Research into the nervous system has revealed something unexpected: using your leg muscles appears to be important for a healthy brain and nervous system.
What did the research show?
Read that again…? Researchers at the University of Milan, including Raffaella Adami, restricted the movement of mice's hind legs for 28 days. The mice could still use their front legs, and they ate and groomed themselves normally. Yet the number of neural stem cells, the cells from which new nerve cells develop, fell by 70% compared with mice that could move around freely. Adami et al. According to the researchers, your legs, especially during exercises in which they carry your weight, send signals to the brain that are important for producing healthy nerve cells. ScienceDaily
What does that mean for us?
All right, one more time. If you use your legs little, the body may find it harder to produce new nerve cells. And you need a healthy brain and nervous system to deal with stress and cope with the challenges in your life. One caveat does belong here: this research was done in mice, and it shows a link with the production of nerve cells, not directly with resilience or work engagement in people. But it does fit into a growing pile of research showing how strongly body and brain are connected.
Why should this keep you up at night?
Why repeat this three times? Because hardly anyone thinks of strong legs when it comes to creativity, resilience or work engagement. We think of inspiring leadership, good coaching and flow. Strength training seems to have nothing to do with it. Strong legs are handy for skating, running or skiing. But important for your brain, and therefore for engaged employees? That is so surprising that you easily read past it.
Yet the link makes sense. Vigor, bursting with energy and feeling strong and fit, is one of the three characteristics of work engagement. UBES manual
The head in the leading role
From an evolutionary point of view, it makes sense that the strength of our legs determined how well we survived. But in our sedentary world, in which our head has taken the leading role, we have forgotten the importance of strong leg muscles. Our survival no longer depends on them. Or so it seems. Research like this shows that we may be completely wrong in that assumption.
As normal as brushing your teeth
Strong leg muscles, and strong muscles in general, belong at the top of the agenda. Strength training should be as normal as brushing your teeth. Not the last item in your personal or company budget, but a fixed part of it. It is no coincidence that the Health Council of the Netherlands advises adults to do muscle- and bone-strengthening activities at least twice a week. Sport en bewegen in cijfers
Strong legs give you wings
Fortunately, strength training for your legs doesn't have to take hours. You can do squats, lunges or stair climbing without changing or showering, between two meetings. So do it. Because strong legs give you wings.
You will find more ideas in 8 tips to move enough in a desk job.
About this article: written by Sofie Vendel-van Veen and updated by the editors of Alles over bevlogenheid.
