Want to Age Healthfully? Exercise Your Brain!
Scientists used to believe that the adult brain was a fixed, unchanging organ that began losing neurons as early as age 25 in an immutable process that led to inevitable mental decline.
But they were wrong.
Today we know that the brain has plasticity, or the ability to grow new neurons throughout our lives.
In "Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves," Sharon Begley writes that: "The adult brain, in short, retains much of the plasticity of the developing brain, including the power to repair damaged regions, to grow new neurons, to rezone regions that performed one task and have them assume a new task, to change the circuitry that weaves neurons into the networks that allow us to remember, feel, suffer, think, imagine, and dream.
" One of the interesting things about plasticity is that our brains respond to the way we use them.
They grow more neurons in the regions of the brain that get the most use and shrink neurons in the regions that get the least use.
For example, Begley writes that the brains of violinists have more neurons in the region of the brain that controls the fingering hand than the brains of non-violin players do.
However, if the violinist stops playing her instrument for a long enough period of time, the neurons in that region of her brain will begin to shrink.
The Power of Cognitive Exercise In 2004, the College of Family Physicians of Canada published an article titled "Leisure activity and risk of dementia.
" The article reported on a study that consisted of 469 middle class English-speaking subjects who were between the ages of 75 and 85.
The study found that subjects who developed dementia tended to be older, have less education, and have significantly lower cognitive-activity scores.
In contrast, subjects who practiced cognitive exercises regularly were shown to have much lower levels of dementia; interestingly, the study also found that the only physical activity that seemed to have a protective effect against dementia was dancing! Some of the cognitive exercises found to improve brain function included reading, doing crossword puzzles, playing board games, learning to play a musical instrument, and learning to speak a foreign language.
Clearly, there is much we can do to maintain--or regain--our cognitive functions as we grow older.
Unfortunately, modern life has turned many of us into passive consumers instead of active performers.
Rather than memorizing lines and putting on our own plays, we watch others perform on stage.
Rather than joining with our friends in a community dance, we watch Dancing with the Stars on TV.
And rather than making music on the back porch with our neighbors, we download other people's songs onto our iPods, put on our headphones, and listen to the music in isolation.
Healthy Aging Requires Lifelong Learning As a result, it may take some extra time and effort to find ways to exercise your brain, but clearly the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks! So pick up that ukulele you've been meaning to learn for years, take some lessons, and start strumming.
Register for a Spanish class at your local university.
(If you are 65 or older, you may be able to audit classes for free.
) And don't forget to do the crossword puzzle in your daily newspaper.
Just remember that healthy aging and lifelong learning go hand-in-hand.
Our brains can maintain the ability to focus, remember and grow throughout our lives--if we exercise them!
But they were wrong.
Today we know that the brain has plasticity, or the ability to grow new neurons throughout our lives.
In "Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves," Sharon Begley writes that: "The adult brain, in short, retains much of the plasticity of the developing brain, including the power to repair damaged regions, to grow new neurons, to rezone regions that performed one task and have them assume a new task, to change the circuitry that weaves neurons into the networks that allow us to remember, feel, suffer, think, imagine, and dream.
" One of the interesting things about plasticity is that our brains respond to the way we use them.
They grow more neurons in the regions of the brain that get the most use and shrink neurons in the regions that get the least use.
For example, Begley writes that the brains of violinists have more neurons in the region of the brain that controls the fingering hand than the brains of non-violin players do.
However, if the violinist stops playing her instrument for a long enough period of time, the neurons in that region of her brain will begin to shrink.
The Power of Cognitive Exercise In 2004, the College of Family Physicians of Canada published an article titled "Leisure activity and risk of dementia.
" The article reported on a study that consisted of 469 middle class English-speaking subjects who were between the ages of 75 and 85.
The study found that subjects who developed dementia tended to be older, have less education, and have significantly lower cognitive-activity scores.
In contrast, subjects who practiced cognitive exercises regularly were shown to have much lower levels of dementia; interestingly, the study also found that the only physical activity that seemed to have a protective effect against dementia was dancing! Some of the cognitive exercises found to improve brain function included reading, doing crossword puzzles, playing board games, learning to play a musical instrument, and learning to speak a foreign language.
Clearly, there is much we can do to maintain--or regain--our cognitive functions as we grow older.
Unfortunately, modern life has turned many of us into passive consumers instead of active performers.
Rather than memorizing lines and putting on our own plays, we watch others perform on stage.
Rather than joining with our friends in a community dance, we watch Dancing with the Stars on TV.
And rather than making music on the back porch with our neighbors, we download other people's songs onto our iPods, put on our headphones, and listen to the music in isolation.
Healthy Aging Requires Lifelong Learning As a result, it may take some extra time and effort to find ways to exercise your brain, but clearly the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks! So pick up that ukulele you've been meaning to learn for years, take some lessons, and start strumming.
Register for a Spanish class at your local university.
(If you are 65 or older, you may be able to audit classes for free.
) And don't forget to do the crossword puzzle in your daily newspaper.
Just remember that healthy aging and lifelong learning go hand-in-hand.
Our brains can maintain the ability to focus, remember and grow throughout our lives--if we exercise them!
