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Resilience is the buildup of these waste-disposing enzymes, neuroprotective factors, and proteins that prevent the naturally programmed death of cells. I like to think of these elements as armies that remain on duty to take on the next stress. The best way to build them up is by bringing mild stress on yourself: using the brain to learn, restricting calories, exercising, and, as Mattson and your mother would remind you, eating your vegetables.
Regular aerobic activity calms the body, so that it can handle more stress before the serious response involving heart rate and stress hormones kicks in. It raises the trigger point of the physical reaction. In the brain, the mild stress of exercise fortifies the infrastructure of our nerve cells by activating genes to produce certain proteins that protect the cells against damage and disease. So it also raises our neurons’ stress threshold.
the framework that leads to a sustainable self