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hi everyone my name's natasha and
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welcome back to the myprotein youtube
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channel on this video we are talking
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about some of the scientific reasons why
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exercise helps us to feel better
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so exercise is powerful it does make us
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feel good wouldn't you agree uh-huh but
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how does it impact our brain function
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and our mood so the whole feeling better
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we can break that down into physically
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feeling better as well as mentally
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feeling better so let's talk about the
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brain when we exercise evidence has
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shown this particular increase in
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activity is all of these neural
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connections that are stimulated after
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exercise in particular we're talking
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about our prefrontal cortex so that's
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that lobe right at the front here now
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that's involved in memory and emotion
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we're also talking about the hippocampus
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so that sits back a little bit deeper in
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the brain and stimulating emotion
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mood and memory recall in fact
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scientific studies have shown that
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exercise actually stimulates growth of
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now these two lobes of the brain are
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extremely important for exercise
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modulation now when we exercise we get
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an absolutely huge burst of hormone
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and importantly the release of
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now these transmitters are the ones that
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are going to go up to the brain and
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stimulate all of these connections with
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those key areas that modulate mood
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they're quite important for helping
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recovery of our cardiopulmonary system
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so the heart our lungs but you know an
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important important fact they actually
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suppress stress hormones now consider
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why after we exercise we get these
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feelings of joy recently there's been
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quite a lot of talk about
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now this is a cell signaling molecule
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that can actually cross the blood brain
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barrier so research is considering how
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much this stimulates those key areas of
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our brain which influence how we feel so
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as we exercise we do get an increase in
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these endocannabinoids and that's quite
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key because they will signal some of our
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further reduce the impact of stress
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other aspects to feeling better after we
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exercise the other thing about exercise
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is we actually stimulate our reward
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centers you've set a goal you've
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achieved the goal you've exercised
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and actually that feedback loop does
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make you feel good and this is why
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tracking your progress sometimes photos
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videos measures is fantastic exercise is
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transformative the increase in oxygen
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uptake that we get when exercising is
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key for ourselves for our function and
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we get that through so many different
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pathways it doesn't matter whether you
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walk into the gym by yourself or whether
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you're training online there is this
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sense of community as you exercise and
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we as humans we love building
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relationships those relationships are
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the key things that target the
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prefrontal cortex they target
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memories they make us feel good when
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they make us feel good they also help us
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with our attention span so the process
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of completing an exercise and as i said
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setting those goals and seeing that
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going through a process again builds on
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our feedback loop as we get release of
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these neurotransmitters and hormones
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we are in fact increasing our awareness
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our perception our risk assessment as we
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which in turn helps us with our own
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attention we find that when we exercise
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we might be able to focus in on a task a
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little bit more can you think of a time
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when you've exercised and all of a
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sudden you've had this burst of energy
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that lasts for the rest of the day you
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skip down the road rethinking the memory
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of that workout has left you in a good
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mood that's certainly the case for me
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and that's why i continue to work out
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and that's why you should probably
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challenge yourself to do a little bit
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each day and continue with the fantastic
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fitness journey that you're on so we
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have touched on some of the scientific
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reasons as to why exercise makes us feel
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better there are more
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there are definitely more but the take
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home message here is that it can help
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do exercise challenge yourself and feel
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that change i've been natasha thank you
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for watching if you have any questions
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please drop them in the comments and
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other than that remember to like and
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subscribe to the my protein channel
