First page Back Continue Last page Overview Text
Notes:
Our muscles and our bones respond to the demands placed on them: if we spend time weightless in space or in bed, we rapidly get osteoporosis; if we exercise vigorously, our bones strengthen.
If we don't use our muscles, they lose strength rapidly, lose flexibility and tone, and become irritable. If we exercise them regularly to exhaustion, they become stronger.
The developing brain is known to respond to special use by physically changing to adapt to this use, actually increasing in ability through the demands that are put on it.
I haven't any research to cite to support my confidence that the adult brain itself loses or gains ability through use, but the fact that it does during maturation, and that other body tissues regress with disuse and improve with use convinces me that we are well off to push our brains a bit, both our intellectual brain and our motor brain.
Our emotional condition depends in large part on the events surrounding us and our response to them. Often negative emotions are blamed on aging.