (dopamine, serotonin, endorphins); genetics and energy directly affect your mood.

We don’t normally take note of how big of a role our health plays on our happiness. This is mostly because we don’t pay attention when things are normal. Think about the fact that as soon as you get sick, it immediately affects your attitude, mood, and outlook very drastically. When the body ails, so does the mind.

This can range from simple headaches to chronic pain or other health issues. 

If you want to be happy, you need to take care of your health. Getting enough sleep restores your vital physical and mental functions. Eating nutritious food keeps your body and mind functioning at its best. Regular physical exercise will keep you in shape and release happy hormones (like dopamine, serotonin and endorphins) to ease depression, stop stress and enhance your mood.

The brain and the body are strongly connected.

What makes you happy? Let me know in the comments below!

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Benefits of cold exposure

Discover the health benefits of being cold

Benefits of being cold

Cold exposure is good for your health. It challenges the body to adapt and become stronger - much like exercise. A process that challenges the body and makes it stronger in the long run is called hormesis.

Examples of hormesis

There are many types of hormesis. Here are a few of them:

1. Exercise
2. Heat exposure
3. Cold exposure
4. Fasting
5. Mental challenges
6. Sun exposure

Adversity creates strength.

1. Cold exposure reduces muscle pain and speeds up recovery from exercise

Cold water immersion reduces muscle soreness when done within 24 hours after exercise. The cold acts as an anti-inflammatory agent within muscle tissue. This reduces swelling and speeds up the healing process.

Cold showers reduce muscle pain

I use cold exposure to speed up the healing of a certain muscle group if it takes too long to heal on its own. Cold exposure prevents blood from pooling in muscle tissue.

Blood pooling stops new blood with fresh nutrients from reaching the muscle and stops old blood with by-products of the healing process from circulating away to be cleansed.

Inflammation isn't always a bad thing. It is the signal that tells our muscles to grow and get better. Exercise produces the inflammation that eventually leads to an increase in muscle size and strength.

Cold therapy to speed up muscle recovery

If you need to recover as soon as possible (like from a strenuous sports event and there's another one coming up shortly), I'd recommend using cold therapy as soon as you can.

If you want to increase your fitness level, I'd recommend using cold therapy a few hours after exercise so that your body can learn to deal with inflammation on its own.

Cold therapy is also good to speed up muscle or joint recovery because of its anti-inflammatory effects.

Use cold for exercise performance.

2. Cold showers reduce depression and increase energy levels

This study investigated whether cold showers could be used as an effective treatment for depression. The results were astonishing. Depressive symptoms were reduced almost instantly and the cold showers showed no indication of dependence or addiction.

The study proposes that one of the major causes of depression is a lack of hormesis that challenges our brain and body (just like how exercise reduces depression). Cold showers challenge the brain to switch on certain areas that aren't stimulated enough with our current, comfortable lifestyles.

A 2-3 minute cold shower of 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) was done once to twice a day. This was enough to elicit the mood-enhancing effects of cold exposure.

The same study showed that cold reduced pain in the same way as pain medication (via an analgesic effect).

A short, cold shower has lasting benefits.

Cold exposure activates the sympathetic nervous system

The study showed that cold exposure (in the form of cold showers) activated the mechanisms in our bodies that cope with physical stress. These are the same mechanisms that are activated during exercise. Increased energy production throughout your body creates an energizing effect.

Hormones released through cold exposure

Cold exposure increase blood levels of beta-endorphin and noradrenaline. This leads to a mood-enhancing, euphoric and energized feeling. These hormones explain why some people claim that cold showers wake them up better than coffee.

Cold showers are better than coffee.

3. Cold therapy increases metabolism

Cold exposure can increase your metabolism by 16%. It costs energy to warm the body up or cool it down. Your body will take this energy from fat stores. The increased energy levels and activation of the sympathetic nervous system, as we have discussed in the previous point, will also increase your body's energetic burn rate.

How much weight can you lose in one cold shower?

Not much. The amount of fat that you burn in a single cold shower is minuscule. You can't sit in a cold shower until you've lost a certain amount of body fat. You will enter into hypothermia before you lose any noticeable amount of fat.

The weight loss effects of cold training are adaptive. This means that your body will burn more fat mass per cold session over time as it adapts by learning to burn more fat to create heat. The more often you take a cold shower, the more fat storage you can burn per cold shower.

The metabolism-boosting effects of cold exposure persist afterwards because of sympathetic nervous system activation and the release of endorphins and noradrenaline.

Do it regularly (like exercise).

Benefits of cold exposure

The above findings tell us that cold exposure has the following benefits:

1. Better ability to respond to stress
2. Decreased recovery time for muscles and joints
3. Prevents blood pooling from strenuous exercise
4. Better elimination of the by-products of muscle recovery
5. Anti-inflammatory: Reduce pain and swelling
6. Increased ability to turn fat into energy
7. Increased energy production
8. Better mood and a sense of euphoria
9. Protection against depression

Cold is good for you.

It seems like we have been too successful at making ourselves comfortable. Doing things that make you uncomfortable from time to time will help your body to stay strong and fit. It is okay to feel cold from time to time.

Remember to never push your body further than it can handle. You can want to strengthen your body - not break it down.

I stop my cold therapy as soon as I start to shiver. Your body will get stronger and be able to endure more cold before it shivers as you go on. Stay Strong!

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Bodybuilding Makes You Smarter

Bodybuilding actually makes you smarter. You will do better at your studies, perform better at work and have greater cognitive power if you are a bodybuilder. Taking part in the sport will increase your overall IQ over time. Here is a list of reasons why.

Why bodybuilders are smarter

The better the body, the better the brain

Our bodies are interconnected. Our physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual states are in tune and dependent on one another. A mental state cannot work without a physical state. Therefore, the healthier our physical bodies are, the better we can perform mentally. Lifters work to improve their physical states and this leads to natural, healthy mental performance. Since our bodies are healthier and stronger than normal, our brains are housed in bodies that are more physically able to provide more for our brain's needs. Having a body that is less challenging to physically sustain translates to having minds can run more freely without needing to adapt to physical demands like physical weakness and other bodily problems.

Bodybuilding increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain

Physical exercise - especially high intensity exercise - increases our body's ability to transport blood around the entire body. This benefits our brains without our realizing it. The amount of oxygen that we take in with each breath though our lungs increases. Additionally, the percentage of that oxygen that we can actually use within our bodies increases as well. This translates means into more blood-rich oxygen for the brain to use. Ever heard of the concept that the deeper we breath in, the healthier and smarter we are? There is no need to walk around taking ridiculously large breaths all of the time. Simple exercise increases our blood flow and our blood oxygen levels. 

Bodybuilding provides the escapism and mental breaks that are needed for brain health

Over training is just as dangerous for the brain as it is for our bodies. Reading is a great way to physical rest, just like how exercising is a great way to rest your head while still advancing in life. These mental breaks give your brain a chance to rest, recover and recap on its current challenges before being used again at a higher intensity. Have you ever noticed that you get great ideas while working out? The reason for this is because the refreshing break with a low-thought activity (and increased blood flow to boot) puts the brain in a powerful place where it can settle and develop. The brain is a muscle which has a mental output instead of a physical or forceful output like the other muscles. Exercise is a great way to speed up mental recovery and adaption (growth) from daily stimuli and stresses placed on it. For example, exercise is a great way to get over addiction (it is often used in rehab centers for this reason) due to its ability to re-settle the brain.

Better choices

The choices that bodybuilders make improve their brains as well, although they make these choices to primarily improve their bodies. Bodybuilders are more likely to drink less alcohol, avoid smoking and eat less junk food - all of which damages the brain. The choices that we make that enhance our bodies are almost always likely to benefit our brains at the same time.

Bodybuilding gives you a goal

Bodybuilders have a great sense of purpose because they have goals that they achieve and then set new goals to work towards. This 'sense of purpose' and 'sense of achievement' after reaching predetermined goals are highly beneficial to our mental states. Our brain positively responds to these cycles and indirectly increases our mental confidence, performance, and refreshment. Also, lack of mental goals to visualize and work towards end up dulling and aging the brain faster than it should.

Prevents mental problems before they happen

Exercise is one of the best ways to fight depression - a mental condition - and people who take part in bodybuilding for a prolonged period of time are less likely to develop negative mental conditions later in life like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, panic attacks, addiction, insomnia, paranoia, and personality disorders. Bodybuilding might be preventing you from getting an underlying mental condition that you would have experienced later on down the line if you didn't hit the gym.

Bodybuilding keeps you younger

We age as the cells in our bodies slowly lose their ability to regenerate and start to die off. Exercise slows down this process because through the challenges that exercise brings, we unknowingly reprogram our bodies to keep adapting to a stimulus and as a result our individual cells learn to regenerate at a faster pace. In the case of aging, it takes a longer time for our cells to lose their ability to regenerate. Because of this, they start dying much later than usual. It is as if they if been put under an increased demand to regrow for longer periods of time (years into old age). This is why medical aid schemes can determine your health status through an 'age test'. The younger your body appears in this test, the healthier you are. Our brains are very susceptible to aging just, like our bodies and physical appearance. Two people might be the same age, but their physical health will be different. This means that their bodies are operating as if they are older or younger than their actual age. Bodybuilders undergo exercising and dieting regimes that end up reversing the aging process. It unfortunately does not benefit us fast enough to reverse aging, but it slows it down at a great pace. This brings benefits for minds as well as our bodies and appearances. Being able to operate as if you were younger means that you could have the bright mind of and 21 year old, even though you are 60 years old. Don't believe me? Here are the studies that prove it. 

Bodybuilding relieves stress

Just like how the steam room could relieve stress placed on the body, exercise relieves mental stresses placed on us throughout the day. If these mental stresses and not relieved (like through exercise, relaxation, or social interaction), they can accumulate and lead to diminished cognitive function and even negative mental conditions mentioned above.

Bodybuilding makes you happier

Exercise releases endorphins, the brain's 'happy hormone'. Exercise also helps to eliminate stress hormones that the brain releases when under stress, much like how our muscles release lactic acid when under stress. The endorphin release is what gives you that great 'on top of the world' feeling when you leave the gym and is why some of us feel a little depressed when we don't work out for a few days. By regulating mental hormones like endorphin release and stress hormone elimination, regular exercise keeps your brain healthy and happy, allowing it to grow and develop to its best potential all the time; as well as preventing any negative stress build-up that might accumulate through time.

Higher immunity = More brain growth time

Bodybuilders generally have a higher immunity than other people and get sick less often, which is great for our brains. When we get sick, our brain development is slowed down as our bodies prioritize survival and fighting sickness instead of increasing our mental ability to respond to cognitive challenges. This is why it is harder to take in information, work, or pay attention when you are sick. The less time we are sick, the more time we have to stimulate our brains through social interaction, studies or work and the better our brains recover and grow as a response to that.

Nutrients

The same nutrients that are great for our bodies are often favourable for our brains as well. Fish, protein, complex carbs, vitamins, glutamine, fish oil and veggies which are a large part of bodybuilding diets are fantastic nutrient sources for the brain as well. Exercise increases the absorption and utility of these nutrients in the blood stream, which makes them more available for our brain just as much as these nutrients are readily available for the rest if our bodies to use.

Hormones

The hormones that are increased by regular exercise (especially compound movements) like testosterone, growth hormone and insulin are all improved. All of the hormones benefit your brain as well.

So there you have it. Bodybuilding makes you smarter! STAY STRONG

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