Do You Have Movement Deficiency Syndrome?

If you don’t exercise regularly you will have movement deficiency syndrome. But what is so wrong with that?

“Because it is well established that aerobic exercise conditioning can alter autonomic balance (increasing parasympathetic tone and decreasing sympathetic activity), a prudently designed exercise program could prove to be an effective and nonpharmacological antiarrhythmic intervention.”¹

The author of the paper is stating that it is well established that physical activity status is a primary determining factor of autonomic nerve system balance. This means physical activity levels determine whether your entire metabolism (autonomic balance) is being directed toward homeostasis or toward adaptive allostasis.

This is not just profound; it substantiates that movement deficiency is perceived by your subconscious mind, your organ of self-regulation, as a stressful threat.

It means physical activity deficiency is a lifestyle stressor rock in your backpack that leads to the self-regulated genetic expression of elevated stress hormone levels (such as cortisol) in order to express adaptive allostasis which is the foundation of chronic illness.

Conversely, movement sufficiency leads to the removal of these lifestyle stressor rocks and the shift toward homeostasis which is the foundation of chronic health.

This is why movement deficiency is a causal factor in so many different chronic illnesses; it elicits a self-regulated shift of your entire autonomic nerve system and thus the function of all your organs.

1. ^{Journal of Applied Physiology 92: 446-454, 2002}

Today, can you do 10 more pushups than you did yesterday?