Rejuvenate your brain with these exercises

 

Until recently, schools taught that the only cells in our body that did not regenerate were neurons. But a medical team from Sweden designed a technique based on carbon-14 to determine how many cells regenerate daily within the human brain.

The Swedish team analyzed carbon-14 in adult hippocampal cells using mass spectrometry and concluded that more than 1,400 new neurons are produced daily in the human brain, with this rate decreasing with age, unless stimulated, as occurs with the rest of the human body.

According to specialist Jonas Frisén, "for a long time it was thought that we are born with a fixed number of brain cells and that it is impossible to generate new neurons after birth. Later, it began to be thought that there is a certain rate of renewal, but the quantity, or its importance for brain health, was not known. This study has provided evidence that neurogenesis (the birth of new neurons) occurs in the hippocampus throughout life, suggesting that new neurons can contribute to optimal human brain function."

To convince you, physical exercise produces more brain cells. Until 1999, it was thought that the brain we were born with was complete and could not produce new cells, but a study by the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, USA, demonstrated through an experiment with mice that physical activity produces chemical changes in the brain that encourage better learning; and associated work suggests that similar mechanisms must also operate in humans.

Although it is not yet understood how, what is clear is that exercise helps to "build brains." The theory behind it is that exercise stimulates the production of a brain protein known as Noggin, and this protein activates neurogenesis and stem cell production.

  

How physical activity helps your brain

Frequent physical exercise maintains your cardiovascular health, improves blood flow to the brain, reduces inflammation, and lowers stress hormone levels like cortisol, among other benefits. 

Direct benefits to the brain include an increase in the thickness of the cerebral cortex and an improvement in the integrity of white matter, which are nerve fibers that connect areas of brain nerve cells rich in gray matter.  It also promotes neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to form new neural connections and adaptations throughout life.

According to Aarón Bonner Jackson, a neuropsychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, USA, one of the key areas where neuroplasticity occurs is in the brain's hippocampus, an important region for maintaining memory quality.

What is especially encouraging is that you don't have to engage in exaggerated sports practices or meet certain requirements to obtain these benefits for the brain.

 

 

In the depths of the brain

Science continues to study activities such as running, which provides what they call "runner's high" or that zen-like state produced by endorphins that allows the runner to continue even when exhausted; or the practice of yoga, which allows one to enter a state of meditative relaxation while practicing; because they have profound effects on the brain. Among the effects of exercise on the brain noted by Brock Armstrong, a track and field and triathlon coach, and advisor to the Primal Health Institute, are increased memory and increased concentration.

Exercise can, in fact, help you focus and stay on a task longer. During a study conducted in the Netherlands, subjects were interspersed with readings and short 20-minute aerobic workouts, which was shown to improve students' attention span.

 

Exercise improves your mental health. There are many studies that confirm the benefit of physical activity for mental health, but this one demonstrated that exercise is an alternative to overcome depression. Both aerobic and strength exercise were found to be "moderately effective" in treating symptoms of depression. Of particular interest, researchers noted that exercise appeared to be as effective as antidepressant drugs and psychological treatments.

In 2017, CNN published an article on the benefits of exercise for the brain. Among other things, it mentions that there are about 86 billion neurons in our heads, all designed to give instructions to the rest of the body with the help of chemical messengers called neurotransmitters who regulate EVERYTHING in the body from mood, to sleep, memory and even hunger.

Studies show that having low levels of these neurotransmitters, particularly glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), leads to depression. But, according to the Journal of Neuroscience, moderate exercise can naturally increase these levels, which can result in progressive resilience and a greater capacity to cope with mental challenges. All of this is connected to the concept defined as "mental fitness."

Of course, engaging in mentally stimulating activities helps to consolidate cognitive reserve, the ability to resist adverse brain changes before symptoms appear. Some experts suggest that people who have completed higher education or have been exposed to brain-stimulating activities are more resistant to the negative effects of brain disease. 

 

Creative thinking.    Creative people throughout history (Aristotle, Beethoven, Kierkegaard, and many others) have advocated walking as a promoter of their creative process; and recently, psychologists have provided empirical support for these assertions. A 2014 article titled "Give your ideas legs: the positive effect of walking while thinking creatively" showed that walking, whether on a treadmill or on the Stanford University campus (where the study was conducted), stimulated creative thinking. Interestingly, it did not help convergent thinking (which filters ideas to identify those with real value), a skill used to give the "correct" answer to standard questions that do not require much creativity.

  

Exercise slows cognitive decline, and to get this benefit, your workouts don't even have to be extreme; with 30-45 minute walks, three times a week, cognitive overuse and abuse are deterred, and the onset of dementia is slowed. Go for it!

And if walking isn't your thing, you can try weight training twice a week, as this activity has a significant neurological impact. Or, how about a little dancing? Studies show that dance can be restorative. Just one hour of dance once a week for six months increased the cognitive performance of older adults, as well as their posture and sensorimotor function.

 

 

What you can do

Cleveland Clinic neuropsychologist, Dr. Aarón Bonner-Jackson, proposes 3 actions:

Stay physically active: Try to achieve at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week, such as walking, jogging, cycling, or swimming, keeping in mind that ANY physical activity benefits your brain.

 

Try new mental activities you can enjoy. Learn new hobbies, read a new book, or learn new skills, such as wood carving, gardening, solving puzzles, or mathematical problems; learn a new language or musical instrument.

According to Bonner-Jackson, "it is thought that new skills and habits create more connections between brain cells and areas of the brain. The more new things we learn, the more connections are made, so that even if some of them die as a result of brain disease, there are still available connections that allow the brain to remain functional."

  

Avoid isolation and stay socially engaged: organize gatherings with your friends and family; join a social organization, or volunteer at a church, hospital, or charity group. In Japan, the people of Okinawa, where they are very long-lived, call this practice MOAI, and according to them, the support of their social group also provides them with solidarity and support in terms of finances, health, and spiritual interests.

Maintaining a strong social life and remaining socially and intellectually engaged with others has also been shown to strengthen brain function. By communicating with other people, the mind is challenged to interpret visual and verbal cues and to respond to them appropriately. Social interaction improves mood and can ward off depression, which impairs cognitive function.

 

5 foods that nourish your brain

Leafy green vegetables: spinach, kale, broccoli, and chard are rich in nutrients such as vitamin K, lutein, folate, and beta-carotene, among others. Research suggests that these plant-based foods slow cognitive decline.

Green tea and coffee: both coffee and tea provide more than short-term mental stimulation. Furthermore, the combination of caffeine and L-theanine, as found naturally in tea or in supplements, improves short-term sustained attention, working memory speed, and overall cognition in randomized trials.  This combination also reduces subjective fatigue and headache, while increasing alertness.  Mechanistically, caffeine appears to enhance attention, certain memory systems, and executive functioning through adenosine receptor antagonism and changes in network-level efficiency, while L-theanine can modulate glutamatergic transmission and stress responses.

Fish oil: Fish oil is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, which are healthy polyunsaturated fats and have been linked to reduced beta-amyloid levels (a protein that forms harmful clots in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease).

Berries: These fruits contain flavonoids, which are plant pigments that give berries their red, purple, and dark bluish colors, and which, according to science, help improve memory.

Walnuts: Walnuts in general are an ideal source of protein and healthy fats; specifically, walnuts have been shown to improve memory function.

Science is still working to figure out how and why, as well as to determine the factors that make physical exercise so beneficial for the brain. However, everything points to an increase in blood flow to the brain, increases in growth hormones, and a massive expansion of the network of blood vessels in the brain.

Our bodies and our brains do not function in isolation from each other. What you do with your body, and what you nourish it with, can benefit or harm your mental faculties.

Your body and mind are connected, so as long as you stay physically, mentally, and socially active and treat your body well (nutrition and restorative rest), you can make a big difference.

Being sedentary all day, every day is dangerous for your physical and mental health, so don't wait! Find an activity and practice it, or simply go for a walk.