Another Excuse to Skip the Gym Today?

Are you one of those people who will find any excuse to avoid getting in a workout?  Well, this behavior might actually be in your genes.  According to researchers, anywhere from 20% to 60% of physical activity tendencies can be passed down to the next generation.  They found that the genes that control dopamine levels may effect a person's attitude toward exercise, whether they love it or hate it.  Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that effects a person's drive, pleasure, and reward centers of the brain.  So in conjunction with other behavioral traits and social influences there can be an indirect effect on levels of physical activity.

As someone who absolutely loves exercise it made me wonder if there were any genetic links to why that is.  After reading about the study it makes a lot of sense that it would be related to neurotransmitters that effect mood and motivation.  I've grown to love it so much because it's an escape, or an outlet, to clear things from my mind that are bothering me and to release negative feelings..

Kids Not Interested In School Might Be Born That Way

 

 Kids who avoid doing homework and don't care about getting A's might have inherited these feelings toward school from their parents.  According to an analysis of 13,000 identical twins, half of a child motivation to learn or the lack of motivation to learn might be driven by genetic predisposition.  However, the enjoyment of learning isn't because of a single gene.  It is being determined that genetic makeup and outside environmental factors play a key role.  Identical twins were chosen to be studied because they share identical genes which offers researchers how much exactly environmental differences impact personality.  Each twin completed a questionnaire to gauge the degree to which they enjoyed learning a school subject.   The researchers found similarities across all ages and nationalities.  

     If this is in fact genetic I feel that environmental influences play an even larger role in the enjoyment of learning.  If the individual has the predisposition to not enjoy school genetically I don't think they are doomed.  They still have the potential to work and do well in school because of motivation factors regarding their environments.  

Original Article 

Don't enjoy school? Blame genetics.

A new study at Ohio State University has recently discovered that a lack of motivation in school may be attributed to genetic inheritance from parents. The study took approximately 13,000 twins from six different countries and asked them to rate their enjoyment and their ability in several different school subjects. The study compared the answer between fraternal twins, who share half of their inherited genes, and identical twins, who share all of their inherited genes. The results were similar in all countries and showed that there was more similarity between the answers of identical twins, showing a strong genetic linkage.  Researchers said that ones motivation to learn isn't dependent upon one gene, but instead it is dependent on multiple genes and gene-environment interactions. However environmental factors only account for 3% of the variable for this personality.

I believe this study will help teachers and parents around the world better understand their children and how they are doing in their academics. When a child is failing, many people instantly blame the child or assume that there is no one in the child's life to motivate them. This research shows that it may just be that they are unmotivated due to their genetic predisposition, and therefore will require more attention in the classroom and at home to help cope with their lack of motivation in school.

Are You Programmed to Enjoy Exercise?

 

Scientists have studied whether or not the motivation to exercise is genetically inherited. We may find ourselves crunched for time, tired, or simply just plain unmotivated to exercise. Could it be that we are making excuses not to go because we have not inherited the gene that motivates us? Fraternal and identical twins were studied by tracking their activity through the use of monitors. Twins were more likely to have similar exercise habits than siblings that were not twins. Researchers found that genetics played a large role in the motivation to exercise. In order to find the specific gene responsible for motivation, rats were studied. Rats were bred depending on their willingness to exercise. It was found that gene expression was different in rats that were runners compared to non-runners. 

In both humans and animals, the nucleus accumbens activates when taking part in activities that are enjoyable. The animals that were bred to have the "running gene" were also found to have more mature neurons in the nucleus accumbus than the non-runners. However, rats that were non runners exhibited a change in behavior after they were encouraged to exercise. These rats were simply placed on a running wheel. It was found that the neurons in their nucleus accumbens had matured. I feel that this phenomenon holds true to humans. Once people start exercising regularly, they realize how much better they feel after they are done. Exercise is stress reliving and produces "feel good hormones" or endorphins.

Primary Article: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/are-you-programmed-to-enjoy-exercise/

Secondary Article: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/in-depth/depression-and-exercise/art-20046495