Born To Move, Part II
This is a multi-part series exploring the fundamental idea of human movement. See previous post(s) to reference prior discussion. Posts can be read independently, but will build upon each other.
I’d like to take a closer look at this fundamental idea that humans respond favorably to stress, particularly when it comes to a physical force exerted on the body. This concept is central to physical exercise, and understanding it more deeply will help you when exercise becomes either mundane or difficult.
The structure of muscle, broken down
Muscle responds in a similar way to bone (see Wolff’s Law), with hypertrophy (muscle growth) occurring after a physical stress has been placed on it. Your muscle is made up of fibers, which is made up of cells that break down during a bout of exercise. As we place this stress on the body, the response isn’t just to disintegrate and deteriorate. Rather, with proper rest and nutrition, the cells grow back stronger than before. Even before this step, the number of neuromuscular connections (motor unit recruitment) increases, allowing you to fire that muscle with more coordination and strength than you could previously. It’s actually quite remarkable.
This scientific truth is integral to physical training, and I’d argue fundamental to understanding ourselves and why we need to physically challenge ourselves for our overall health.
This looks something like:
You —> Stress/Physical Force —> Adaptation —> Different (usually stronger) You
It’s really that simple. By nature, human beings are outwardly seeking. You can think of us as “information foragers”. We have a deep drive to go out and seek, and physical movement is the primary means of our seeking. Our ancient ancestors - the earliest humans - relied on this outward seeking as a means for survival. Those who physically adapted to the stress were naturally selected to pass these genes on. As a result, this seeking is embedded in our dopaminergic feedback system. A bout of exercise hits us with a dopamine boost, among other neurotransmitters like serotonin and endorphins, which strengthens this feedback loop even more.
Once created, the bond and habit of exercise can be as strong as a sugar, drug, or alcohol addiction in some people.
Do me a favor. The next time you are in the gym, take a step back. Look around you. People are walking around (seemingly quite randomly, but hopefully with a plan), picking things up, pushing things overhead, running, cycling, shuffling, jumping and exerting force. Constant movement. Truly like hamsters in a wheel. I don’t say this to belittle the gym experience, but to prove my overall point.
We are naturally exploratory creatures with a drive for movement.
Lastly, our deep brain systems, like dopamine and serotonin feedback loops, are quite old. And I mean VERY old. One might think that because they are so old, they are archaic, outdated and can be overridden by our higher brain that developed much later. However, I’d argue the opposite.
These systems go back as far 350 million years. That’s older than trees.
We know this because scientists have studied creatures that are that old and alive today, like lobsters, who have a marked serotonin response when competing in their dominance hierarchy. There is a reason these feedback loops have survived millions of years, across species, made their way to humans and have stuck with us today. Our deep brain is smart - if we listen to it, it might just be telling us something worthwhile.
Like, we were Born to Move
