Sublime

Research using animals has shown that an elevated level of brainderived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is a protective brain hormone increased by such activities as calorie reduction, fasting, and mental and physical exercise, imparts a high level of protection for the hippocampus, making it resistant to damage from elevated cortisol; and we now

The changes the pregnant brain undergoes have been underestimated, Hoekzema told me, “as hormones and their impact often are, and thought of as something akin to an extreme menstrual period, while this is of course on a completely different scale.” It is likely the most drastic endocrine event in human life. But people think of new motherhood as ma

Stress can change the body at a cellular level.

Richardson et al. (1999) identified the lumbar multifidus and the TVA as the key stabilizers of the lumbar spine. Both muscles link in with the thoracolumbar fascia to provide what Richardson et al. refer to as “a natural, deep muscle corset to protect the back from injury.”

“Black and Indigenous people don’t experience post-traumatic stress disorder. We experience persistent and pervasive traumatic stress. It’s ongoing,” Resmaa says. “White body supremacy weathers and erodes the brain architecture. It weathers the endocrine system. It weathers the musculoskeletal system. It weathers the reproductive system. It is the

One such protective measure includes activating heat shock proteins, or HSPs. As their name implies, heat is the primary variable to get HSPs going, although these proteins are also activated by exercise and cold temperatures.

Another substance that affects your brain (and muscles) has the very unsexy name mammalian target of rapamycin, which is why it usually goes by mTOR.