According to some research out of Princeton University, running by yourself has few brain benefits. According to Dr. Elizabeth Gould,
In the absence of social interaction, a normally beneficial experience can exert a potentially deleterious influence on the brain.
The problem comes from the generation of a stress hormone called corticosterone, which reduces the creation of new brain cells. Running in a group negates those effects and more effectively boosts communication between neurons and spatial awareness.
The studies were done with rats, but I am not going to buy this completely until there has been more research done on it and there have been tests with humans. I have often gotten through creative blocks when I took some time off to go for a run, and I very much enjoy a good solitary run on a fairly regular basis. Of course, I also enjoy running with others on a fairly regular basis as well.
The article uses this research as a reasoning for why it is more difficult to work out by themselves than with other people, but even if everything in this study directly translates to humans I can not see the link between the hormone and not wanting to run. People are inherantly lazy, and without some sort of pressure to do a workout it is very easy to find an excuse not to do it. Social pressure is one of the best ways to ensure that you follow a workout plan.
I will have to agree with you on this one. Though the article certainly didn’t go through an in-depth analysis of the study and there could be more to it than we know, the article, at least, failed to take into account several possible variances, not the least of which is that lab rats live a relatively boring life and cannot possibly have all that much to think about or reflect on when running alone. I know that when I run for long periods of time, my brain goes into a creative overdrive, going through solutions to several problems and thinking forward into future endeavors. So, while I can understand how running alone may hurt my social interaction skills, I won’t believe it is actually bad for my brain until I see a study done on beings that have reason for contemplation while completing those 20 mile runs.
I agree with your agreement.
I don’t blame you guys for being a bit skeptical on this one. There are just too many unanswered questions in that article to draw any real conclusions.
Incidentally Blaine, do you find much difference in your clarity of mind depending on the time of day of your run?
Yeah, I tend to see that this could be somewhat true, although I think personality and mind-set could also be able to reverse the effects. I think the article seems to be combining two related things, assuming that if one made it bad, then combining the other would make it worse.
Running was found to increase neuron generation only when rats were housed in groups.
Also, we can’t really compare rats to people at any time when personality can play in, because I’m sure there are plenty of studies out there that would show that emotions affect our hormone production. It seems like the article might be assuming things while overlooking other factors. I can see how this could be true for some people who run just to keep in shape, or to be part of a social group, as opposed to people who have peronal goals in running, whether they be competitive or not. I agree there are a lot of unanswered questions, but it is still an interesting study.
Good point about the emotions and hormone production. I hadn’t thought of that angle.