Translation: physical exercise can reduce the negative effects of aging on the brain, helping us to maintain our minds, our memories, and our moods well into old age. Among other things, the researchers found that
aerobic fitness has also been associated with hippocampal volume in both children and older adults. For example, in one study with 165 older adults without dementia, greater aerobic fitness levels were associated with larger hippocampal volumes even after controlling for potentially confounding factors including age, sex, and years of education. Furthermore, hippocampal volume mediated fitness-related performance on a spatial memory task. These results … suggest that aerobic exercise might be an effective method for enhancing or reversing hippocampal volume in late adulthood.
Loads of other scientific studies that have found a similar connection between physical fitness and healthy brain function. The positive effects of regular physical exercise on our grey matter include: “improvements in certain cognitive functions, beneficial forms of neuroplasticity, … increased neuron growth, increased neurological activity, … improved stress coping, enhanced cognitive control of behavior, improved declarative, spatial, and working memory…”*
The list goes on. It turns out there is a deeply-wired link between our body’s fitness and our brain’s health, and taking care of the first seems naturally to improve the later.
I find this theologically fascinating.
On the one hand, it bears out everything I said in previous posts about the indivisible link between the mind, body, and spirit that we find in the Bible’s description of the human being. On the other hand, though, and more to the point for today, it suggests a crucial theme for building a “theology of exercise.”
I’m thinking here about the biblical concept of “stewardship.” It’s an idea woven into the creation story right at from the start, and it shows up again and again whenever the Bible wants to speak about the way human beings are related tot he rest of creation.
We were created to be good stewards of God’s creation.
In Genesis 1:28, it says it like this:
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
It’s a foundational text for all sorts of things that will come later in Scripture. It explains why the environment presently is groaning in agony (because humans have fallen short in this calling; see Genesis 3). It explains why Christ’s work on the cross brings about New Creation (because it restores human beings back to this calling; see Romans 8). It explains why God rightly pronounces judgement on those who “destroy the earth” at the end of all things (because the earth is not ours to destroy, it is Gods, and we are simply stewards of it; see Revelation 11).
Many biblical scholars have taken pains to show that the idea in Genesis 1 of “subduing” the creation, and “ruling” the animals, and so on, is meant to communicate not a self-interested, tyrannical reign over the earth (as humans often have exercised it), but rather a loving, brotherly care of the creation, on God’s behalf. I don’t have time to review all the arguments, but suffice it to say that this is certainly how I read Genesis 1.
As we acknowledge our role as God’s stewards, suddenly all that talk about exercise and brain function a second ago comes into sharp focus. In his book The Stewart Leader, Scott Rodin argues that the theme of “stewardship” applies not just in our relationship to the rest of the creation, but to all aspects of human life. If it’s true that all we have and all we are comes from God, then we are called, actually, to hold everything in life as though we were simply stewards of it.
This is true of our money, of course. This is the classic Christian perspective on money. All our money is really God’s and everything we do with it ought to be done as his stewards. But it doesn’t stop with money. It’s also true of our talents. Whatever we “have” that we “do well,” is not really our talent in the end; rather it’s God’s “talent,” and it’s given us simply to use for his glory.
It’s true of our relationships. It’s true of our resources. It’s true of our time. None of these things are really “ours”; they’re God’s. We are simply holding them in trust and we'll give an account to their true owner, for how we used them and what we did with them.
Maybe you can see where all of this is pointing us, as we try to build a “theology of exercise.” Because we’re not just stewards of our money, possessions, resources, talents, time, and relationships.
We are stewards, too, of our very bodies. This bit of flesh and bone that I "possess” is not really “mine” after all. It is God’s. I am simply a steward of it; and as God’s steward, I find I am called to “use my body,” and “care for my body,” and “maintain the health of my body,” as though it were actually the Lord's body.
This isn’t just a theological leap in the dark here, from Genesis 1 to stewarding our health; this is specifically what the Scriptures say. In 1 Corinthians 6:20, Paul is reviewing the reasons why Christians ought to flee any kind of sexual activity outside the bounds of the Creator’s intent for us, and he makes this mysterious claim. It’s because (among other things), “you are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
More on that in a later post. Today just notice that Paul insists that even our bodies are the rightful property of God, and as such we ought to “use” our bodies as though we were holding them in trust.
This brings me, at last to the point of this post. When I take care of my physical health through exercise, I am being a good steward. Not because God necessarily cares about our physiques per se; again, we all have different body types and different constitutions, and the diversity of the human form is one of God’s great gifts to us. It’s not that God only has one ideal physical form and it’s up to us to get into “that shape” specifically.
Far from it.
Rather it’s because when I exercise, I benefit not only my physical health, but also my mental health, my emotional health, my spiritual health. This is true even if my exercise of choice is a simple ten-minute stroll at the end of the day (see my previous post for that). It is still good exercise with all kinds of health benefits. And the plain fact is that I will be able to serve God more fully, more effectively, and for longer than I could do if I weren’t stewarding my physical health in this way.
And as we do, whether it's though a leisurely stroll or a 10k run, a simple stretching routine or a P90X workout regime—whatever your stewardship method of choice—we'll may discover the joy of taking care of a body that belongs to the Lord.
0 comments:
Post a Comment