All Brain fitness Articles

We exercise to keep the pounds off, gobble antioxidant-rich foods to stay young and stave off cancer -- but how much time do we devote to brain fitness? As we age, we begin to lose brain cells -- and once enough brain cells die off, that's when those so-called "senior" moments start happening, said David Wallace, the director of the Center for Integrative Neuroscience at Oklahoma Read more...

NEW YORK -- Healthy people should have the right to boost their brains with pills, such as those prescribed for hyperactive kids or memory-impaired older people, several scientists contend in a provocative commentary. College students already illegally take prescription stimulants such as Ritalin to help them study, and demand for such drugs is likely to grow elsewhere, these experts say. Read more...

The next time your husband or mother tells that story you've heard at least a gazillion times, think of it as an important developmental stage of adulthood. It turns out our brains our hard-wired for storytelling and reminiscing, with older adulthood a natural time to engage in those activities. Growth doesnt stop in childhood, aging experts say. Just as healthy children have certain Read more...

Searching the Internet exercises the brains of older people by activating their neural circuitry, says UCLA's Memory & Aging Research Center. Internet searches activate regions in the brain that control complex reasoning and decision making, the Center found in a nine-month study of 24 neurologically normal volunteers, with similar education levels, ages 55 to 76. The test subjects Read more...

WASHINGTON -- Scientists have discovered how stress -- in the form of emotional, mental or physical tension -- physically reshapes the brain and causes long-lasting harm to humans and animals. "Stress causes neurons [brain cells] to shrink or grow," said Bruce McEwen, a neuroscientist at Rockefeller University in New York. "The wear and tear on the body from lots of stress Read more...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- New research in mice suggests that high levels of social support may provide some protection against strokes by reducing the amount of damaging inflammation in the brain. Researchers at Ohio State University found that male mice that lived with a female partner before and after a stroke had a much higher survival rate compared to those mice that lived alone. In addition, Read more...

Sleep helps the mind learn complicated tasks and helps people recover learning they otherwise thought they had forgotten over the course of a day, research at the University of Chicago shows. Using a test that involved learning to play video games, researchers showed for the first time that people who had "forgotten" how to perform a complex task 12 hours after training found Read more...

BETHESDA, Md. (Nov. 18, 2008) -- A new study confirms that exercise can reverse the age-related decline in the production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus of the mouse brain, and suggests that this happens because exercise restores a brain chemical which promotes the production and maturation of new stem cells. Neural stem cells and progenitor cells differentiate into a variety of Read more...

Ever forget to drop off dry cleaning on the way to work? This minor error of memory may be evidence of two competing parts of the brain, one that harbors habits, and another involved in learning. Driving to work is a habit; going to the dry cleaner is a comparatively novel task. Dr. Christopher J. Pittenger, assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale, calls this symbolic lapse the Read more...

If building cardiac endurance isn't enough motivation for you to do some aerobic exercise, think about this: It also builds your memory. "Put on your sneakers," says Sue Halpern, author of "Can't Remember What I Forgot: Good News from the Front Lines of Memory Research" (2008, Harmony Books). "We have definite proof that aerobic exercise improves memory. "Put Read more...

WASHINGTON -- Think achy joints are the main reason we slow down as we get older? Blame the brain, too: The part in charge of motion may start a gradual downhill slide at age 40. Fast-Firing Commands Issue of insulation: How fast you can throw a ball or run or swerve a steering wheel depends on how speedily brain cells fire off commands to muscles. Fast firing depends on good insulation for Read more...

Researchers led by Carl Cotman and Nicole Berchtold of the University of California, Irvine find that the activity of genes in men's brains begins to change earlier than in women's brains. The types of changes also differ between the sexes. The study, published online October 1 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also found that in both genders each part of the brain Read more...

A key vitamin found in meat, fish and milk may help protect the brain as it ages, researchers have discovered. Vitamin B12 could help stop the brain shrinking - possibly preventing memory loss in older people and dementia. A study of 107 people aged 61 to 87 found that those with lower vitamin B12 levels in their blood were six times more likely to experience brain shrinkage compared to Read more...

You can blow the whistle on "brain attacks" by turning on your teapot. That's right. If you've got green tea brewing in there, it's one celestial seasoning that can help you live longer. If you drink enough, you just might lower your risk of dying from a stroke by up to 42 percent! Holy Teacup, Batman In a large study of women, those who sipped at least five cups of green Read more...

Yale scientists have identified a molecular pathway in the brain that estrogen uses to improve memory, suggesting the possibility of designing hormone-free drugs to bolster learning and thinking in post-menopausal women. Menopausal women could take such medications to preserve cognition without facing side effects that accompany hormone replacement therapy. The research, published in the Read more...

Surfing the web sharpens up the brains of older adults, research reveals. A study found it doubled activity in the complex thinking part of the brain of experienced users, while reading books failed to produce the same patterns. The team at the University of California at Los Angeles ran brain scans on 24 people aged 55 to 76, half of whom were experienced Web users, while they did Read more...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The more alcohol an individual drinks, the smaller his or her total brain volume, according to a report in the October issue of U.S. journal Archives of Neurology. Brain volume decreases with age at an estimated rate of 1.9 percent per decade, accompanied by an increase in white matter lesions, according to background information in the article. Lower brain Read more...

Know anyone who needs a better brain? Could you use one yourself? Stephane Bergeron, M.D., chief executive officer with Brain Center America (BCA), is so confident millions of Americans are seeking sharper minds that he's offering the company's newly launched brain-workout software as a specially priced set, right on time for holiday gifting. From Oct. 15, 2008, until Jan. 5, 2009, BCA will Read more...

Oct. 2, 2008 -- What if being really scared -- the kind of scared that comes from jumping from an airplane at 9,000 feet -- could enhance memory by cementing details we might otherwise forget? For the past few months, UC Davis researchers have turned to novice sky divers to explore how stress affects memory. The question is part of a simmering scientific debate. Some evidence suggests Read more...

NEW YORK - Could playing computer games enhance mental agility enough to turn people over 50 into better drivers? Allstate Corp. wants to find out, and if the answer is yes, it might offer insurance discounts to people who play the games. Under a new pilot program called InSight, Allstate will offer specialized computer games to 100,000 customers in Pennsylvania aged 50 to 75. The games' Read more...