What Can We Learn From a Rat?

Until recently, it was commonly believed that new cell growth in adult brains was impossible. Neuroscientist Fred Cage and associates at the Salk Institute in La Lolla, California, found that adult mice exercising regularly on a running wheel developed twice as many new brain cells in the hippocampus (memory and learning center in the brain) compared with mice in standard cages. 

What about you? Do you have some sort of running wheel in your cage? Well, I mean what kind of aerobic exercise do you do to get your brain cells growing? No, you don't have to take up jogging. In fact, the research says just 15-20 of walking 3 times a week will do the trick.

One would expect that this new cell growth would be in areas of the brain that control motor function. But what surprised researchers is that they discovered neuronal growth in areas that control memory, reasoning, thinking, and learning. They believe exercise augments the flow of oxygen and nutrients to brain tissues and/or releases unique growth factors that promote nerve-cell generation.

Dr. Carl Cotman and colleagues at the University of California at Irvine also showed that exercise increased blood flow to the brain. Older humans who exercised scored higher on tests of cognitive function than non-exercisers.

Dr. Arthur Kramer at the University of Illinois examined the way cardiovascular fitness influences how much the average brain naturally shrinks with age. Participants who were active physically had larger brain volumes than their same-age counterparts.

Other research shows that tennis players, runners and other athletes in their sixties and older have faster mental responses and reaction times than those of non-exercisers of the same age. They outperform others on tests of reasoning, memory, attention, and intelligence.

What are you doing to help your brain out? And you thought that exercise was for people who wanted to look good? Think again! If you want to stay sharp and keep that mind full of good thoughts and ideas, better start treating it right.

Take your brain for a walk!