When I talk about superiority of local culture of Bharat, many friends educated under Macaulay’s clerk producing education system, doubts and mock about it.
One point I advocate and rigorously follow in my life is: Doing exercise at ground, playing real sports at ground. In mud, in soil, on real turf.
There are infinite benefits of being on ground daily.
Let me discuss one invisible benefit here.
When you spend active time with mother Earth, the real medicinal turf, you expose your body to healthy bacteria in soil.
“Friendly” bacteria Mycobacterium vaccae commonly found in soil activates brain cells to produce the brain chemical serotonin. Serotonin, also known as 5-HT (short for 5-hydroxytryptamine), is found in the gut, brain, nerves and blood of humans and other animals. There are 14 different receptors that bind to serotonin each working a different property of this highly multi-functional chemical messenger.
Apart from having a range of pharmacological actions, serotonin constricts blood vessels, sends messages between cells in the brain and within the central nervous system, regulates secretion of digestive juices, and helps to control the passage of food through the gut.
Low levels of serotonin are linked with a number of disorders including aggression, anxiety, depression,obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), bipolar disorder, irritable bowel and fibromyalgia.
So when you are on ground, you naturally de-stressed your mind. Soil and her bacteria helps you to calm down.
Can this be possible in Gym?
No. Gym is highly controlled environment. Not only devoid of soil and our friendly bacteria but any bacteria. On the other hand, Gym is full of different pathogens your fellow Gym-goers carry. Air conditioners cannot replace Air so fast that you always get healthy air. Place that can infect your body easily.
So, one more example of great glorious healthy Bharatiya life style.
Go to Akhada and/or ground! Send your kids to Akhada and/or ground. If you still go to Gym after reading this, God bless you! 😀
Reference
Soil Bacteria Work In Similar Way To Antidepressants
Researchers from Bristol University and University College London discovered using laboratory mice, that a “friendly” bacteria commonly found in soil activated brain cells to produce the brain chemical serotonin and altered the mice’s behaviour in a similar way to antidepressants.
They are suggesting this could explain why immune system imbalance could make some people vulnerable to mood disorders like depression.
Lead author, Dr Chris Lowry from Bristol University said, “These studies help us understand how the body communicates with the brain and why a healthy immune system is important for maintaining mental health“.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/66840.php
Identification of an immune-responsive mesolimbocortical serotonergic system: Potential role in regulation of emotional behavior
Abstract
Peripheral immune activation can have profound physiological and behavioral effects including induction of fever and sickness behavior. One mechanism through which immune activation or immunomodulation may affect physiology and behavior is via actions on brainstem neuromodulatory systems, such as serotonergic systems. We have found that peripheral immune activation with antigens derived from the nonpathogenic, saprophytic bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, activated a specific subset of serotonergic neurons in the interfascicular part of the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRI) of mice, as measured by quantification of c-Fos expression following intratracheal (12 h) or s.c. (6 h) administration of heat-killed, ultrasonically disrupted M. vaccae, or heat-killed, intact M. vaccae, respectively. These effects were apparent after immune activation by M. vaccae or its components but not by ovalbumin, which induces a qualitatively different immune response. The effects of immune activation were associated with increases in serotonin metabolism within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, consistent with an effect of immune activation on mesolimbocortical serotonergic systems. The effects of M. vaccae administration on serotonergic systems were temporally associated with reductions in immobility in the forced swim test, consistent with the hypothesis that the stimulation of mesolimbocortical serotonergic systems by peripheral immune activation alters stress-related emotional behavior. These findings suggest that the immune-responsive subpopulation of serotonergic neurons in the DRI is likely to play an important role in the neural mechanisms underlying regulation of the physiological and pathophysiological responses to both acute and chronic immune activation, including regulation of mood during health and disease states. Together with previous studies, these findings also raise the possibility that immune stimulation activates a functionally and anatomically distinct subset of serotonergic neurons, different from the subset of serotonergic neurons activated by anxiogenic stimuli or uncontrollable stressors. Consequently, selective activation of specific subsets of serotonergic neurons may have distinct behavioral outcomes.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306452207001510
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