Bench Jump Into A Precision Squat.
This Bench Jump activity was pretty stressful.
People often talk about the need to avoid stress, but acute levels of stress are important, useful and essential for long-term health. Just before this jump the surge of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, improve focus and concentration.
This acute (short-term) stress increases blood flow to the heart, lungs and muscles, and alters the metabolism to increase blood glucose to the brain. It heightens the senses and increases strength and performance.
It allows you to evaluate risk and to prime the body for the appropriate action now and in the future. Making us more resilient. One of the benefits of risky play and activities such as rough and tumble play for children too!
In the long term, exercise decreases circulating levels of cortisol which is an excellent side-benefit - and it doesn’t have to be low-intensity exercise like yoga or Pilates either. In fact, higher-intensity exercise/HIIT delivers the most significant reduction in cortisol levels at night post-activity. Reducing the risk of chronic stress long term.
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References:
Chen C, Nakagawa S, An Y, Ito K, Kitaichi Y, Kusumi I., “The exercise-glucocorticoid paradox: How exercise is beneficial to cognition, mood, and the brain while increasing glucocorticoid levels.” Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology. 2017;44:83-102.
Hackney A, Viru A., “Twenty-four-hour cortisol response to multiple daily exercise sessions of moderate and high intensity.”, Clinical Physiology. 1999;19(2):178-182.
