Laws of Motion

Get moving. How exercise—and "mere" movement—uphold body and mind.

By Hara Estroff Marano, published on September 01, 2007 - last reviewed on November 09, 2007

Name: Maren Connary

Profession: Global Marketing Strategist

Maren Connary is more mover than shaker, although in overseeing marketing for an arm of a major health-care firm, she is both. When she's not globe-trotting or commuting to work, she's likely to be outdoors, running or engaging in her favorite activity: in-line skating. Pleasure doesn't even begin to capture what Connary finds in this form of motion. Sure, it's exercise, something she's enjoyed from an early age, and which she feels she can't live without—but it's also tension relief, meditation, release from gravity, expressive medium, and a channel for cheekiness. "I love the challenge of powering uphill—beating the beast; it's almost more fun than going down. I especially love passing people going uphill on the big wheels of bicycles." A morning person, Connary can be found at dawn in one of New York's two great parks—Central or Prospect—flying through the cool ground air before it has mixed with the warming layer above. "I can smell the water and the trees. I am in a meditative state and all the insanity of the city melts away." Her "guilty pleasure" is skating in the streets—joining a swarm of 20 to 80 others for weekly night skates through the city.

Find a Therapist

Search for a mental health professional near you.

Find Local:

A Short Round of Moderate Exercise Curbs Cravings

Five-Minute Cure

A short bout of moderate exercise—say, a walk around the block—may be all that's needed to help smokers resist the urge to light up. Acting on the mood centers of the brain, exercise reduces cravings and boosts the ability to manage withdrawal symptoms. Researchers say that a drug with the same effects would be hailed as a breakthrough.

Thanks for the Memories

Exercise strengthens memory by stimulating growth of new nerve cells in the dentate gyrus, a part of the hippocampus where age-related memory decline normally occurs.

Swing Shifts

The reason you can't perfect your golf swing—or plan any movement precisely the same way twice—lies not in your muscles but in your brain. The need to improvise and react anew is built into neurons in the premotor cortex, which is responsible for movement planning.

Healthy Hearts

Exactly how aerobic exercise protects the heart, and thus the mind, has long been a mystery. But Columbia University researchers have now shown that moderate and high-intensity exercise decreases inflammation throughout the body, reducing the risk of fatty buildup in arteries, the trigger for most heart attacks.

Smooth Operations

Want your kid to pitch for the Yankees? Hand-eye coordination is particularly advanced in toddlers whose mothers consumed fish-oil supplements during pregnancy. Language comprehension, phrase length, and vocabulary are also greater in tots whose moms consumed omega-3s.

AntiCancer Action

Thirty minutes of exercise three to four times a week fends off many types of cancer. Physically active women have a 40 percent reduced risk of developing breast cancer; physical activity cuts the risk of prostate cancer 10 to 30 percent in males.

A Shot in the Arm

Bicep curls, anyone? A short muscle-building workout before getting a flu shot gives the immune system a boost. The acute stress of exercise such as lowering a heavy weight causes a local inflammatory reaction that revs up antibody production, improving the response to immunization.

Keeping It Up

The best treatment for erectile dysfunction may be general physical exercise. Maintaining physical activity abets blood flow to the heart and other organs, preventing cardiovascular disease and preserving erectile function.

Fuel Efficiency

If you want to burn off fat, your best bet is mild exercise that focuses on a discrete mass of muscles. When exercise becomes more intense and whole-body, metabolism shifts, burning more carbohydrates to meet the demands of the muscle.

Sources: