EXERCISE BOOSTS BRAIN POWER!!

The benefits of exercise as some have stated goes beyond our physical well being. Studies show that our mental faculties are given a chance to last longer and stay alert longer by exercising. Dr. Wiliam Staines a client and friend of mine, sent me a recent write up on the correlation between exercise and brain power. Enjoy the post below.

EXCERSICE BOOSTS BRAIN POWER!!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Exercise boosts brainpower by
building new brain cells in a brain region linked with
memory and memory loss, U.S.researchers reported Monday.

Tests on mice showed they grew new brain cells in
a brain region called the dentate gyrus, a part of the
hippocampus that is known to be affected in the
age-related memory decline that begins around age 30
for most humans.

The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging scans
to help document the process in mice -- and then used
MRIs to look at the brains of people before and after
exercise.

They found the same patterns, which suggests that
people also grow new brain cells when they exercise.
"No previous research has systematically examined the
different regions of the hippocampus and identified which
region is most affected by exercise," Dr. Scott Small,
a neurologist at Columbia University Medical Center in
New York who led the study, said in a statement.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences, the researchers said they first tested mice.

Brain expert Fred Gage, of the Salk Institute in
La Jolla, California, had shown that exercise can cause
the development of new brain cells in the mouse
equivalent of the dentate gyrus.The teams worked together
to find a way to measure this using MRI, by
tracking cerebral blood volume.

"Once these findings were established in mice, we
were interested in determining how exercise affects
the hippocampal cerebral blood volume maps of humans,"
they wrote. They of course could not dissect the brains
of people to see if new neurons grew, but they could
use MRI to have a peek.

They recruited 11 healthy adults and made them undergo
a three-month aerobic exercise regimen.They did MRIs
of their brains before and after. They also measured
the fitness of each volunteer by measuring oxygen
volume before and after the training program.

Exercise generated blood flow to the dentate gyrus
of the people, and the more fit a person got, the
more blood flow the MRI detected, the researchers found.

"The remarkable similarities between the exercise-induced
cerebral blood volume changes in the hippocampal formation
of mice and humans suggestthat the effect is mediated
by similar mechanisms," they wrote.

"Our next step is to identify the exercise regimen that
is most beneficial to improve cognition and reduce 
normal memory loss, so that physicians may be able to 
prescribe specific types of exercise to improve memory," 
Small said.

Bottom line; Let's all get smarter!!!