How Exercise Prevents Dementias

 Specifically, most contemporary people’s neck muscles atrophy for lack of head movement — and muscular development is indicative of enhanced circulation that makes that development and functioning possible.

The weakness of the circulatory system is generally not the heart pumping blood out to the tissues (extremities) but in the skeletal muscles pumping the blood (fluids) back towards the heart — with alternating muscular contractions and relaxations just as the heart is effective as a pump. That is why exercise stimulates positive effects — but more particularly, they have to specifically exercise moving the head — or turning the head all the way to the right and all the way to the left — which people don’t tend to do even on an exercise bike or treadmill.

So while their hearts may go on pumping vigorously, many people’s brains will die for the lack of that proper movement (circulation) at the head — which is very indicative of the circulation to those areas. Circulation is not equal to all parts of the body but is dependent to the greater extent on the muscle contractions at the extremities of the head, hands and feet notable throughout history as the weakness of the human body.

So the paradigm of merely pumping the blood more vigorously from the heart won’t help as much as pumping the blood and fluids specifically from the extremities of the head, hands and feet — which are overlooked entirely by the exercise professionals as well as doctors and researchers — all who display this notable atrophy and deterioration at those sites — even as much as they exercise conventionally.

In order for exercise to specificaly benefit those critically important organs of the human body (cognition, grip strength, balance), the movement (contraction) has to begin at the insertions at the extremities — to improve that circulation and reduce the inflammation resulting from that accumulation and retention at those extremities, which begins with the proper understanding of the circulatory process and functioning to be most effective.

What most people fail to differentiate is that the blood vessels coming from the heart to the extremities (arteriole) are smooth and effected by the heart action (pump) — while the blood vessels from the extremities (veins) are no longer driven by the action of the heart but instead have valves that prevent backflow. Thus, the major thrust is provided by voluntary muscular action — beginning at the insertion of the muscle specifically contracted — and thus the meaningful movement in this, is the axis of rotation at the furthest extremity activated — which is minimal by those doing most conventional “cardio” exercises.

All they are doing is making the heart work harder — into the resistance produced by the blood (fluids) that are not flushed out by the voluntary muscular contractions, which is also compression — and why compression garments also have this same effect of aiding the outflow of inflammation (fluids) back towards the purifying and recycling organs of the body.

By evacuating the fluids in this fashion, one creates the space for the new blood and fluids to enter — while simply causing the heart to work infinitely harder into this resistance, merely enlarges the heart, while doing very little for producing a healthier environment to maintain health and functioning in the tissues. Movement affects circulation in this way — and not simply by increasing the heart rate measurement to sell more heart rate measuring devices and machinery.

There is no increased effort (exertion) that will not automatically (autonomically) increase the heart rate, and so is redundant — and even counterproductive if the skeletal muscles are disengaged and inactivated — as is the case in most “cardio” exercises. Note particularly the lack of head movement while one is on an exercise bike — or treadmill. The same can be said for the absence of articulation at the wrist joint, and minimal articulation at best at the ankle.

The full range movement (articulation) is what produces a full contraction and a full relaxation — just as the heart works as the primary pump of the body. But realizing that, one can make that objective the primary purpose of all one’s exercises — and not lifting weights, running faster, jumping higher, and all those high-impact activities that make it increasingly prohibitive especially to older people.

Rather, one should rethink exercise and the purpose of it to accentuate the positives and eliminate the negatives — instead of the opposite as is the “conventional wisdom.” It’s time to move into the Space Age rather than maintaining progress through the miracle of brute force.

The problem with most people’s weight-training is that they are instructed to use as heavy a weight as possible — which usually comes at the expense of the range of motion. The heavier the weight, the more one will limit the range of movement — so as to be able to “complete” the few repetitions they rationalize to compensate for the increased resistance.

Hardly anybody I’ve witnessed articulates the full range of movement — because that would mean achieving the fullest relaxation alternated with the fullest contraction. Instead, what most do to complete their few reps, is to maintain a constant contraction and achieve movement through leverage and momentum — rather than changing muscle states. Predictably, they “fail” in a few repetitions because not changing muscle states results in cardiovascular failure — as one is not breathing but working on that reserve built up resting between sets. That’s why that style of exercise is not considered aerobic — which is with breathing as the enabler.

In contrast, what is considered “aerobic” exercise, is an activity that can be sustained for a prolonged period of time. That can be achieved by lowering the muscular demands so that it does not increase the circulation through the muscles — and thus they exhibit no muscular development by enhancing those pathways typical of the cardio exercisers — and thus the additional requirement to lift weights.

The objective of beneficial exercise is to increase the circulation through the musculature and all the other organs of the body — and not just to the heart. That is well provided for by millions of years of evolutionary development — in all animals, regardless of whether they’ve heard of “aerobic exercise” and treadmills — or not. If the primary importance is placed on the full articulation of range and the accompanying contractile states, that produces flow in the doing of it.

Otherwise, the fluids stagnate, and produce the conditions of edema, lymphedema, lipedemia — which are the markers of impending disease and dysfunction.