The Joy of Movement: How exercise helps us find happiness, hope, connection, and courage

when they move together in ritual, prayer, or work.

exercise is an acquired pleasure. The joys of an activity reveal themselves slowly as the body and brain adapt.

These mice are born to run not because they have the right bodies, but because they have the right brains. The original super-runners hadn’t inherited an increased capacity to do the work of exercise; they had inherited an increased capacity to enjoy

musicologists describe music as ergogenic, or work-enhancing. Throughout history and across cultures, music has been used to make labor less difficult and more rewarding.

Other experiments in the U.S. and the UK have forced moderately active adults to become sedentary for a period of time, only to watch their well-being wither.

And yet collectively cared-for green spaces are especially effective at giving rise to supportive networks. A 2017 analysis of urban community gardens in cities as far-flung as Zagreb, Croatia, Flint, Michigan, and Melbourne, Australia, found that green spaces build social capital.

2017 essay, Norwegian ethicist Sigmund Loland posed the question: If it becomes possible, should we replace exercise with a pill? Scientists are already trying to manufacture medicines that mimic the health benefits of exercise.

As neuroscientist Daniel Wolpert writes, “The entire purpose of the human brain is to produce movement. Movement is the only way we have of interacting with the world.” This is why our biology includes so many ways to reward moving. At the most fundamental level, rewarding movement is how your brain and body encourage you to participate in life. If

Neuroscientists describe endocannabinoids as the “don’t worry, be happy” chemical, which gives us our first clue about what exactly an exercise high does to your brain. Areas of the brain that regulate the stress response, including the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, are rich in receptors for endocannabinoids. When endocannabinoid molecules lock i