Increasing Irisin: How the “Feel Good” Exercise Hormone Can Help Your Brain

Just discovered in 2012, irisin is exciting the science community with questions about its role in our bodies. Named after Iris, the Greek messenger to the gods, it’s called the feel good hormone, or the exercise hormone.  As reported recently in The New York Times, research with mice has shown that irisin, released during exercise, works to activate brain cell growth and may counteract the beta amyloid growth associated with Alzheimer’s disease. And while there is plenty of research showing that exercise increases bone density, new studies indicate that it may be irisin that is driving the change. This could lead to new advances in the treatment of osteoporosis.

It appears that irisin, known to be produced by muscles during exercise, is also produced in the brain. In both instances irisin starts a cascade of chemical reactions involved in metabolism throughout the body. It’s presence in the brain has been shown to counteract Alzeimer’s in mice, and to activate the conversion of “white fat” cells into the more desirable “brown fat” that regulates body temperature. For this reason, irisin is being explored as a drug therapy for obesity. Professor Mark Febbraio, Head of the Cellular and Molecular Metabolism Laboratory and Head of the Diabetes and Metabolism Division at the Garvan Institute for Medical Research, said that “There is a possibility they could make drugs that target the pathways that are activated by irisin” to produce similar affects of exercise on maintaining body weight, particularly for those who can’t exercise.

As most of the current research has not been tested on humans, there is still much to be learned about how these effects translate to keeping our bodies and brains healthy. But all the science indicates that regular exercise and increasing irisin levels offer a host of benefits: brain health, greater bone density, and producing more of the “good fat” – so what are you waiting for?

Photo credit: Wikipedia

See also: Treating Dementia with Qigong, Tai Chi, and Yoga

 

 

 


The Science Is In: Meditation Affects Aging and Telomere Length

Science is all about precision, controlled studies, and measurable, repeatable results. So for years researchers resisted working on alternative practices such as meditation, dismissing the few studies done as “fuzzy science,” “subjective,” or “impossible to duplicate.” But as research methods have advanced, so has the accuracy of the latest research. There is ample evidence now that stress leads to increased risk of health problems and that meditation reduces stress. What’s new are the studies showing how stress is related to aging and telomere length.

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Plants Use Sound Waves to Communicate With Each Other

| by Merlian News

A study published in BMC Ecology shows that plants can communicate with each other using “nano-mechanical” sound waves. They use these signals to encourage each other to grow, and to keep track of where spatially another plant may need room. The sound vibrations signal the other plant where they are and to grow accordingly.

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If Plants Are Conscious, What Happens When We Eat Them?

| by Cheryl Shainmark

Not too long ago The New York Times ran an article, Sedate a Plant, and It Seems to Lose Consciousness. Is It Conscious? The new evidence that plants have a type of “conscious,” joins a host of other research indicating that plants are intelligent, understand where they are in space, respond to threats and obstacles, and communicate with each other. We’ve known for years that plants grow faster and lusher when you play the right music or speak nicely to them, but now there is evidence that plants form memories. Does that mean they remember that you were kind to them? And what does it mean now to eat them? What, if any, are the moral or ethical implications?

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Thoughts for Today: Quantum Science, Astrophysics & Orgonomy

| by Michael Mannion

Apollo 14 Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Walter Schemp (one of the key creators of fMRI technology) and others are describing a process in nature they call the quantum hologram (QH) which has opened a new field of science, “quantum holography.” In their description, all animate and inanimate objects in nature are emitting radiation as groups of photons–which they call quantum holograms—that contain information about the life history of the objects emitting them. You can find the details of this work at the website of the Dr. Edgar Mitchell Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial and Extraordinary Encounters, www.experiencer.org.

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Merlian News Podcast With Gregg Braden

In this podcast, Gregg Braden talks with Merryn Jose about his contribution to The Mystery of 2012 — Predictions, Prophecies & Possibilities and his new book The Divine Matrix. He discusses magnetic reversal, the field, special relativity, Michelson & Morley’s experiment, how prayer can influence, the power of the heart, The Mayan calendar and what its end might mean for us in 2012 and much more ! New York Times best selling author, Gregg Braden, is renowned as a pioneer in bridging science and spirituality…He is author of The Isaiah Effect, The God Code, and The Divine Matrix. For more than twenty years Braden has searched mountain villages, remote monasteries, and forgotten texts to uncover their timeless secrets. Beyond any reasonable doubt his work shows us that we have the power to reverse disease, redefine aging, and even change reality itself, by embracing the focused power of belief and human emotion as the quantum language of change.

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Increased Hope for Alzheimer’s Patients

As the American population ages and the peak of the baby boomer generation move into their 70s, there has been a huge increase in the number of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Fortunately, there is a growing body of research into cause, early diagnosis and treatment, that shows great promise.

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Research Mapping Emotions Shows Strong Mind-Body Connection

Love makes us warm all over, and now scientists are creating body maps to prove it. A team of scientists in Finland has used a topographical self-reported method to reveal the effects that different emotional states have on bodily sensations. After five experiments and over 700 participants from Finland, Sweden and Taiwan, who reported where on their bodies they felt different emotions , the scientists discovered surprising consistencies. Their research findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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Talking to Jude Currivan, PhD, about The Cosmic Hologram.

Jude Currivan has written several books and has been a long-time friend of Merlian News. We loved her book, The Cosmic Hologram, and its empowering message about reality and our roles as co-creators. So we jumped at the chance to ask Jude how she came to write it, and why its message is so relevant for us today.

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Klaus Heinemann On Orbs & Entities

| by Hazel Courtney

‘If you change your TV channel, you switch to different frequencies, which contain different information. It’s illogical to think that what we cannot see is not real, because the human eye is able to receive only a very narrow part of the light spectrum. Many animals can see in spectrums invisible to us.’.. As Professor Heinemann summarised: ‘Research into orbs is only in its infancy. But the photographs of these spirit emanations offer evidence – as close to scientific proof as we have ever come – in proving the existence of spiritual reality.’

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