Brain structures and functions in health behavior motivation

¶ … brain structures and functions associated with the motivation to engage in certain types of behavior. The specific behavior that I have selected in order to perform the analysis refers to life style habits, namely exercising. In order to better understand the mechanisms which influence motivation, I will be taking into consideration both intrinsic and extrinsic factors, such as genetic or the environment.

Right from the beginning, I must underline that the motivation of a person to engage in such a type of behavior is powerfully influenced by the environment in which he or she grows up and lives. It is a general known truth that the manner in which parents educate their children and the values that they teach them are fundamental for the manner in which the children will behave- even as adults. Therefore, it is safe to say that adults who grew up in families which encouraged them to exercise in order to stay fit and feel better are more likely to practice sports than the ones who grew up in very sedentary families.

The social environment in which the individual lives is another important factor which can influence the motivation to exercise. The contemporary media are engaged in very aggressive attempts to promote and impose life styles. While some accent is put on the healthy life style, most of the attention is drawn by image looks, aesthetics. One thing that people can do in order to look good is to exercise. A nice looking body is nowadays a means which allows people to feel good about themselves and to be self-confident.

A further factor which might influence people and motivate them to exercise is represented by their health condition. The unhealthy products that people eat, together with bad habits such as drinking alcohol and sedentary life styles may cause overweight. Regardless of the aesthetic principle, one must realize that overweight has become a real issue when it comes to health. In order to loose weight and improve the body function, one can appeal to a healthy diet and physical exercise. Taking into account all the mentioned information, it is safe to state that physical exercise is a means for people to look good and feel good and that ought to be motivating enough. It is true that people with different body constitutions might get different effects from performing the same type of exercise, but the overall well being ought to be the same for everyone.

Moving on, it must be stated that this state of well being obtained through physical exercise can be translated into changes which take place within the body and the brain. At this point it is safe to wonder what exactly takes place in the brain in order to motivate or when people are motivated to exercise. I have found out that "the mesolimbic dopamine pathway of the brain has been shown to be closely involved in motivational processes: that is to say, stimuli that are recognized as being important to survival are given special importance in the brain. Motivation is the allotment of attentional and behavioral resources to stimuli in relation to their predicted consequences" (World Health Organization, 2004, 21).

This means that people need to be in a state which favors the need for them to do something. The action will be the means through which they will satisfy the need. If this is clear and simple in the case of hunger and thirst for example, the situation becomes more complicated when it comes to exercising. This happens because the intensity of the effects which can be felt immediately after exercising is smaller than the one of the effects that can be experienced after a long period of practice.

"The prefrontal cortex (PFC) subserves cognitive control, that is, the ability to select thoughts or actions in relation to internal goals. Little is known, however, about how the PFC combines motivation and the selection processes underlying cognitive control. The medial and lateral PFC have a parallel hierarchical organization from posterior to anterior regions for motivating and selecting behaviors, respectively. Moreover, using functional connectivity analyses, it has been discovered that functional interactions in this parallel system from medial to lateral PFC regions convey motivational incentives on the basis of rewards/penalties." (Kouneiher, Charron, Koechlin, 2009, 939)

Applying this information in the area of physical exercise, I understand that the brain functions might be modified in the direction of being motivated to exercise when one has thoughts regarding the reward he might achieve from engaging in such an activity or the penalty he might pay if he does not. There is no physical stimulus that can make the brain modify in order to motivate the individual to exercise. Therefore, the stimulus can come under the shape of a thought- and this thought is caused by a value or a purpose that the person has. For example, wishing to loose weight, to look good or to feel good. If the purpose is strong enough, than the modifications in the brain will allow the person to take the decision and after that to pass to action.

"Motivation and attention are controlled by the prefrontal cortex, which is to the rest of the brain what a conductor is to the orchestra. The functions of the prefrontal cortex are elusive but critical and are often referred to as executive functions." (Goldberg, 2007, 4) In addition, "the prefrontal cortex is a significant relay in the reward circuit and also is modulated by dopamine." Judging from these data and my personal experience, I am tempted to state that physical exercise causes immediate pleasure for the one who practices it, in other words it helps release dopamine in the brain. "Like drug use, running or strenuous exercise produces a runner's high or exercise high. This refers to a state of euphoria involving exhilaration, mood improvement, and eventually relaxation" (Deckers, 2005,. 98)

Focusing on the argument furthermore, I could state that exercise is a means through which a goal can be obtained. Once the goal is obtained, we get satisfaction (dopamine release in the brain). However, in the case of physical exercise, regardless of its type, dopamine is obtained during the very performance of the act. Since the human being is pleasure-oriented, this means that one is likely to be motivated in doing all the things which provide pleasure, exercising being one of them. The medial temporal lobe, MTL, which is associated with memory, is also involved in the process, since exercising involves intention and planning.(Science Daily, 2006, 5). If one remembers the benefits which he obtained from a certain activity, he is most likely to perform that action again.