Muscles mentally trained

To develop muscle strength, it is not necessary to regularly visit the gymn. It would be enough only to imagine doing it. At least, physiologists from Cleavland, Ohio, are of this view. They have carried out an experiment with volunteers’ participation. It turned out that they really were becoming stronger by imagining that they strain muscles.

Ten people from 20 to 35 years of age participated in this experiment. Within several weeks, they took part in “training” while imagining they maximally strain their biceps. To exclude the real strain of the muscle, the researchers registered the activity of motor neurons.

Every two weeks, the muscles’ power was measured. It is being reported that when the “training” was finished, the muscle strength of the experiment’s participants increased by 13.5 percent. This effect remained within three months after the experiments were finished.

According to one of the researchers, Guang Yue, muscles are contracted because of motor neurons’ impulses. The motor neurons, in their turn, work more actively the more they are stimulated by brain’s impulses. The scientist supposes that muscle strength can be increased while increasing the stream of the brain’s impulses.

Earlier, this group of scientists proved thought’s influence upon developing one of the finger’s minor muscle. Now, they are intending to continue experiments with big muscles, in particular, to find out if the same effect of muscle training can be observed in people of 65-80 years of age.