Physiological reasons exercise is such a powerful anti-dote to tiredness
October 8, 2020 6:42 AM Subscribe
I really can’t stand the tiredness induced by city driving. It’s a horrible type of tiredness which seems to linger.
But here is the thing. If I do 40 minutes of vigourous cycling on an exercise bike preceding a 2 hour stint of driving in heavy traffic, my feeling of tiredness is reduced about 90 per cent. (It has to be vigourous, a 5 mile walk the day before does not seem to cut it). It’s amazing. What are physiological reasons for this?
But here is the thing. If I do 40 minutes of vigourous cycling on an exercise bike preceding a 2 hour stint of driving in heavy traffic, my feeling of tiredness is reduced about 90 per cent. (It has to be vigourous, a 5 mile walk the day before does not seem to cut it). It’s amazing. What are physiological reasons for this?
Best answer: Fatigue is caused by metabolites. You sleep when the brain needs to get those metabolites cleaned out. Your brain cells shrink which allows for the circulation to remove them. Similarly your circulatory system gets full of stuff that needs cleaning out. You can either sleep to give them a chance to get cleaned out, or you can improve your circulation so that your system runs just enough faster to get things moving.
So by getting your car warmed up it runs smoother, and by doing warm ups before exercise you run smoother and by doing exercise before something stressful you don't have to rapidly adjust from a resting state to a high performance state. You start with a lower level of cortisol, and with your body well oxygenated.
posted by Jane the Brown at 8:44 AM on October 8, 2020 [4 favorites]
So by getting your car warmed up it runs smoother, and by doing warm ups before exercise you run smoother and by doing exercise before something stressful you don't have to rapidly adjust from a resting state to a high performance state. You start with a lower level of cortisol, and with your body well oxygenated.
posted by Jane the Brown at 8:44 AM on October 8, 2020 [4 favorites]
Something I saw in a study about why people get the nods in conference room meetings: if you're an anxiety breath-holder, you can actually oxygen-deprive yourself to the point that your body will want to sleep to preserve critical operations. If you've just had a good round of exercise, you'll be well-oxygenated and have good circulation, plus those endorphins which will reduce your anxiety while driving.
Also, my body's favorite flavor of fight-or-flight is sleep - I'll start to nod off in the middle of a fight, during tornado warnings, once while I was in the middle of being laid off. Definitely done it in traffic, especially if I was already stressed. If you are that type of person, that could be a factor as well.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:03 AM on October 8, 2020
Also, my body's favorite flavor of fight-or-flight is sleep - I'll start to nod off in the middle of a fight, during tornado warnings, once while I was in the middle of being laid off. Definitely done it in traffic, especially if I was already stressed. If you are that type of person, that could be a factor as well.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:03 AM on October 8, 2020
You might find the book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John Ratey interesting. From the description:
In SPARK, John J. Ratey, M.D., embarks upon a fascinating and entertaining journey through the mind-body connection, presenting startling research to prove that exercise is truly our best defense against everything from depression to ADD to addiction to aggression to menopause to Alzheimer's. Filled with amazing case studies (such as the revolutionary fitness program in Naperville, Illinois, which has put this school district of 19,000 kids first in the world of science test scores), SPARK is the first book to explore comprehensively the connection between exercise and the brain. It will change forever the way you think about your morning run---or, for that matter, simply the way you thinkposted by Lexica at 10:02 AM on October 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks for the great responses.
I am going to order Spark - it seems a fascinating book. I always knew physical exercise was important for the brain. But from reading a preview of this book, I can see that physical activity is much more closely intertwined with brain activity that I previously thought.
posted by jacobean at 12:31 PM on October 13, 2020
I am going to order Spark - it seems a fascinating book. I always knew physical exercise was important for the brain. But from reading a preview of this book, I can see that physical activity is much more closely intertwined with brain activity that I previously thought.
posted by jacobean at 12:31 PM on October 13, 2020
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posted by kevinbelt at 7:02 AM on October 8, 2020 [8 favorites]