Stillness Ruins Your Body (It's Worse Than Doctors Tell You)

Your body starts breaking down in just 24 hours without movement. Your muscles melt, your brain shuts down, your bone dissolves, your heart weakens and your metabolism crashes. And like I said, this is all in the first 24 hours. Hello, health champions. Today we're going to talk about what happens if you don't move at all as if you're in a coma or complete bed rest. And the reason we want to understand those extreme situations is that then we can relate those to what happens to the body during normal sedentary lifestyles that most people have. With complete lack of movement, you lose 1% of your muscle mass every one to two days. And inside those muscles, there are contractile proteins called actin and myocin. And those proteins have a half-life of only five to seven days. That means every five to seven days, half of them die and we have to make new ones. However, with less movement, there is less protein synthesis. We take away the incentive to make new proteins. And the end result is that you can lose 50% of the muscle mass of the cross section of your quadriceps muscle and in your core muscles in just 30 days. But even worse than that is that the neuromuscular pathways, the signals and the timing that gives these muscles function and strength that deteriorates even faster. And the reason we have such drastic breakdown of the body without movement is that we are made to move. And the ultimate purpose of the body is to survive, but in order to survive, we need to be able to move. And that movement is regulated by the brain. So therefore, the purpose of the brain is movement. Now, a lot of people think that that statement is too strong. When we say that the highest purpose of the brain is movement, a lot of people will say, well, my highest purpose is to use the brain to think at least a little bit and at least sometimes. But the thing is that thinking is a byproduct of the brain. The brain's highest purpose is movement for survival. And then thinking is just a way of getting better at survival, like using the movement to develop different strategies. And the advanced thinking that we have developed is secondary to that. It's very nice for humans to have that ability to think, but the highest purpose is still movement. And I'm going to back that up some more. We can also say that thinking is an epiphenomenon. It sort of just happens on top of movement, on top of the other primary functions. And to really drive home the message of what the brain really does, we're going to listen to Roger Sparry, who won the Nobel Prize in physiology in 1981. He was a neuroscientist. And he said that 90% of the brain's activity is for processing the body's movement and posture in a field of gravity. And we'll come back to that. That's a lot of big important words in there. And he went on to say that movement isn't just good for the brain, it's the brain's main job. And it's not just the brain's main job, the very survival of the brain cell depends on it. So we have 40 trillion cells in the body and 100 billion out of those are brain cells or neurons. And every cell in the body has a purpose. We just don't keep them around to have a body. Every cell does something and the different types of cells do something different than other types of cells. But what they all have in common is that if you don't use them, then you lose them. And the reason is that the body is not going to keep a bunch of cells around that don't have a purpose. That's just the waste of resources. And cells turn over all the time. They they're born, they grow and they die. And why would we replace them if they don't have a purpose if we're not using them for something? So this is key to understand about all the cells in the body and especially about brain cells. So for example, muscles contract. Muscle cells have the ability to shorten. That's how we create force in the body. If we exercise, if we put tension on those muscles, then we use them and we don't lose them. We maintain them. We rebuild them. But if you hurt yourself, you put your arm in a cast. Now you're not putting tension on that muscle and the muscle starts to break down like we talked about. Now that's the purpose of a muscle. And we kind of understand that use it or lose it. But brain cells, what do they do? They process signals. So if we give them a bunch of signals to process, now they're like muscles. We put tension on them. We give them a purpose and they process a bunch of information. They process energy and we rebuild them. So just like muscles, you could have big healthy neurons and brain cells or you could have little scrawny, skinny brain cells that can't process and metabolize much. So to keep the brain healthy, we need to give it a bunch of signals to process. And how do we give it signals? Where do they come from? Well, Roger Sparrow just said that. 90% of the signals that reach the brain and that feed the brain and give the brain the juice of life comes from movement, posture and gravity, from movement and posture and relating that in a field of gravity. So if you really get this, then you understand that the brain's survival depends on it. But I'll give you some more examples to drive this home so you really get it. Let's talk about space. Most people think that the biggest problem, the biggest challenge with going into space is to bring enough food and oxygen and so forth. Actually, the biggest challenge is the lack of gravity, which leads to a massive quick deconditioning and collapse of the human health. So the people that we send out in space, they're not the atrophy, the sickly, elderly people who are about to croak, we pick astronauts who are the healthiest, the prime specimens. We run them through tests, we condition them to make sure that they're as healthy as is humanly possible. And yet, as soon as we send them into space, they can experience 20% muscle loss in a week. And they try to counteract this with all sorts of different exercise, but even though they run them through machines and strengthening for two hours a day, that cannot offset the lack of gravity, that can only slow down the loss a little bit. And because of the neuromuscular changes that we talked about, the signals and the timing that change between the brain and the cells, and also some vascular changes, when these astronauts come back very often, they can't even stand up. They have to help them off. They faint and they don't have the balance and the muscle control to even walk by themselves. And why did we talk about space? Because the lack of gravity is a huge part of the lack of signals that we are supposed to get from movement and exercise, and the lack of that leads to rapid degeneration. And for those of you who need one more example to understand how important movement is for our health and our brains and every system in the body, we're going to talk about the C-squirt. So that's a little creature in the ocean. And when it's born, it's kind of like a tadpole, like a little frog baby. It swims around and it has a very primitive, very small nervous system. They have 177 brain cells. So it's not to compare to a human nervous system, which exists extremely complex with 100 billion nerve cells. However, these 177 brain cells, it's the basic central nervous system. It gives it basic sensory and motor function, meaning it has the equivalent of an eye to detect its environment, and it has a tail with some muscles that the brain can send signals, and they can propel it forward and around. So it can detect its environment and it can move around in its environment. And that's enough for this little C-squirt to find a place to live, to find a place to settle down, to set its roots down. And once it finds that place on a rock somewhere, now it basically turns from an animal, something that can move and has a some form of brain, and it turns into a plant to something that doesn't move. And now what happens? Well, it doesn't need a brain anymore, because it's not going to ever move again. So when it doesn't need a brain, what it does do, it consumes its own brain. It uses the nutrients in that brain because it's a waste not to use it and it's never going to use it again. So I hope you can take all these examples and understand that the brain controls every aspect of you, your health, your thoughts, your focus, your balance, your digestion, and if the brain isn't working, all those things start declining and the brain is fed by movement. Now everyone watching this has heard that you should exercise and if you go on the internet and you look at the laymen articles, most of the articles written, you're going to see that you should move, you should exercise because it burns calories. And I hope you can see by now that that argument is just laughable. It's so absurd in the big scheme of things and the important of movement to focus on how many steps you have to take to burn off a cookie. Instead we want to understand that every physiological system in the body depends on movement. It's not just good for it, it depends on it. If you want it to function optimally, then you need to move. Your neurological system, your cardiovascular system, your musculoskeletal system, your endocrine system, your hormone system depends on it and even your digestive system. And these are just a few because like I said, every system depends on it. So now that we understand the connection between movement and the function in the body, the rate of degeneration, how does that relate to a normal sedentary lifestyle? Well, here's what we have to understand that it's the same process, whether in a coma or you're just sitting on the sofa, the degenerative process is the same. It's just happening at a different speed. So the extreme degeneration that can happen in 30 days of coma, that is about the same as what would happen in the 30 years if you just sort of move around like most people. And that would be the time period basically from 30 to 60 years, that degeneration because you essentially get the first 30 years for free. Your body develops just based on the genetic plan until you're about 25 years old. That's when it's your peak. And then you sort of plateau. But after 30, it starts going downhill unless you support your body and maintain it. So these degenerative changes consist of brain changes, brain degeneration, metabolic changes. We become insulin resistance, our metabolism slows down. We get chronic inflammation from these metabolic changes. So if we develop insulin resistance, part of that is basically a chronic low grade inflammation. And with that inflammation, now we get pain in the back, in our hips, in our shoulders, in our knees. So we get a loss of mobility and now we move even less and we have a smaller range of motion. So we send fewer signals. And with this lack of movement, there is less afferentation, which means less stimulation of the brain. And of course now with less signals to the brain, now there is more negative brain changes. So this cycle continues. So now a lot of people are going to say that, well, you know, I hear what you're saying, but I can't believe that it's that bad because I see most people are still kind of moving around. And when I compare myself to other people my age, then I'm doing pretty good. But what if we could do better? So how bad is it? Well, I'm not going to tell you that. I'm just going to give you something to think about. So what can a normal 60 year old do? Or what should a normal 60 year old be able to do in terms of running, walking, or climbing stairs? So first of all, can you do it? And then the question is how well can you do it? Can you do it better than a 70 year old or can you do it as well as a 30 year old? Can you still do pushups? Can you do chin ups? Can you do lunges? Do you have enough leg muscles? Those are some of the first muscles to go as we get older. And it is closely related to longevity and health. A lot of older people can't get out of a chair without using their arms anymore. So also skating, sailing, skiing, some fun hobby activities. Are you able to do those the way you want to do them? How about grocery shopping or playing with your grandkids? Being able to lift your grandkids. Have you noticed how there is more of those electric carts in the grocery stores in at Walmart every year? Have you noticed how it seems like half the parking spaces in the parking lot are for disabled people? So I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't accommodate the people who have trouble moving. But it's almost like that's becoming the norm now. We see everyone around us and it's like a badge of honor to have that disabled sign so we can park up front. So here's the thing. We need to understand that some of these things, some of the degeneration, is part of normal aging. And we cannot completely reverse aging or stop aging yet. We don't know if what's in the process that there is some people suggesting that in a few decades we may be able to do that but we can't do it just yet. So here's what we need to understand about that. Most of the changes that lead to degeneration and causes people to not be able to do these things anymore have to do with disuse. Meaning that you're not moving your body. That's the first big component. And the second big component is lifestyle. The other aspect of lifestyle, which is what we eat. And when we eat processed foods and we eat things that clog up the body and cause metabolic problems that causes inflammation. And now we get lack of mobility and we can't move and so forth. But here's why I made this video and why I talked about those extreme examples of coma and bedrass so you can understand the extreme version of it versus the slow version of it. What if when you understand this and you move better and you move more if you could take 50 years to 80. That means what if you could take care of yourself and be able to do at 80 the things that most people can do at 50 or better than they could do at 50. Because I don't believe that you should have trouble doing any of these things just because you reach a certain age, at least not before 80. So when we say movement, most people think exercise, gym, weightlifting, spin class, etc. But movement is so much. It does include the gym. It does include weightlifting and running and high-intensity interval training and all of those are good if you can do them and if you want to do them. But there's many other ways to move. We have walking, we have hiking, we have dancing for example. A lot of people hate exercising but they love dancing because now they get to move to music. So do that. But also mowing and yard work counts. It doesn't count exactly the same way because there's different benefits from different types of exercise. What we're talking about primarily is just the signaling to the brain. Now if you can get your heart rate up, there are additional benefits but at the very basic level, just get the signals going. How about taking the stairs when they're available instead of the elevator? How about doing some yoga, pilates and stretching? Even though those are kind of slow movements, more stationary, you're still activating a lot of signals because you're putting pressure on muscles and on receptors. And here's a good one. How about parking further away? Or how about not being obsessed by getting the parking place closest to the store? I see so many people sitting and waiting five minutes to get that best parking spot so that they can save themselves 30 seconds walking. And here's another one and be honest and let me know if you've done this. If you go to the gym and you wait, you fight to get that closest parking spot so you get 50 feet closer to the door so you can go inside and walk three miles on a treadmill. All right, we don't have to be extreme. Just make movement part of your daily life. Don't avoid moving. Don't avoid walking way. you have the opportunity. And now what if you can't walk? What if you've had an accident or disease or you're in a wheelchair? Then I feel for you, but here's the thing, you do what you can. If you can't do certain things, then use your imagination and try to find other things that you can do. So there are exercises, there are classes that you can do in a wheelchair, you can do wheelchair yoga. If you can't stand or walk or put pressure on your joints, you could maybe do some water exercises. You can activate the brain to some degree with breathing exercises. You can reduce stress, you can reduce inflammation simply by practicing breathing and awareness. You can go ahead and stretch your arms in every direction possible, you stretch straight up, you stretch to the side, you move them around, you stretch your hands, you move your fingers. All of these things will send signals to the brain. It's not as powerful as if you can use your whole body at the same time, but every little bit counts. And if you can, you can go ahead and move your feet and toes, even if you're sitting down. Now here's an interesting one, you can even simply visualize activity. They've done multiple studies where they have people practice throwing darts in their mind and they get better at it than the placebo group. They've had people practice piano in their mind and they get better at it than the placebo group. And they've even had people practice biceps curl in their mind and their muscles get stronger than the group that didn't do anything. A very powerful thing you can do also is to move your head and your eyes. It's a very, very complicated process because there's a bunch of different neck muscles and there's a bunch of different eye muscles. And the precision and coordination involved is incredible. So if you look straight ahead and you turn your head, then there's certain muscles moving the head one way, but the eyes have to move the opposite way by the same amount at the same rate. Otherwise, everything would get blurry. So that's an incredibly complex process that sends a bunch of signals to the brain. And then you can of course also move the head with the eyes and you can move the eyes without the head. So there are different combinations here, but just know that moving head and eyes requires a lot of signaling. And of course there are many other ways to just stimulate your senses. Get out in nature, watch the sunset, smell the roses, watch the scenery, listen to music. Everything that your nervous system processes in a different environment creates different signals. So by creating different movement and creating different signals, you can't actually start reversing the process of degeneration to some degree. So when you create these signals or create this movement, you increase the affrontation. You increase the signals and the stimulation that keeps the brain alive. So now you start creating some positive brain changes, the opposite of lack of movement or coma. And then if you also start eating better, you start eating lower inflammation, lower sugar, less processed food that doesn't trigger insulin and insulin resistance. And now you get some improved metabolic changes and then you get less inflammation in the body with less inflammation. You get better mobility. You get less aches and pains in your joints. And now you can start moving better and now you created a positive feedback cycle instead. But now I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. So we'll start with the bad news. The longer you wait, the longer it takes to reverse this process. The more degeneration you have, the harder it is to turn it around. But the good news is that it is never too late to start except tomorrow. Tomorrow is too late because tomorrow never comes. If you enjoyed this video, you're going to love that one. And if you truly want to master health by understanding how the body really works, make sure you subscribe, hit that bell and turn on all the notifications so you never miss a life-saving video.