快猫短视频

IT IS early morning, and I鈥檓 finding it difficult to settle down to write. I
look through my files, and make a few phone calls. Perhaps coffee and toast
would be a good idea. I remember I have some shopping to do.

Writers everywhere will recognise the symptoms of the eighth deadly
sin鈥攑rocrastination. I鈥檓 anxious about how to start this piece, and I
don鈥檛 yet feel quite awake. The combination is disastrous, says psychologist
Robert Thayer. He diagnoses my condition as 鈥渢ense-tiredness鈥�. It is, he
reckons, the worst possible mood state.

Luckily, Thayer has a remedy. He is professor of psychology at California
State University at Long Beach, and he has built his reputation on the study of
moods. The best way to improve my mood, he advises, is to raise my energy
levels. He recommends I 鈥済o take a walk鈥�.

The obvious mood-enhancers鈥攃affeine, food, cigarettes, alcohol and
shopping鈥攑rovide only a short-term buzz, Thayer explains. They leave you
feeling worse later on鈥攅specially when you get the post-shopping credit
card bill. According to his research, even socialising, listening to music or
reading a book are only moderately cheering.

A 10-minute walk, on the other hand, can boost energy and act as a kind of
tranquilliser at the same time, he claims. By walking briskly, in a relaxed
style, you can shift gear. You move out of 鈥渢ense-tiredness鈥� into the ideal
鈥渃alm-energy鈥濃�攁 sort of Instant Zen.

Understand the origins of your moods, he says, and you can learn to manage
them effectively. In Thayer鈥檚 view, maximising energy and minimising tension is
the goal, and exercise does the trick. Try it and see. After you鈥檝e been sitting
for an hour or so, rate your energy level on a scale of 1 to 10. Then take that
brief, brisk walk. Now rate your energy level again. Has it improved? Repeat the
experiment, rating your overall mood before and after the walk.

The funny thing is, it seems to work, at least when I鈥檓 only mildly
disgruntled. Why? How can exercise produce such rapid and reliable results,
changing your mood immediately? Thayer鈥檚 answer is that any sort of movement
that engages the larger skeletal-muscular system increases your general bodily
arousal. And the immediate manifestation of that arousal, he says, is a feeling
of increased energy lasting for up to two hours.

Movement can reduce tension too, he reckons. Tense, nervous people pace about
or tap their fingers to relieve muscles tensed as part of a primitive muscular
鈥渇reeze鈥� response to danger. When someone is worried about something, a small
amount of exercise can feel good, he argues.

For today鈥檚 sedentary citizens, the beauty of Thayer鈥檚 ideas is that even a
little exercise can do you good. You don鈥檛 need to be physically fit to reap the
psychological payoff. Unlike the physiological benefits to heart, lungs, bones
and muscle鈥攚hich sadly accrue only to those who exercise long, hard and
often enough to build up aerobic fitness鈥攖here doesn鈥檛 seem to be a
鈥渄ose-response relationship鈥� to exercise and mood. 鈥淢ore exercise isn鈥檛 better,
psychologically speaking,鈥� explains Frank Eves, who lectures in applied
psychology in the sport and exercise sciences department at the University of
Birmingham.

And, Eves concludes, 鈥渓ittle bursts of 10 minutes are certainly a much more
realistic option for sedentary people鈥� than 30 minutes on the trot, and might
prove cheering to boot.

Health clubs are already starting to promote exercise as an alternative to
pep pills or tranquillisers. But there may be an even better selling point just
around the corner. Ever since Plato, 鈥渕ental鈥� activities have been valued above
the merely 鈥減hysical鈥�. But what if movement were to be accorded its proper
status as a key accomplishment of the central nervous system? What if action
could be shown to enhance the life of the mind?

I鈥檓 convinced there鈥檚 something in this. Now if I could just cut down on the
walks and get back to my desk to write鈥�