How do brain chemicals affect your ability to stick to your fitness resolutions?
Many of us set New Year’s fitness resolutions with every intention of seeing it through and achieving those goals. From running a marathon or doing 100 push-ups a day to stringent, rapidly fading fitness fads. When we fail, we’re often hard on ourselves, asking ourselves why we couldn’t just stick with it. Maybe the goals were unrealistic or impractical, or perhaps they weren’t our best choice.
John Hopkins scientists point to a lack of certain brain chemicals as a key player when it comes to sticking to those New Year’s fitness resolutions and developing healthier exercise habits. They posed the question: Are you more likely to drop New Year’s fitness resolutions if you lack certain brain chemicals? Let’s look at the research.
The study
In a small study published in NPG Parkinson’s Disease, researchers wanted to understand why some people find physical effort easier than others and how brain chemicals play a role. The researchers recruited 19 adults with Parkinson’s disease, which is a condition where neurons in the brain that produce dopamine die off over time, resulting in uncontrollable movements like tremors, fatigue, balance issues, and stiffness.
The participants, with an average age of 67, were asked to squeeze a hand grip with a sensor on two different days in a four-week period. On one of the days, they took their standard daily synthetic dopamine medication, and on the other, they were asked not to take their medication for 12 hours prior to performing the squeezing test. On both days, they squeezed the grip sensor at various levels of effort.
The results
When the participants took their regular dopamine medication, they had less variability in their efforts and more accurate squeezes when asked to squeeze the grip sensor at different levels. They also accurately reported their efforts. When the participants hadn’t taken their regular medication, they over-reported their efforts and perceived the task to be more physically demanding. They also had a harder time putting forth the requested amount of effort or force.
What is dopamine?
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter made in your brain that acts as a chemical messenger to communicate messages between the nerve cells in your brain and the rest of your body. Dopamine is produced by your adrenal glands, which sit on top of each of your kidneys, and also by the hypothalamus in your brain.
Dopamine is involved with numerous bodily functions, including:
Movement
Memory
Pleasure and motivation
Attention
Sleep
Mood
Learning
This neurotransmitter causes your blood vessels to relax, protects your gastrointestinal lining, and more. It’s also known as the ‘feel-good brain chemical or hormone’ that provides a sense of pleasure and motivates you to continue doing something that gives you the feeling of pleasure.
Concluding thoughts
This small study aligns with previous research showing that dopamine plays an important role in why exercise and other physical efforts feel easier for some and more exhausting and demanding to others. Your dopamine levels affect your motivation to exercise and to stick to those new year’s fitness resolutions.
The amount of dopamine available in your brain is a key factor that influences whether you’ll exercise or engage in physical activity and how accurately you assess how much effort a physical task requires. If you perceive a task will take more effort, you might be less motivated and less likely to do it. Those with higher levels of dopamine in their brains might be more likely to stick to a fitness routine because the physical exertion feels like less of a burden.
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