In addition to understanding how exercise keeps the brain young

Most of us have had first-hand experience with blackouts. We try nervous to remember a name during a conversation. We forget where we parked the car. We can not recall the items in the list of short purchases left at home.

Although memory lapses can occur at any age, most often occur as we age. Not that fear are the first signs of Alzheimer's disease or other dementia. But for most, the changes fleeting memory difficulties are normal age-related in the brain. Our recovery is slowing and is a little more difficult to learn new things quickly.

Many studies have shown that physical activity and exercise regularly in middle age and beyond can help slow and perhaps even prevent the deterioration of brain function. Since most of these studies were mostly observational, they can not show the associations and do not prove cause and effect.So there is no scientific evidence that exercise itself is the direct reason to stay mentally strong. At least not yet.

New studies suggest how exercise helps the brain
More recent studies show the positive brain changes associated with an increased amount of daily physical activity and higher levels of fitness.Last month, a small but interesting study examined changes in oxygen and related neural processing in the brain. These characteristics have been shown to correlate with better memory and brain function with age.

The researchers identified 100 men and women in relatively good health aged 60-80 with different levels of physical activity reported. For a week, the study participants wore an accelerometer to measure the amount of physical activity. Each had also measured their oxygen consumption during a maximal exercise test. The oxygen consumption during peak exercise is a standard way to assess cardiorespiratory fitness.

As expected, people with high levels of fitness were the same who were physically more active during the week. They were also the same people who have demonstrated more positive oxygen and related MRI compatible with faster processing in neuronal changes in the brain. The results of the study were published in the journal PLoS

Is it important that long and intensive exercise?
We do not have a prescription of specific exercises to guide the long and difficult that we should exercise. Based on the results of this study and others, including the activity of low intensity for an hour one day seems to be much better for brain health than sitting on the couch.

You should not participate in high-performance athletics to preserve and protect the brain. Just be more active during the day:

     *  Get up and move every hour during the day
     *  Walk more, use less the car
     *  Use the stairs instead of the elevator
     *  Gardening or work

More ways to help your brain stay young
Staying physically active with the intended daily exercise is devoted one-way road to improve brain function. This is the most you can do:

     *  Get enough sleep
     *  Find out if any of your medications cause memory problems
     *  no smoking
     *  Limit alcohol consumption
     *  Reduces stress
     *  Treating high blood pressure
By: Howard LeWine, M.D.