What Happens To Your BRAIN If You NEVER Exercise?

Hello Health Champions. There are such  huge misconceptions about the reasons  

to exercise and the reasons to lose  weight. A lot of people still believe  

that the only reason to exercise is to lose weight,  but I'm here to tell you the real reason you want  

to exercise is that if you don't get regular  movement your brain will degenerate prematurely  

and i know that sounds like a pretty big  statement so today I want to go through some of  

the mechanisms so that you have absolutely no doubt how it works and I want to help you understand  

that it is not possible to have  optimal health without regular movement.  

Coming right up. Hey I'm Dr. Ekberg. I'm a holistic  doctor and a former Olympic decathlete and if you  

want to truly master health by understanding how  the body really works make sure you subscribe hit  

that bell and turn on all the notifications so you  never miss a life-saving video. Now for some of you  

we need to have a little serious talk because  you're doing all the right things you're eating  

low carb you're eating less frequently you're  switching from processed foods to whole food  

you're doing so much right but the one thing  that you're still not doing is exercise so I  

hope that i can bring across to you today how  important it is that it's critical exercise is  

not optional if you want to have optimum health  so hopefully after this video you'll start  

entertaining the idea of start moving a little  bit more first of all we want to talk about cause  

and effect to lay a foundation here so most  people say that obesity is the problem and I  

have countless people come into my office and they  say oh my doctor told me that my headaches would  

go away my wrinkles would go away my back pain  my knee pain my shoulder pain my blood pressure  

everything would just go away if I just lose some  weight so the general idea is that obesity causes  

these things and we have cause and effect pretty  mixed up because they find that obesity the  

obese people have more of these things  and therefore they think that obesity is  

the cause but it is not all of these things  are caused by insulin resistance so insulin  

resistance causes the obesity and insulin  resistance causes the metabolic syndrome  

that raises blood pressure causes inflammation  and arthritis type 2 diabetes high triglyceride  

so it's not that the obesity is the cause it is  that it's observed together with and then we draw  

the incorrect conclusion about cause and effect  so that's the first thing we have to understand  

now what does that have to do with exercise well  exercise is tied to these things in the sense that  

most people believe most doctors will tell you  that you just need to exercise to lose weight and  

then these things will go away and it just won't  work very well it will work fairly well if you are  

insulin sensitive if you're just overweight  because you ate too much food because you  

eat processed foods you get cravings you eat too  much bread and pasta and sugar and pizza and beer  

now you could gain a lot of weight and still  remain relatively insulin sensitive if you have  

favorable genetics or if you just haven't done  it long enough to break the carbohydrate handling  

machine then you can get pretty good results just  eat less exercise more you lose the weight and  

then unfortunately what happens is these people  think that they are being successful because  

they're doing something that would work for  everybody and they have the the moral strength  

and the fortitude and the persistence and then  they tell everyone else to do that but if you're  

insulin resistant if you have broken your machine  it is not going to work and this is where this is  

so frustrating because this is the foundation for  all the official government dietary advice from  

dietitians and doctors and so forth so if you  are insulin resistant then the exercise is not  

going to do all that much I'm not saying not to  exercise. I did a video before called how to lose  

belly fat naturally without exercise and what I  wanted to emphasize was the fact that the exercise  

might contribute 5 or 10 percent to reducing the  insulin resistance but the way you're going to  

reduce insulin resistance is to eat less sugar  less carbs less frequently and I've talked about  

that in lots of videos but the point is here that  exercise is just not going to be the main path to  

solve these problems and yet exercise is promoted  as solving these problems and most people think  

that's the only reason to exercise so if exercise  is not going to fix these problems for most people  

then why exercise and that's what we're going to  talk about in some detail today. For the purpose  

of our discussion we're going to introduce three  categories the first category is plants the second  

category is minerals that's the rocks and the soil  and the dirt everything on the planet that's not  

alive basically and the third category is animal  and you watching this today you are fitting  

into one of these categories and if you can't tell  which one then you probably don't need to watch  

any more of this video some people have a  problem with being called animals but the fact is  

that we are one of the animals on the planet  now if you notice something in the picture here  

there's something different about this human  animal it has something that the others don't  

and for those of you who are really perceptive  you can tell right away that it's the brain so  

the simplest answer to the question who needs  to exercise that answer is those who have brains  

need to exercise. Why do we even have a brain? Well  the answer seems so simple but the one that first  

comes to mind is probably not the right one we've  been conditioned to think that the brain thinks  

just because the human brain is so much better  than other animals at thinking we believe that's  

its primary purpose but that's not even close  to the big picture. What is the difference  

between you and a bunch of amoebas in a pond you  have 40 trillion cells in your body and there  

could very well be 40 trillion amoebas swimming  around in a pond now they are very similar to  

your cellular structure you have a cell membrane  you have different components in your cell but the  

difference between you and them is that you are  one organism you have a unifying principle called  

your nervous system the nervous system allows your  cells to be aware of each other the amoebas can't  

do that and because they're aware of each other  they can have a common purpose and a common goal  

so the purpose of a brain is to coordinate  the function between those cells to allow the  

cells to do what they need to do under different  circumstances and create balance or homeostasis  

the second purpose is to coordinate movement  because now that you have a common purpose  

you need to be able to move around and do things  toward that common goal. A rock is not alive and  

it doesn't move so it doesn't need a brain a plant  is alive but it doesn't move it has no place to go  

so it doesn't need a brain and a nervous  system to guide it so as you know by now  

humans animals are alive and we move and we need  to move about and that is the purpose of a brain  

so things that don't have cells that work together  they don't need brains this brings us to one of my  

favorite creatures of all time because this is  such a powerful illustration meet the sea squirt  

this is an interesting life form it starts  out life as an egg and that typically means  

it would be like an animal like a bird or a fish  or something and this turns into a tadpole like  

a frog and this tadpole has a primitive nervous  system it has about 177 neurons brain cells it  

has a spinal cord it has a sensory organ like an  eye it can detect its environment it can interact  

and respond to its environment and it has a tail  and it can move it can perform a whipping motion  

so it has every property of a tadpole of an  animal but it only has these things so that it  

can move about and find one place to call home and  once it selects that perfect place that it calls  

home then it settles down and it never moves  again so what happens it essentially becomes a  

plant and as soon as it went from being an animal  to a plant then it stops moving and it doesn't  

need a brain anymore so that's just precious  resources it used resources to build a nervous  

system now it doesn't need it so it gets rid of  the brain it eats its brain or reabsorbs its brain  

because those resources can be used better now  that it doesn't move the next incredibly powerful  

principle is use it or lose it we all know about  this we've heard it but what does it really mean  

well if you have a muscle and you work it  out you put some strain some tension on  

that muscle it performs work and then that  body is gonna create some growth the stress  

sends signals that says hey we gotta get better  at this because he might do it again tomorrow so  

then we want to be prepared and have a big strong  muscle so we can perform that work again well  

then let's say you do that and then you injure  yourself you fall off your bike or you fall down  

the stairs and you break your arm you put it in  a cast and now it sits in a cast for six weeks  

now that muscle gets involuntary rest and it  hardly moves at all and now your muscle starts  

degenerating protein has a half-life protein wears  out and if you have growth then it's going to  

rebuild itself but if it breaks down and you're  not stimulating it it's not going to rebuild  

the missing pieces and now you start a process  called atrophy which is breakdown degeneration  

so now instead you end up with a skinny little  muscle and you've all seen this either on yourself  

or someone you know they take the cast off and it  looks like the arm is gone it's just like the bone  

is left there and we're all kind  of familiar with that principle but  

most people don't understand that also happens  to the brain maybe even faster normally when  

you move an arm that movement sends a signal to  the brain and the job of the brain is to process  

that signal and control the arm but when you put  the arm in a cast then there are no more signals  

so that brain doesn't get stimulated and just  like the muscle that doesn't get stimulated  

it starts to atrophy and in the brain this  leads to brain shrinkage and I kid you not  

that once you put that arm in a cast and you  stop sending the signals those signals are  

supposed to go to a very specific area  in the brain corresponding to that arm  

and now that area in the brain starts degenerating  You literally will get a soft spot a less healthy  

tissue area in your brain. How are the signals in  the body generated and what does that have to do  

with exercise? Any time that you have movement or  stretch of the body there are various receptors  

there are mechanoreceptors there are Golgi tendon  organs there's muscle spindle cells and all of  

these have different functions in letting the  brain know what's happening touch for example  

light touch we have pressure anytime that you  have a light touch you activate a receptor when  

you have pressure you create some deformity of the  tissue you send signals when you have skin stretch  

whenever you move there is skin stretching and  that lets the brain know what's going on but most  

of the information comes from joint motion when  the joint is moving you have mechanoreceptors that  

tells the brain the angle and position of that  joint and that body part and that is how the brain  

knows where your body parts are that's called  proprioception because if you think about it  

the brain has no eyes the brain doesn't know  anything about where your body parts are except  

what it's being told through this kind of  information and this is most of the signals  

that reach the brain we also have golgi tendon  organs and this is where the muscle connects to  

a tendon and the tendon inserts to a bone the  muscle is actually strong enough to rip that  

tendon straight off the bone so there needs  to be a sensor there needs to be a brake

that tells the brain how much tension there is  so that it can slow the muscle down before it  

causes injury and part of proprioception  and the brain knowing where things are  

is the muscle spindles that tell the brain how  the muscles are changing in length so all of this  

is incredibly important information and  this is most of what the brain does signals  

keep the brain alive now that you understand  use it or lose it let's expand just a little bit  

on that and i'm going to repeat some things but  sometimes we miss the really simple stuff because  

we think it's too simple oh i heard that but when  we hear it again now we really start to get it  

really start to own it the purpose of the brain  is to process signals that's why we have it it's  

to coordinate the signals and the function between  the cells 90% of these signals come from movement  

movement generates these signals and these signals  keep the brain alive they're generally mostly from  

the spine that the majority of these come from  movement but most of that is movement of the spine  

that's because the spine has a lot of moving parts  and the spine has a higher receptor density than  

any other part of the body and the spine is like  the foundation it's the platform from which all  

other body parts work the shoulder can only  be stabilized after the spine is stable and  

same thing with the head and all other extremities  really so when you walk and when you run and when  

you stretch you are always moving the spine even  breathing creates a little bit of spine movement  

if you're relaxed and you have a full breath  when you're doing it chiropractic is a way to  

unlock certain areas of the spine if your  spine is stuck then it doesn't help if you  

walk or run or stretch because those signals are  still not going to be generated so chiropractic  

frees up some movement that helps create a  normal pattern of stimulation to the brain  

yoga is primarily about spine flexibility that  most of the stretches are somehow related to the  

muscles that make a spine flexible and same thing  with pilates and core these are all excellent  

exercises because they're all about making  more signals around the spine more signals  

for the brain so think of movement and signals  as the juice that keeps the brain alive  

what about people in coma well there's  not much movement there there are very few  

signals generated and as a result there is brain  degeneration now what follows from that is often  

muscle contractures that can lead to permanent  deformities when the brain degenerates  

it loses its ability to inhibit so the brain turns  things on and it turns things off so in order to  

set the proper muscle tone it has to both turn it  on and off pretty much continuously at the same  

time and part of that is inhibition but when  the brain degenerates it loses the ability to  

inhibit more so and therefore muscles start to  tighten up and we can get permanent deformities  

as a result so what do they do they perform  physical therapy if you're fortunate enough  

to be in a place where they can sort of afford  to do that then they can perform physical therapy  

for hours every day just passively moving  body parts because even passively you generate  

brain signals you keep that brain alive and  you're minimizing these deformities so that  

if this person is fortunate enough to wake up then  they have a healthier brain and a much healthier  

body than if they hadn't moved moving their body  parts around then basically keeps their brains  

from dying now what kind of exercise do you need  to do to get a certain benefit and i've done lots  

of videos so i encourage you to look closer at  those to learn more about the details but so far  

today we talked all about brain activation use it  or lose it and that is by far the biggest reason  

to exercise but there are other benefits and one  is blood circulation because blood circulation  

it provides drainage it brings nutrients to the  tissues and it brings waste products from the  

tissue so if you can increase that circulation  you're going to increase the distribution of both  

nutrients and waste which helps in detox so  blood circulation is tremendously important  

for detox and for proper elimination of waste in  the body now we have this weird modern notion that  

we have to have a gym membership that you have to  go someplace you have to do a special activity you  

have to suffer you have to produce blood sweat and  tears otherwise it doesn't count and that's not  

what this is about at all it's about moving your  body through space against a field of gravity and  

in doing so you generate signals to stimulate  brain so yard work is great walking biking hiking  

things that you can do for a long period of time  with lots of repetition and movement those are  

great swimming you can do tennis and golf and  these are just examples I'm not saying these are  

better than anything else they're just examples  do something you enjoy because if you like it you  

feel good and that's better for your brain than  if you don't like it and you're not feeling good  

but there's one more benefit and that's hormones  so if you have been a couch potato for a number  

of years or a few decades then you probably have  some brain degeneration and if you want to reverse  

that then you want to do a little bit more than  just these these are great they're beneficial but  

they're not going to produce the intensity that  challenges your body to make growth hormone and  

bdnf brain derived neurotrophic factor so what are  these things these are hormones that allows you  

to make new brain cells even a few years ago they  still didn't know that you could make new brain  

cells they thought that you get a certain number  and then as you went through life you got fewer  

and fewer and fewer and that's why you aged today  they know you can make new brain cells and even  

more importantly you can reshape your brain called  neuroplasticity you can make new synapses you can  

make new connections you can rewire your brain  you can learn new things you can expand certain  

areas right all of that is because of hormones  this is like Miracle Grow for your brain  

you cannot make synapses you cannot rewire without  these and you pretty much make these hormones in  

proportion to the intensity of the exercise so  these things are great for the first two points  

but they're not intense enough to provoke to  scare your body into getting better so this is  

where we have weights sprints and high intensity  interval training you got to push your body you  

have to challenge it so that it has a reason to  get better and the good news though is you don't  

need to do a lot of this you could do this in 10  minutes a week or 10 minutes a day twice a week  

something like that it doesn't take a tremendous  amount of time but it needs to be intense if you  

enjoyed this video and you'd like to learn more  about how this miraculous body of hours work  

that video would be perfect for you next thank  you so much for watching i'll see you next time