Exercise Is Key To Brain Health, Says Study

Regular physical activity -- even walking -- may be key to maintaining a sharp mind as we get older, two new studies suggest.

While that's not a new discovery, the studies plug critical gaps in the scientific literature and corroborate previous reports linking exercise to reduced rates of mental impairment in older adults.

The message is now clearer than ever: "If you stay physically active, you're buying protection for your brain," says Eric B. Larson, M.D., the vice president for research at Group Health Cooperative, a nonprofit health-care system based in Seattle.

The studies appear in the July 25 print edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine and were published online today to coincide with the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease, taking place this week in Paris.

One of the studies included 2,809 women over the age of 65 who had a history of heart disease or stroke, or at least three risk factors for those conditions. That's noteworthy because most previous studies on exercise and dementia have focused on healthy people, according to Dr. Larson, who wrote a commentary accompanying the new research.

Exercise may be particularly important for these women, since unhealthy cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and other conditions that affect blood-vessel health have been linked to the memory and language problems known as cognitive decline, which often precedes Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

Researchers in Paris and at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston, reanalyzed data from a study originally designed to examine the role of antioxidant vitamins in heart health.

Beginning in 1995, the women answered biennial surveys on how often they engaged in various types of exercise (such as jogging, swimming, walking, and climbing stairs). Several years later, the researchers then gave them a series of telephone-based cognitive and memory tests on four separate occasions spread out over a four- to six-year period.

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Brain cancer facts

Brain cancer facts

* Brain cancer can arise from many different types of brain cells (primary brain cancer) or occur when cancer cells from another part of the body spread (metastasize) to the brain.


* Causes of brain cancer are difficult to prove; avoiding compounds linked to cancer production is advised.


* Symptoms of brain cancer vary but often include weakness, difficulty walking, seizures, and headaches. Other common symptoms are nausea, vomiting, blurry vision, or a change in a person's alertness, mental capacity, memory, speech, or personality.


* Tests for brain cancer involve a history, physical exam, and usually a CT or MRI brain scan; sometimes a brain tissue biopsy is done.


* Treatments usually are directed by a team of doctors and are designed for the individual patient; treatments may include surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy, often in combination.


* Side effects of treatments range from mild to severe, and patients need to discuss plans with their treatment team members to clearly understand potential side effects and their prognosis (outcomes).


* Depending on the brain cancer type and overall health status of the patient, brain cancer frequently has only a fair to poor prognosis; children have a somewhat better prognosis.

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Brain health tip - eat protein for your brain

Brain health is more important than ever these days, especially with the increase in dementia, Alzheimer's Disease and autism.

Every Sunday and Wednesday this month, KHQA will bring you tips on keeping your brain in tip top shape.

This KHQA Safe Family Health tip comes from Dr. Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist and best-selling author of several books on brain health.

He says eating protein is critical for optimal brain health. And a lack of adequate protein can lead to problems with your mood, energy and metabolism.

Dr. Amen says it's important to eat protein at breakfast, because it increases attention and focus, which you need for work and school.

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Simple Ways to Keep Your Brain Sharp, Healthy

From a glance at the magazine stands, Americans appear obsessed with losing weight, cutting their cardiac risks and seeking to improve their odds against cancer. But where’s the focus on brain health?

The brain always has been mysterious and many people seem to believe little can be done to keep it sharp or to reduce its risk of injury and disease. Too many of us think it’s a matter of our genes or happenstance as to what occurs with memory loss, brain tumors, strokes and other disorders of the brain.

This may be true to some extent but the same might also be said of heart ills and many cancers. And while there may be familial predispositions, this doesn’t diminish the need to take steps to improve health and reduce risk.

Keith L. Black, M.D., chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute, says Americans can do more to keep their minds sharp and brains healthy even as they age. His suggestions include: the simple and obvious (wear a helmet for sports); the simple and less obvious (eat certain foods to properly fuel the brain); and the simple and more obscure (could your cell phone use affect your risk of brain tumor?).

The theme is “simple” – these are changes most people can work into their everyday lives. Examples include:

Find a puzzle and solve it. The brain appears to respond to “exercise” – challenges that help keep it nimble. Whether games and puzzles help delay onset of dementia is the subject of debate and research. But people who keep busy with activities they enjoy – knitting, learning languages, reading – seem to have less memory impairment in later years. Hard scientific evidence may yet come; keeping your mind active through “play” and activity certainly won’t hurt in the meantime.

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Exercise Is Medicine For The Brain, Too

Exercise - long known to promote heart and bone health, among other benefits - increases the growth of brain cells and improves brain function, according to research reviewed today at the American College of Sports Medicine's 15th-annual Health & Fitness Summit & Exposition.

Terry Eckmann, Ph.D., briefed attendees on recent findings, saying the protein known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is "like Miracle-Gro for the brain." BDNF, Eckmann explained, helps to grow new neurons in the hippocampus and helps the transmission of information across the synapses of neurons.

Fueling these enhanced brain processes, quite literally, are elevated levels of oxygen and glucose which the cardiovascular system - strengthened by exercise - can deliver to the brain. The brain uses about 20 percent of the body's oxygen and glucose.

Scientists have also found that repetitive gross motor movement strengthens the branching of dendrites, which conduct electrochemical stimulation among neurons. "Dendrites receive messages from surrounding brain neurons, and the more dendrites, the more information can be transmitted and stored," said Eckmann.

Recent studies show that students with higher fitness levels score higher on academic tests and show an improved ability to focus. Scientists have also documented the ability of exercise to help prevent dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

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Obesity Damages Our Brains as Well as Our Bodies

Obesity is not only bad for our bodies, but being overweight appears also to diminish our brain's ability to think, remember and reason, Science News reported.

Researchers from Kent State University in Ohio tested the cognitive functions of obese volunteers and compared them with healthy people. In general, the obese participants' scores were lower than their healthy counterparts. In some of the tests, including on memory exams, nearly 25 percent of the obese participants scored low enough to be considered learning disabled.

After the initial tests, two-thirds of the obese participants underwent weight loss surgery and lost, on average, 50 pounds in three months. In a second round of tests, the group that lost weight boosted their scores, including their memory test scores, significantly. This was not true for the group that did not lose weight.

This is not the first time scientists have made a connection between health and cognitive function.

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