Reinforcing properties of wheel running

我国目前面临的健康危机之一是肥胖“流行病”。 超重和缺乏锻炼会带来严重的健康后果（例如，缺乏运动（例如久坐的生活方式）被认为是导致这种“流行病”的主要因素。 解决这一问题的一个办法是增加锻炼的参与。 要做到这一点，了解影响从事体育活动的动机的因素将是有用的。 我的研究项目通过研究影响动物模型中跑步动机的条件来解决这个问题。 在我的实验室里，老鼠通过按压杠杆来获得跑步的机会。 动物为了获得奔跑的机会会付出多大的努力，这告诉我们动物奔跑的动力有多大，或者换句话说，跑步对动物来说有多大的回报。 影响跑步奖励价值的条件还没有像食物和水那样被广泛研究，所以更多地了解跑步的奖励价值可能是有益的。 它与食物和水的奖励价值有何不同，又有何相似之处？

One of the current health crises facing our country is the obesity "epidemic". Excessive weight and a lack of exercise carry serious health consequences (e.g., heart disease, diabetes, hypertension) that are costly to treat. Physical inactivity (e.g. a sedentary lifestyle) is considered to be a major contributing factor to this "epidemic". One way to address this issue would be to increase participation in exercise. To do this it would be useful to understand the factors that influence motivation to engage in physical activity. My research program addresses this issue by studying the conditions that influence motivation to run in an animal model. In my lab, rats work, by pressing a lever, to obtain an opportunity to run. How hard the animal will work for an opportunity to run tells us how motivated the animal is to run or put another way, how rewarding running is for that animal. The conditions that influence the rewarding value of running have not been as extensively investigated as those for food and water so it may be beneficial to learn more about the rewarding value of running. How does it differ from, and in what ways is it similar to, the rewarding value of food and water?