Do this 3 days a week and you may increase the size of your brain

If you are a senior citizen and intent on improving your memory, you may be interested in the results of a recent study that associated improvements in memory with moderate exercise.

The study – led by Dr. Kirk Erickson from the University of Pittsburgh and Dr. Arthur Kramer from the University of Illinois, and supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) – revealed that walking (at a brisk pace) can increase the size of the brain.  Specifically, the hippocampus, an area linked to mammalian memory development.

What causes us to lose our memory as we age?  The hippocampus is a “major component of the brain . . . and plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory and spatial navigation. “ You can read the Wikipedia article on the hippocampus here; it is actually quite detailed.
  

The study examined 120 inactive older adults.  Half of the participants were asked to walk for a period of 40 minutes a day, 3 days a week.  The second half of participants were instructed to in weight train and stretch.
 

One year later, each participant was analyzed via MRI.  The group that engaged in the brisk walk for 3 days per week showed an average 2% increase in hippocampus volume, whereas the other group averaged a 1.4% decrease in volume.

What does this mean? "We think of the atrophy of the hippocampus in later life as almost inevitable . . . [but] we've shown that even moderate exercise for one year can increase the size of that structure,” explained one of the researchers behind the study.   For the article in its entirety, view it here. 
Photographer: Idea go

Evan H. Farr on Google +

Seniors can reduce frequency of falls by exercising to music, study finds

Image Courtesy of Pixomar / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Music-based exercise programs may help Seniors improve balance and reduce frequency of falls, according to a report online that is expected to be published March 28, in Archives of Internal Medicine. Read the Senior Journal article which references the report here.

The study was organized by University Hospitals, and Faculty of Medicine of Geneva, Switzerland. For six months, music-based exercises were tested in a controlled environment involving just over 130 elderly men and women. It should be noted though, that 96% of the participants were women.

Participants were assigned at random to two groups; the first group of adults was immediately immersed in the music-based exercise program, whereas the second group of adults participated in the program six months following the first group. The first group returned to normal exercise activities after their six month period. When measured, the first group only showed a rate of .7 falls per year per person, compared to 1.6 for the second, delayed group.

According to the authors, "that participation in music-based multitask exercise classes once a week over a 6-month period can improve gait performance under single and cognitive-motor, dual-task conditions, as well as improve balance, and reduce both the rate of falls and the risk of falling in at-risk elderly community-dwelling adults.”

Evan H. Farr on Google +