DANCE WITH ENDORPHINS - What exercise does for the brain

Why DANCE WITH ENDORPHINS?  Because exercise has a profound effect on our happiness.  It helps ease anxiety and depression, improves sleep, boost energy, increases creativity, sharpens the memory, reduces cognitive decline and more. 

I know this for certain -I ALWAYS FEEL BETTER AFTER I EXERCISE.  The other day I was feeling blue, dealing with the loneliness of working from home.  I need to be around people and yet I work alone. It's easy to spiral downward.   I had a meeting with myself and decided to do the very last thing I wanted to do -  shake, shake it off.  A class of body pump pushes the nasty out of my head, although I need to find a hot tub because my massive muscles get sore!

 

What triggers happiness in our brain when we exercise?

There's a connection to our brain with our mood, and exercising stimulates feeling better. Bufferapp says when you start exercising, your brain recognizes this as a moment of stress. So as your heart pressure increases, the brain thinks you are either fighting the enemy or fleeing from it. To protect you, your brain releases a protein called BDNF  (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor). This boosts your memory neurons and acts as a reset switch. 

That's why we often feel so at ease and things seem more clear after exercising.  At the same time, endorphins are released, which block the feeling and pain in exchange for euphoria -- making you feel happy! 

So there you have it.  Get your happy on by shaking your groove thing!

Cyndy, The Whoopie Queen  

Hugs,

Cyndy, The Whoopie Queen 

WHAT HAVE YOU FUN LATELY?

What have you FUN lately?  According to the CDC, 1 in 10 American adults report depression.  While children laugh 300 to 400 times in a day, adults laugh only 15 times. "The opposite of play is not work, it is depression."  Brian Sutton-Smith, Founder, National Institute for Play.   It is like we have forgotten to have fun. 

My grandfather, Robert Buddy Cecil, who just passed away to the great-recliner-in-a bass-boat-in-the-sky, was a master at the art of joyful merriment.  Even though he was born in one of the poorest places in America, Harlan County... Even though he was one of 17 siblings and was abandoned as a boy... Even though he was part of the Normandy Invasion in WWII and saw more death than anyone should ever have to see...   Even though all of those things happened to him, he was a man who could have been bitter but he never was.  He was awarded over 10 medals for his heroism in WWII.  He went on to work at GM and built a life with four sons, a 71 year marriage with my grandma "Helen Bessie", and he retired on a lake where he caught more bass than his big belly could hold.  More than anything, that papaw of mine was a character and was always telling jokes and stories.  He was jolly because he chose to be.  Being at his funeral last weekend made me realize how extremely lucky I am to have learned from him about how to be a funmaker!

How did he do it?  How does anyone do it?  How do you make whoopie fun when you feel life cheated you, you're stuck or tired or bored or not so happy?  There is a theory that motion creates emotion.  It's a choice. Joyfulness is unconditional commitment to be happy in the moment and to have fun despite life’s problems. Joyfulness is easily triggered by joyful activities like laughing, dancing, singing and playing. It is purely a physical phenomenon.  You FEEL it.   Happiness is a concept of the mind which can come or go.   However, having more fun in life, you will FEEL like life is more fun.  You have to make it to feel it.

I can help.  My Whoopie Queen Facebook page has something that will make you laugh every day.  https://www.facebook.com/WhoopieQueen  Follow me on the Twitter for ideas on making more fun in life - https://twitter.com/WhoopieQueen.   Watch my tour show in September.  Here's a sneak peak - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKxsK7-KwnI 

Private parties, corporate events, speaking engagments, here I come.  And, I'm planning a seminar on how to have more fun and less stress in life called Make Your Own Whoopie In The World.  

The Whoopie Hotline is 917)714-0694 or email me at cyndy@whoopiequeen.com.

Now go out there and make your own whoopie in the world,
Cyndy The Whoopie Queen