Discovering What Motivates Your Brain
Humans are neither the fastest nor the strongest species. We have no wings, claws or armour. Humans evolved to spend extended periods of physical exertion, sometimes known as exercise. However, while many people enjoy exercise, they are in the minority. So, even though we’ve evolved to do so, why don’t more people like exercise?
The mysterious complexity of the human brain is to blame. Evolving an ability does not necessarily imply that we will wish to use it. While physical activity isn’t necessarily harmful, it’s usually unpleasant and uncomfortable. It has to be; you are pushing your body to its physical limitations, which causes severe discomfort; those limits exist for a purpose.
Your Brain’s Response To Exercise
According to research, the brain possesses specific circuits inside the insula cortex that calculate the effort necessary for acts, asking “Is it worth it?”
It’s an evolved inclination that prevents us from waste critical resources on meaningless activities, such as walking 20 miles for a handful of berries. However, regular exercise to get ‘in shape’ involves consistent and significant effort, all for modest growth and unclear benefits.
As a result, your brain’s predisposition to wonder, “Is it worth it?” will be difficult to overcome. So we pick the road of least resistance, keep to routines, and stay in our comfort zones.
To keep us safe, our brains normally prioritise dangers over benefits, making us even less likely to engage in physically demanding activities.
Fortunately, the human brain is a terrifyingly sophisticated apparatus with a few tricks up its metaphorical sleeve. Most obviously, it is not governed by its more fundamental, immediate instincts and desires. Human minds can generate numerous long-term objectives and ambitions. We’re rarely content with merely day-to-day survival: we may envision an ideal future scenario, figure out how we’d attain it, and… do just that. Or at least work towards it.
This has a direct impact on how our brain perceives motivation and willpower in a variety of interesting ways. For one thing, it enables us to practise delayed gratification: we may identify that rejecting a reward now may result in a larger benefit later on, and behave appropriately.
This is where we presume the world is fair, leading us to believe – as studies have proved – that any hardship will inevitably result in rewards later. “No pain, no gain,” as the adage goes.
Tricking Your Brain Into Exercising
Our brain also enjoys items that appear to be designed specifically for us. A recent study found that athletes who believed they had gotten a personalised training plan outscored those who thought they were following a generic one.
Personal trainers are an obvious method to take advantage of this notion. Alternatively, you can utilise an app where coaches take your fitness numbers (for example, the biggest load you can lift) and create a strength-training programme tailored to you.
Experts suggest to flip the exercise order — starting with the hardest section after a full warm-up and gradually lessening the intensity — so you leave with the best possible recollection. This reverse-slope strategy not only boosts enjoyment immediately following a workout, but also enhances how we perceive exercise up to a week later.
Habits can become hardwired into the brain. So connect your exercise to a “anchor habit,” something you do every day. Try combining your workout with an activity you enjoy, such as watching the current season of your favourite programme or listening to a fun playlist.
Conclusion: How does the brain get motivated?
Therefore, how can the brain handle all of these varied motivations? The self-discrepancy theory proposes that we have three ‘selves’ operating in our minds at any given time: our ‘actual’ self, our ‘ideal’ self, and our ‘ought’ self. Your ‘real’ self is your present state, or how you are right now. Your ‘ideal’ self is who you desire to be. And your ‘ought’ self is the one who goes through the necessary steps to achieve your ‘ideal’ self.
Hence, if your ‘ideal’ self is a professional swimmer but your ‘real’ self is not, your ‘supposed’ self is the one that devotes a significant amount of time to training, exercising, and improving at the sport.
That is just one framework for understanding how motivation works in the context of physical exercise. Other major concerns are time limits, body image, and mobility.
However, there are systems in your brain that inhibit activity while also encouraging it. Ideally, you’ll place more emphasis on the latter than the former. Moving weights is a popular sort of exercise, so it’s a good place to start.
