Exercise builds new neurons in your brain….
Welcome to our health & self help blog.
Focus on Your Health:
In it we post health commentary & reviews of books, eBooks, & other things that improve or protect your health or which enable you to live longer, to be more prosperous, & to be more effective.
Today's post: Thursday, 12-14-2006
Exercise builds new neurons in your brain….
It was once thought that nothing would increase the number of neurons & their interconnections in the brain—thus increasing the power of a person’s brain or upgrading their internal computer’s hardware.
Then research at the University of California at Berkeley & other places determined that what they then called “enriched environments” did exactly that in young mammals from rats to humans.
It was then thought this applied only to young mammals & people in their early stages of development.
However, since this is a question that can be tested, researchers, again at the University of California at Berkeley I understand, found that this process worked in people over 65 also.
Then, yesterday, Jon Herring, one of the health writers for the online newsletter,
“Early to Rise,” reported that a study published in Gerontology reported research showing that elderly people who they apparently talked into walking 3 hours a week, or about half an hour each day or an hour three times a week, increased both the physical number of neurons in their brains AND their interconnections as measured by before and after MRI scans.
Did that make a difference in the thinking skills of the people who participated? Indeed it did.
The elderly people who did the exercise & showed up with physically improved brains afterwards did improve their cognitive, or thinking & communications, skills AND they scored higher on tests of memory as well.
Herring also stated that this effect was LARGER than the effect of having elderly people learn new things & directly practice cognitive skills & memory skills by doing things like Chess puzzles or crossword puzzles did in the previous research.
So, if you are over 40, or plan to live past 40, & would like to keep your thinking skills, you may well want to read & follow most of the advice in Dr David Perlmutter’s Better Brain Book & be sure to do regular exercise each week.
(I think Dr Perlmutter’s advice to stay away from cell phones may be unnecessary or less effective than his other advice. Certainly many people will find it hard to follow. But he has had dramatic success with his more effective recommendations. Even better, many of them are quite easy to do.)
Do you exercise regularly yet?
If not, consider doing yourself & brain a favor & start this week or next.
****************
For many of our posts on exercise & an exercise resource,
see our post on Thursday, 11-16-2006.
Focus on Your Health:
In it we post health commentary & reviews of books, eBooks, & other things that improve or protect your health or which enable you to live longer, to be more prosperous, & to be more effective.
Today's post: Thursday, 12-14-2006
Exercise builds new neurons in your brain….
It was once thought that nothing would increase the number of neurons & their interconnections in the brain—thus increasing the power of a person’s brain or upgrading their internal computer’s hardware.
Then research at the University of California at Berkeley & other places determined that what they then called “enriched environments” did exactly that in young mammals from rats to humans.
It was then thought this applied only to young mammals & people in their early stages of development.
However, since this is a question that can be tested, researchers, again at the University of California at Berkeley I understand, found that this process worked in people over 65 also.
Then, yesterday, Jon Herring, one of the health writers for the online newsletter,
“Early to Rise,” reported that a study published in Gerontology reported research showing that elderly people who they apparently talked into walking 3 hours a week, or about half an hour each day or an hour three times a week, increased both the physical number of neurons in their brains AND their interconnections as measured by before and after MRI scans.
Did that make a difference in the thinking skills of the people who participated? Indeed it did.
The elderly people who did the exercise & showed up with physically improved brains afterwards did improve their cognitive, or thinking & communications, skills AND they scored higher on tests of memory as well.
Herring also stated that this effect was LARGER than the effect of having elderly people learn new things & directly practice cognitive skills & memory skills by doing things like Chess puzzles or crossword puzzles did in the previous research.
So, if you are over 40, or plan to live past 40, & would like to keep your thinking skills, you may well want to read & follow most of the advice in Dr David Perlmutter’s Better Brain Book & be sure to do regular exercise each week.
(I think Dr Perlmutter’s advice to stay away from cell phones may be unnecessary or less effective than his other advice. Certainly many people will find it hard to follow. But he has had dramatic success with his more effective recommendations. Even better, many of them are quite easy to do.)
Do you exercise regularly yet?
If not, consider doing yourself & brain a favor & start this week or next.
****************
For many of our posts on exercise & an exercise resource,
see our post on Thursday, 11-16-2006.
posted by David at 1:03 PM
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