Muscle & Mental Health
- Jul 25
- 2 min read
Muscle goes beyond strength and can mean a lot of different things. Metaphorically, it can mean being ok with taking up more space. For a lot of people, often those who are marginalized for whatever reason and especially those who are neurodivergent, are told, intimidated, or made to stay small, be little, or take up less space. This is to remind you to take up whatever space you need, be big, go bold…you are not too much.
For everyone, muscle, approaching movement, can mean addressing both your body and your brain and at the same time. Skeletal muscle is an actual endocrine organ and when you contract muscle, myokines, proteins that are released, which in turn stimulate BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which effectively improves cognitive function. BDNF is responsible for neuroplasticity, your ability to adapt, develop skills and strengths, and both form and consolidate memories as well as ways in which to approach thoughts along with stagnant and less productive belief systems. When BDNF is low, depression, anxiety, cognitive decline and worsening PTSD can occur. Movement, lifting heavy, and overall strength training not only affect your physique but they all positively affect your mental health. See this article for more:
Other activity such as jumping wakes up and stimulates muscle, tendon, and joint proprioceptors that help your brain determine your body’s coordination, motor control, and planning in space creating a sense of safety when engaged in appropriate ways and environments. And when your brain feels safe, executive functioning and cognition improves. Jumping also stimulates the body to adapt to ground forces on the body using that same proprioceptive input to increase bone density. If you are mid-life, and a female at increased risk of osteopenia and osteoporosis, this translates to longevity and physical safety where the remodeling seen from jumping can directly affect density. See this article for more: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24460005/
Bottom line…movement affects your mental health, and a combination of movement helps develop both physical longevity as well as cognitive health and sense of safety.
