Brain Science with Bella: Brain Training

As we begin to return to the gym, there may be some hesitation, along with fear of having fallen behind. The past several weeks have not been ideal for keeping up with our fitness goals. However, now more than ever, we must channel our what motivates us each day and get back to it. It will look different for everyone, and that’s OK! I figured understanding how motivation works in our brains might help us better control our stress and create clear goals.

Neurotransmitters in our brains send chemical messages to keep us alert and on task. They play out in the brain and affect the movements our bodies carry out. However, it is not simple: there are different paths neurotransmitters can take, including what I will refer to as the ‘reward’ pathway and the ‘risk’ pathway. The primary neurotransmitter involved in motivation is Dopamine. When your brain recognizes something important is about to happen, dopamine kicks in and either works to achieve or to avoid the task at hand. When Dopamine is working to achieve- this is what we consider feeling motivated (Dopamine took the reward pathway). On the other hand, when Dopamine is working to avoid, this is stress or lack of motivation (risk pathway).

So basically, Dopamine is released in response to what is about to happen, either motivating us or stressing us out/creating a fear response. We must train our brains to focus on the reward of a task rather than the ‘bad parts’ of the task to tap into our motivation! Maybe you didn’t deadlift what you wanted to in your first workout back, but focus on the fact that you moved your body, and you are one step closer to getting back on track. We are so used to letting our feelings control us, but we often don’t realize we can have complete control over our perceptions of every situation if we can train our brains…