Journal Entry: 6/16/10: Weight = 173.8 lbs; Coinage = $.26.Feature Entry: Hey Neuroscience, Can You Help Me With My Depression?
With continuing nightmares of Katrina, now the oil blow-out in the gulf, the bad economy, a seemingly irresolvable Arizona border, and a sinking 401, is it any wonder that the MoneyWalker is in the ravages of depression.
But the cause is not any of those things. This morning, inexplicably the scales indicated a gain of 2 lbs and the walk coinage was an 18 month low—26 cents. Now those are causes for depression!
San Francisco neuroscientist Puterman, Lin, Blackburn, O’Donovan, Adler, and Epe have completed a study that suggest that vigorous physical exercise helps reduce the health related negative effects of chronic stress. They found that sedentary women between the age of 54 and 82 considered to be chronically psychologically stressed and that failed to exercise regularly developed DNA degeneration that is thought to lead to cardiovascular disease. In contrast, a matched group of chronically stressed women that exercised according to the CDC guidelines (75 minutes of exercise per week) did not experience DNA degeneration.
The authors concluded that, “Vigorous physical activity appears to protect those experiencing high stress by buffering its relationship with TL.” (TL is the abbreviation for telomere length. Telomeres are sections of DNA at the end of chromosomes. Without exercise the TLs were shorter and deformed in comparison with the exercise group.)
Whew, just knowing all that walking is providing a healthy buffer for my chronic stress so as to prevent cardiovascular disease and other life-style diseases helps the MoneyWalker to feel a whole lot better.
The MoneyWalker
Journal Entry: 6-15-10: Weight = 171.6 lbs; Coinage = $1.27
Journal Entry: 6-14-10: Weight = 171.2 lbs; Coinage = $1.97
Great post Dr. Eason! The people of the Gulf region need all the help they can get on buffering stress. If I was leading the CDC I would provide you with a large research grant to recruit subjects for a study of the protective effects of walking on depression risk in those affected by the oil spill.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the meager coin day. A few weeks ago on my neighborhood dog walk I scored $1.05 (8 dimes, 2 nickels and 15 pennies) on in one spot in the street. My first thought was the Money Walker would be proud.