brains! (Photo credit: cloois)
Exercise can make you smarter and your brain younger, at least that’s what some research is showing. A recent article in the NY Times Magazine by Gretchen Reynolds discusses this idea.
It used to be thought that you only have so many brain cells. As you age they die, your brain shrinks, and your cognitive abilities decline. It is now known that new brain cells form, and there are ways to increase this formation.
Brain cells, that is to say, neurons, create networks by synapsing with each other. A neuron will can connect with several other neurons. The more connections, the better it is for passing on information and improving brain function.
Learning can create new cells and new synapses, but it has been shown that these new cells might only be task specific. For instance, a mouse may create new connections from learning how to run a maze, but those connections are only about the maze. They do not go on assist in learning other tasks.
When new brain cells formed due to exercise, they form more synapses and are able to participate in a wider variety of ways. They aren’t limited by being task specific.
This brain improvement doesn’t even require a Herculean effort. A small study was done by the Proceedings National Academy of Sciences, involving 120 sedentary adults in their 60s. A group that walked 40 minutes a day, 3 times a week for 1 year increased the size of a specific part of the brain by 2%. More important, the part affected was the hippocampus, which is involved with memory and learning. The same group performed better on cognitive tests.
Meanwhile, the control group, who did stretching and light band work, had their brains decrease by 1%. While these may not seem like big numbers, they are significant in terms of healthier aging.
Even greater brain improvement may be achieved by weight lifting. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine involved a group of elderly women who already had signs of cognitive impairment. The study showed that participants who did twice weekly weight training had significant cognitive improvement compared to the group who walked or the group who did stretching and balance work.
We are still learning what is best for both our minds and physical bodies, but it’s probably best to do a combination of weight training and some form of aerobics. The bottom line is to get moving and keep learning.
