Hi everyone,
I’m sorry that I am sending this a day later this week. I was traveling & didn’t have internet. Also, welcome to the 100+ readers who joined last week. We now have readers from 15+ countries worldwide. 😊
In this email, I will talk about hope molecules. The idea is simple: when you contract your muscles, for example via exercise, your muscles release these chemicals (aka hope molecules) that go to your brain and:
a. reduce fear, stress, anxiety, & sadness, and
b. increase hope, motivation, & resilience
I will try to explain the mechanism simply as possible. If you want a more detailed version, read the scientific papers here or here.
Scientists didn’t know until this decade that our muscles are endocrine organs, organs that release chemicals into your bloodstream that affect every system of your body.
When you contract your muscles (for example jogging or lifting weights), they release chemicals that can greatly affect your physical & mental health.
Among these chemicals are myokines, aka “hope molecules”. These proteins travel to the brain and can act as an antidepressant.
In the short term, these molecules give spread hope to all parts of our body. They increase motivation & optimism. They reduce fear, stress, & anxiety.
In general, they improve our mood, our learning ability, and our ability to move.
In the long term, they change our brain structure such that they protect the brain from the negative effects of aging & make us more resilient to negative emotions.
They can also improve metabolism, reduce inflammation, improve emotional regulation, and increase muscle strength.
The underlying cellular mechanisms are complex. But the basics are simple. Our brains and bodies perform better with exercise, and more exercise makes us less anxious and depressed.
The largest synthesis study on the effect of exercise on major depressive disorder and symptoms showed moderate to large positive effects of exercise on reducing depression.
I hope you found this useful & that this motivated you to exercise regularly, even if it’s for short amounts of time. The only way so far to produce these hope molecules is to contract our muscles. Then, it has been proven to change your life.
Stay healthy,
Seeam
You can watch this explained on YouTube by Dr. Kelly McGonigal, author of the book “The Joy of Movement”.