Medical research keeps proving a phrase that's become a cliche: Use it or lose it. And eat a healthy, balanced diet.
It may not be rocket science, but it is brain science. "It's the same old message, really," says David Bilkey, of Otago University.
"We know exercise has been shown to promote neurogenesis, the growth of new neurons in the brain." Mental exertion is just as important.
The associate professor of psychology says that studies show people with higher education are less likely to be affected by Alzheimer's, a disease that destroys the brain. People who have studied for higher degrees or regularly worked their brains make more synapses, or connections in the brain, Dr. Bilkey says. "That reduces the chances of damage, or makes it (the brain) more resistant to damage."
As we age, our brain plasticity, or flexibility to make new connections, lessens. When we're young -- especially before the age of six -- and again at adolescence, our brains make and remake a huge number of connections. Higher education promotes even further connections, Dr. Bilkey says. Imagine the connections as streets in a village, one that eventually becomes a massive city. That's how the brain works. So, people who continue to use their brains will end up with a neural network resembling a metropolis of myriad highways, main roads and side streets.
"As we age, we are losing connections between neurons (brain cells) and the ability to alter those connections, so we are having to work with fewer resources." So you might lose a few hundred motorways and a couple of thousand cul-de-sacs, but when you've got millions of others still firing the messages around, it's not such a big loss. But if you're a village, it's not so good. So, let's head back into the big city -- this time London. Dr. Bilkey, who specialises in location memory, is interested in the outcome of a study on taxi drivers in the British capital. It shows that cabbies who have been on the job for a long time and who know how to navigate London with ease have bigger brains. "The longer you work as a taxi driver, the larger your hippocampus is," he says, about the area of the brain first affected in Alzheimer's patients. The size increase is simply because the cabbies have an improved capacity to remember information about locations and navigation. Birds that cache their food in many different places, which they later must return to, also have increased brain size in the part equivalent to the human hippocampus, Dr. Bilkey says. He believes people need to think of their brains as being a muscle. "If you use it, it will get larger and better, and if you don't, it will atrophy." Muscles also waste away when they're not used -- as many people who've had a limb in plaster will know.
The same happens to anybody who doesn't exercise, especially aging people who decide they're too old to keep going. Garth Gilmour, a former Taranaki Herald reporter and the author of 21 books on athletes and fitness, implores people to keep going. His big message is this: "The exercise you do should be well within your abilities to do and you need to enjoy it." He recommends walking, doing housework and gardening as simple ways to remain fit. "Stay away from gymnasiums," he says. But always head for steps. "My wife and I love our stairs," he says, citing why he keeps living in a two-story house, while other elderly people opt for units and no gardens. The never-retired writer says using your brain is just as important as a physical workout. He tells people to read, do crosswords, or other puzzles, plus talk and listen to people to remain mentally agile. "Keep the mind moving, but sitting up, blobbing in front of the television isn't exercising your brain. You are being dumbed down by TV." Source: Daily News; New Plymouth, New Zealand. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. Powered by YellowBrix.
