New research suggests that "working" hands activate areas of the brain and stimulate new cell growth. Meaningful hand movement, like scrubbing, knitting and kneading trigger the "effect-driven reward circuit" of the brain. The more this circuit is activated, the greater our sense of psychological well-being. Rewards like this are more difficult to achieve in a world less reliant on physical labor, and as a result, our modern psyche has been impacted. The researchers point out that rates of depression have grown as we've made the transition from a labor workforce to a knowledge workforce.
Puts a whole new persepctive on house cleaning, cooking, baking, knitting, car-washing...
(from Scientific-American Mind's article, "Depressingly Easy," Kelly Lambert, August/September 2008)
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