Great Health Part 7

Improving Your Metabolic Health.

Great health requires resilience in the following 4 domains:
1.  Physical
2.  Social
3.  Mental
4.  Emotional

How can mental and emotional resilience be increased?
What is the evidence that mental and emotional resilience matters?

First, the second question explored through a story about a recent experiment.  English soldiers were divided into two groups.  Both groups performed high intensity interval exercise on exercise bicycles to increase physical resilience and aerobic capacity.  One of the groups added computer assisted brain training to also increase mental resilience.
After 6 weeks, both groups achieved identical levels of increased aerobic capacity.
On an exercise to exhaustion test, the exercise only group pedaled 42% longer and the brain trained group pedaled 115% longer.  Identical peak aerobic capacity gains but vastly different endurance and resilience.  Training the brain increased mental (and likely emotional) resilience.  The work or play to exhaustion duration should be increased by combining HIIE and brain training.

The HIIE and BRAIN TRAINING NEXUS is as interesting as the DIET and EXERCISE NEXUS for promoting health and resilience.
Both are elegantly simple and economical.
Both increase BDNF or brain derived neurotrophic factor also known as the memory chemical.   BDNF is also an apparent metabolic turbocharger engaging when needed during high energy demands or low energy supply conditions. (HIIE, Brain training high energy mental processing and intermittent fasting)

Emotional resilience is directly explored through a story about another recent experiment.  Elderly depressed patients with cognitive slowing were randomized to receive either of two treatments; computer assisted brain training OR antidepressant medication.  The brain training resolved both the cognitive slowing and depression within 4 weeks while the antidepressant medication resolved both the cognitive slowing and depression at 12 weeks.  Therefore, brain training was superior in treating emotional or affective illness achieving remission in 4 weeks instead of 12 weeks.

Depression is associated with low energy low BDNF.  Emotional resilience is associated with high energy high BDNF.  Therefore metabolically healthy promoting activities increase BDNF, that acts in the brain and in the body.  Healthy brain, healthy body.

Secondly, the long version of how is answered in the first post of my blog, Livermanlearningtolearn.blogs

PRESCRIPTION for increasing MENTAL and EMOTIONAL resilience.

Positscience.com or BrainHQ.com

Train for 20 minutes regularly until completing 40 hours or achieving 90 percentile brain speed score.