The Joy of Movement Read online

  “I know I’m in freedom when I move”: Quote appears as part of a case study in Rebecca Y. Concepcion and Vicki Ebbeck, “Examining the Physical Activity Experiences of Survivors of Domestic Violence in Relation to Self-Views.” Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 27, no. 2 (2005): 197–211.

  In 1976, marathon runner Ian Thompson: Valerie Andrews, “The Joy of Jogging,” New York 10, no. 1 (1976): 61. Accessed via: https://books.google.com/books?id=mYQpAQAAIAAJ.

  the conditioned rush that scientists call the pleasure gloss: J. Wayne Aldridge and Kent C. Berridge, “Neural Coding of Pleasure: Rose-Tinted Glasses of the Ventral Pallidum.” In M. L. Kringelbach and K. C. Berridge, eds., Pleasures of the Brain (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 62–73.

  Psychiatrist Benjamin Kissin noted: Benjamin Kissin, “The Disease Concept of Alcoholism.” In R. G. Smart et al., Research Advances in Alcohol and Drug Problems (New York: Plenum Press, 1983), 93–126. Example cited on 113.

  Chronic drug use also lowers: Nora D. Volkow, George F. Koob, and A. Thomas McLellan, “Neurobiologic Advances from the Brain Disease Model of Addiction.” New England Journal of Medicine 374, no. 4 (2016): 363–71.

  the dark side of addiction: George F. Koob and Michel Le Moal, “Plasticity of Reward Neurocircuitry and the ‘Dark Side’ of Drug Addiction.” Nature Neuroscience 8, no. 11 (2005): 1442–44; George F. Koob and Michel Le Moal, “Addiction and the Brain Antireward System.” Annual Review of Psychology 59 (2008): 29–53.

  exercise leads to higher circulating levels: Christopher M. Olsen, “Natural Rewards, Neuroplasticity, and Non-Drug Addictions.” Neuropharmacology 61, no. 7 (2011): 1109–22; Lisa S. Robison et al., “Exercise Reduces Dopamine D1R and Increases D2R in Rats: Implications for Addiction.” Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 50, no. 8 (2018): 1596–1602.

  In both animal and human studies: For some examples, see Maciej S. Buchowski et al., “Aerobic Exercise Training Reduces Cannabis Craving and Use in Non-Treatment Seeking Cannabis-Dependent Adults.” PLOS ONE 6, no. 3 (2011): e17465; Dongshi Wang et al., “Aerobic Exercise Training Ameliorates Craving and Inhibitory Control in Methamphetamine Dependencies: A Randomized Controlled Trial and Event-Related Potential Study.” Psychology of Sport and Exercise 30 (2017): 82–90; Maryam Alizadeh, Mahdi Zahedi-Khorasani, and Hossein Miladi-Gorji, “Treadmill Exercise Attenuates the Severity of Physical Dependence, Anxiety, Depressive-Like Behavior and Voluntary Morphine Consumption in Morphine Withdrawn Rats Receiving Methadone Maintenance Treatment.” Neuroscience Letters 681 (2018): 73–77; Dongshi Wang et al., “Impact of Physical Exercise on Substance Use Disorders: A Meta-Analysis.” PLOS ONE 9, no. 10 (2014): e110728.

  adults in treatment for methamphetamine abuse: Chelsea L. Robertson et al., “Effect of Exercise Training on Striatal Dopamine D2/D3 Receptors in Methamphetamine Users During Behavioral Treatment.” Neuropsychopharmacology 41, no. 6 (2016): 1629–36.

  Over time, deep brain stimulation: Thomas E. Schlaepfer et al., “Rapid Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation for Treatment-Resistant Major Depression.” Biological Psychiatry 73, no. 12 (2013): 1204–12; Manoj P. Dandekar et al., “Increased Dopamine Receptor Expression and Anti-Depressant Response Following Deep Brain Stimulation of the Medial Forebrain Bundle.” Journal of Affective Disorders 217 (2017): 80–88.

  A meta-analysis of twenty-five randomized clinical trials: Felipe B. Schuch et al., “Exercise as a Treatment for Depression: A Meta-Analysis Adjusting for Publication Bias.” Journal of Psychiatric Research 77 (2016): 42–51.

  Another review of thirteen studies: Gioia Mura et al., “Exercise as an Add-On Strategy for the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder: A Systematic Review.” CNS Spectrums 19, no. 6 (2014): 496–508.

  This loss leads to less enjoyment: Linh C. Dang et al., “Reduced Effects of Age on Dopamine D2 Receptor Levels in Physically Active Adults.” NeuroImage 148 (2017): 123–29.

  a selective breeding experiment with mice: Justin S. Rhodes and Petra Majdak, “Physical Activity and Reward: The Role of Dopamine.” In Panteleimon Ekkekakis, ed., Routledge Handbook of Physical Activity and Mental Health (New York: Routledge, 2013).

  as the human species evolved, we developed a shared genome: Ayland C. Letsinger et al., “Alleles Associated with Physical Activity Levels Are Estimated to Be Older Than Anatomically Modern Humans.” PloS ONE 14, no. 4 (2019): e0216155.

  Maybe everything we know about how movement affects the human brain: For an interesting discussion of how our ancestors’ need to be active led to the modern neuroprotective benefits of exercise, see David A. Raichlen and Gene E. Alexander, “Adaptive Capacity: An Evolutionary Neuroscience Model Linking Exercise, Cognition, and Brain Health.” Trends in Neurosciences 40, no. 7 (2017): 408–21.

  50 percent of the variability in physical activity: Xueying Zhang and John R. Speakman, “Genetic Factors Associated with Human Physical Activity: Are Your Genes Too Tight to Prevent You Exercising?” Endocrinology (2019): https://doi.org/10.1210/en.2018-00873; J. Timothy Lightfoot et al., “Biological/Genetic Regulation of Physical Activity Level: Consensus from GenBioPAC.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 50, no. 4 (2018): 863–73.

  heritability estimates drop: Nienke M. Schutte et al., “Heritability of the Affective Response to Exercise and Its Correlation to Exercise Behavior.” Psychology of Sport and Exercise 31 (2017): 139–48.

  recent large-scale genome-wide association studies: For examples, see Yann C. Klimentidis et al., “Genome-Wide Association Study of Habitual Physical Activity in Over 377,000 UK Biobank Participants Identifies Multiple Variants Including CADM2 and APOE.” International Journal of Obesity 42 (2018): 1161–76; Xiaochen Lin et al., “Genetic Determinants for Leisure-Time Physical Activity.” Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 50, no. 8 (2018): 1620–28; Aiden Doherty et al., “GWAS Identifies 14 Loci for Device-Measured Physical Activity and Sleep Duration.” Nature communications 9, no. 1 (2018): 5257.

  Scientists have identified several strands of DNA, on multiple genes: For examples, see Marcus K. Taylor et al., “A Genetic Risk Factor for Major Depression and Suicidal Ideation Is Mitigated by Physical Activity.” Psychiatry Research 249 (2017): 304–6; Helmuth Haslacher et al., “Physical Exercise Counteracts Genetic Susceptibility to Depression.” Neuropsychobiology 71, no. 3 (2015): 168–75; Dharani Keyan and Richard A. Bryant, “Acute Exercise-Induced Enhancement of Fear Inhibition Is Moderated by BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism.” Translational Psychiatry 9, no. 1 (2019): 131.

  physical activity immediately decreases anxiety: Matthew P. Herring, Mats Hallgren, and Mark J. Campbell, “Acute Exercise Effects on Worry, State Anxiety, and Feelings of Energy and Fatigue Among Young Women with Probable Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Pilot Study.” Psychology of Sport and Exercise 33 (2017): 31–36; Matthew P. Herring et al., “Acute Exercise Effects Among Young Adults with Subclinical Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Replication and Expansion.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 50, no. 5S (2018): 249–50; Serge Brand et al., “Acute Bouts of Exercising Improved Mood, Rumination and Social Interaction in Inpatients with Mental Disorders.” Frontiers in Psychology 9 (2018): 249.

  this effect becomes even more pronounced: K. M. Lucibello, J. Parker, and J. J. Heisz, “Examining a Training Effect on the State Anxiety Response to an Acute Bout of Exercise in Low and High Anxious Individuals.” Journal of Affective Disorders 247 (2019): 29–35.

  A 2017 meta-analysis of exercise interventions: Brendon Stubbs et al., “An Examination of the Anxiolytic Effects of Exercise for People with Anxiety and Stress-Related Disorders: A Meta-Analysis.” Psychiatry Research 249 (2017): 102–8.

  it also targets regions of the brain that regulate anxiety: Julie A. Morgan, Frances Corrigan, and Bernhard T. Baune, “Effects of Physical Exercise on Central Nervous System Functions: A Review of Brain Region Specific Adaptations.” Journal of Molecular Psychiatry 3, no. 1 (2015): 3.

  I
n laboratory studies with rats: N. R. Sciolino et al., “Galanin Mediates Features of Neural and Behavioral Stress Resilience Afforded by Exercise.” Neuropharmacology 89 (2015): 255–64.

  In humans, exercising three times a week: Karl-Jürgen Bär et al., “Hippocampal-Brainstem Connectivity Associated with Vagal Modulation After an Intense Exercise Intervention in Healthy Men.” Frontiers in Neuroscience 10 (2016): 145.

  research even suggests that lactate: Nabil Karnib et al., “Lactate Is an Antidepressant That Mediates Resilience to Stress by Modulating the Hippocampal Levels and Activity of Histone Deacetylases.” Neuropsychopharmacology (2019): 10.1038/s41386-019-0313-z; Patrizia Proia et al., “Lactate as a Metabolite and a Regulator in the Central Nervous System.” International Journal of Molecular Sciences 17, no. 9 (2016): 1450.

  In a laboratory experiment at the University of Wisconsin: Justin S. Rhodes, Theodore Garland Jr., and Stephen C. Gammie, “Patterns of Brain Activity Associated with Variation in Voluntary Wheel-Running Behavior.” Behavioral Neuroscience 117, no. 6 (2003): 1243–56.

  When heartbroken young adults: Helen E. Fisher et al., “Reward, Addiction, and Emotion Regulation Systems Associated with Rejection in Love.” Journal of Neurophysiology 104, no. 1 (2010): 51–60.

  When a mother gazes at her baby: Shir Atzil et al., “Dopamine in the Medial Amygdala Network Mediates Human Bonding.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 114, no. 9 (2017): 2361–66.

  The scent of her infant’s skin: Johan N. Lundström et al., “Maternal Status Regulates Cortical Responses to the Body Odor of Newborns.” Frontiers in Psychology 4 (2013): 597.

  One of my favorite headlines: Sophie Haslett, “‘I could just eat you up!’ The scientific reason behind a mother’s desire to nuzzle, nibble or EVEN gobble her baby revealed . . . and don’t worry—it’s perfectly natural.” Daily Mail Australia, April 6, 2016. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3525665/Why-science-says-mother-s-wish-eat-baby-entirely-natural.html.

  One research paper described missing: James P. Burkett and Larry J. Young, “The Behavioral, Anatomical and Pharmacological Parallels Between Social Attachment, Love and Addiction.” Psychopharmacology 224, no. 1 (2012): 1–26.

  The same brain responses that scientists compare: Bianca P. Acevedo, “Neural Correlates of Human Attachment: Evidence from fMRI Studies of Adult Pair-Bonding.” In Vivian Zayas and Cindy Hazan, eds., Bases of Adult Attachment (New York: Springer, 2015), 185–94.

  The burst of dopamine in a mother’s brain: Atzil et al., “Dopamine in the Medial Amygdala Network Mediates Human Bonding.”

  In long-term happily married couples: Bianca P. Acevedo et al., “Neural Correlates of Long-Term Intense Romantic Love.” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 7, no. 2 (2012): 145–59.

  And when a widow or widower: Mary-Frances O’Connor et al., “Craving Love? Enduring Grief Activates Brain’s Reward Center.” Neuroimage 42, no. 2 (2008): 969–72.

  the more the parents describe their babies: Pilyoung Kim et al., “The Plasticity of Human Maternal Brain: Longitudinal Changes in Brain Anatomy During the Early Postpartum Period.” Behavioral Neuroscience 124, no. 5 (2010): 695; Pilyoung Kim et al., “Neural Plasticity in Fathers of Human Infants.” Social Neuroscience 9, no. 5 (2014): 522–35.

  Chapter 3: Collective Joy

  Durkheim coined the term collective effervescence: Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (1912), English translation by Joseph Ward Swain, 1915 (New York: The Free Press, 1965).

  what modern researchers refer to as collective joy: The term collective joy was proposed by Barbara Ehrenreich in Barbara Ehrenreich, Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy (New York: Henry Holt, 2007). See also Edith Turner, Communitas: The Anthropology of Collective Joy (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).

  “As the dancer loses himself in the dance”: A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, The Andaman Islanders (1st British ed., 1922; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1933). Quote appears on p. 252. Accessed at https://archive.org/details/TheAndamanIslandersAStudyInSocialAnthropology.

  Tarr ran an experiment: Bronwyn Tarr et al., “Synchrony and Exertion During Dance Independently Raise Pain Threshold and Encourage Social Bonding.” Biology Letters 11, no. 10 (2015): doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2015.076720150767.

  in a series of silent discos: Bronwyn Tarr, Jacques Launay, and Robin I. M. Dunbar, “Silent Disco: Dancing in Synchrony Leads to Elevated Pain Thresholds and Social Closeness.” Evolution and Human Behavior 37, no. 5 (2016): 343–49.

  collective joy is driven in part by endorphins: Bronwyn Tarr et al., “Naltrexone Blocks Endorphins Released When Dancing in Synchrony.” Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology 3, no. 3 (2017): 241–54.

  strangers who practiced yoga together: Ronald Fischer et al., “How Do Rituals Affect Cooperation? An Experimental Field Study Comparing Nine Ritual Types.” Human Nature 24, no. 2 (2013): 115–25.

  your brain interprets the other bodies: Stephanie Cacioppo et al., “You Are in Sync with Me: Neural Correlates of Interpersonal Synchrony with a Partner.” Neuroscience 277 (2014): 842–58.

  the kinaesthetics of togetherness: Tommi Himberg et al., “Coordinated Interpersonal Behaviour in Collective Dance Improvisation: The Aesthetics of Kinaesthetic Togetherness.” Behavioral Sciences (Basel) 8, no. 2 (2018): 23.

  that individual’s sense of personal space transfers: I learned this fascinating fact from Anil Ananthaswamy, The Man Who Wasn’t There: Tales from the Edge of the Self (New York: Penguin, 2016).

  In March 2016, CrossFit gym owner Brandon Bergeron: Emily Lavin, “Community Effort Helps Grass Valley CrossFit Find New Home.” The Union, July 14, 2016; https://www.theunion.com/news/business/community-effort-helps-grass-valley-crossfit-find-new-home/.

  synchronized movement . . . encourages us to share and help: Miriam Rennung and Anja S. Göritz, “Prosocial Consequences of Interpersonal Synchrony: A Meta-Analysis.” Zeitschrift für Psychologie 224, no. 3 (2016): 168–89; Reneeta Mogan, Ronald Fischer, and Joseph A. Bulbulia, “To Be in Synchrony or Not? A Meta-Analysis of Synchrony’s Effects on Behavior, Perception, Cognition and Affect.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 72 (2017): 13–20; Paul Reddish et al., “Collective Synchrony Increases Prosociality Towards Non-Performers and Outgroup Members.” British Journal of Social Psychology 55, no. 4 (2016): 722–38.

  Even babies show this effect: Laura K. Cirelli, “How Interpersonal Synchrony Facilitates Early Prosocial Behavior.” Current Opinion in Psychology 20 (2018): 35–39.

  We humans have our own forms of social grooming: Robin I. M. Dunbar, “The Anatomy of Friendship.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 22, no. 1 (2018): 32–51.

  group forms of social grooming make it possible: Cole Robertson et al., “Rapid Partner Switching May Facilitate Increased Broadcast Group Size in Dance Compared with Conversation Groups.” Ethology 123, no. 10 (2017): 736–47.

  Across cultures, most people’s social networks: Dunbar, “The Anatomy of Friendship.”

  fellows at Harvard Divinity School, observed CrossFit communities: Mark Oppenheimer, “When Some Turn to Church, Others Go to CrossFit.” New York Times, November 27, 2015; Angie Thurston on “Boutique Fitness Craze,” On Point radio broadcast, January 6, 2016; http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2016/01/07/soulcycle-devotion-explanation.

  the Jogging over a Distance app: Florian “Floyd” Mueller et al., “Jogging over a Distance: The Influence of Design in Parallel Exertion Games.” In Proceedings of the 5th ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on Video Games, Los Angeles, CA, July 25–29, 2010, 63–68.

  the world’s first robotic jogging companion: Florian “Floyd” Mueller et al., “13 Game Lenses for Designing Diverse Interactive Jogging Systems.” In Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, ACM, 2017, 43–56.

  Tarr has recently replicated her dance experiments in virtual reality: Bro
nwyn Tarr, Mel Slater, and Emma Cohen, “Synchrony and Social Connection in Immersive Virtual Reality.” Scientific Reports 8, no. 1 (2018): 3693.

  When William H. McNeill was drafted: William H. McNeill, Keeping Together in Time: Dance and Drill in Human History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995). Quotes from pp. 1–2. Additional details about his basic training are from William McNeill, The Pursuit of Truth: A Historian’s Memoir (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2005), 45–46.

  Psychologists call this sense of empowerment: Elisabeth Pacherie, “The Phenomenology of Joint Action: Self-Agency Versus Joint Agency.” In Axel Seemann, ed., Joint Attention: New Developments in Psychology, Philosophy of Mind, and Social Neuroscience (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012), 343–89.

  The Aztecs, Spartans, and Zulus all used: William H. McNeill, The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A.D. 1000 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982).

  humans might have developed synchronized movement as a defense: Joachim Richter and Roya Ostovar, “‘It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got That Swing’—an Alternative Concept for Understanding the Evolution of Dance and Music in Human Beings.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 10 (2016): 485.

  Many species deploy strategies: Charlotte Duranton and Florence Gaunet, “Behavioural Synchronization from an Ethological Perspective: Overview of Its Adaptive Value.” Adaptive Behavior 24, no. 3 (2016): 181–91; Valeria Senigaglia et al., “The Role of Synchronized Swimming as Affiliative and Anti-Predatory Behavior in Long-Finned Pilot Whales.” Behavioural Processes 91, no. 1 (2012): 8–14.

  When participants heard synchronized steps: Daniel M. T. Fessler and Colin Holbrook, “Synchronized Behavior Increases Assessments of the Formidability and Cohesion of Coalitions.” Evolution and Human Behavior 37, no. 6 (2016): 502–9.