A study of exercising mice has proved just how aerobic exercise affects the brain. Wired Science online journal reports that at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies near San Diego, USA, neuroscientist Fred Gage tested a group of mice in a Morris water maze - a well-recognised IQ test for mice, where rodents are placed in a tank of opaque water and have to find their way to the safety of a platform. Gage found that those mice which performed smartest and fastest had running wheels in their cages. Those without the gym gear performed worse.

The mice were then injected with a dye that travels into actively dividing cells in the body. Later autopsies found new brain cells developing in all the mice, but the mice who had enjoyed aerobic wheel work were producing two to three times as many new brain cells as the sedentary ones. To establish whether this same pattern held for humans, Gage injected the same type of dye into the brains of terminal cancer patients. In subsequent autopsies he found that, indeed, their brains were producing fresh new brain cells.

The results stunned the scientific world who had always believed that the number of brain cells in the human body was fixed at birth. "We always knew that our brains control our behaviour, but not that our behaviour could control and change the structure of our brain." Gage told a reporter from The New York Times.

 Following in the wake of Gage's groundbreaking mice study has come increasing scientific evidence that we can enhance the size and power of our brain with regular exercise.

To read the full story in Wired Science go to Exercise Regrows the Brain

Physical exercise is great for the brain because it increase the blood supply - the carrier of glucose and oxygen.  However if brain cells are not used, even new cells, they become redundant.  Therefore it is vital to use them through demanding cognitive activity.  HeadStrong brain training has exercises to stimulate your brain, facilitating the development of brain cell connections and maximising the potential for new cell development.

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Scientists at Columbia University in New York City have now proved that physical exercise increases memory capacity and might even stave off  age-related memory loss.

According to the New York Times, they put a group of men and women aged 21 to 45 on an exercise program for 12 weeks. Not only did they become more fit but MRI’s (brain scans) found that a critical part of their brain, the hippocampus, was receiving twice as much blood as before. Subsequent tests showed the subjects also enjoyed significant improvements in memory – and those who had the biggest increase in blood to the hippocampus had the best results on memory tests.

The scientists suspect the increased blood is helping these people produce fresh brain cells. Importantly, the part of the brain affected most by exercise, the hippocampus, is also the part most impacted by age-related brain shrinkage.

Many neurologists believe that the main cause of mental decline in old age is the loss of brain cells from the hippocampus. In fact brain research has shown that people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia have smaller than average hippocampi*. But the Columbia study suggests that shrinkage of the hippocampus, and subsequent problems relating to memory loss, can be slowed by regular exercise.

For full story visit New York Times.

HeadStrong's brain health program will guide you through the exercise requirements to keep your brain fit.  Physical exercise alone is not enough.  The hippocampi have very high metabolic requirements and exercise improves the blood supply  thereby meeting its metabolic requirements.  However the hippocampi needs to be exercised through memory and new learning activity in order to keep the cells working, making new connections, and decreasing the likelihood of atrophy.  HeadStrong brain training includes many brain exercises to specifically stimulate your hippocampi and improve your memory and new learning capacity. 

*You have two hippocampi- one in the left and right hemispheres of your brain.

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A breakthrough study by scientists in Munich has found that damaged brain cells can be replaced by stimulating other brain cells to transform into functioning nerve cells.

The study was conducted by Professor Dr Magdalena Gotz at the Institute of Stem Cell Research in Munich. Several years ago his research team discovered that the brain cells known as astroglia, which had previously been regarded as mere ‘glue’ holding the brain together, act as stem cells during a baby’s early development. These cells therefore have an inbuilt capacity to transform into functional nerve cells. But somehow this gets lost in later development so that in the event of an accident or injury the brain can no longer command these astroglia or ‘glia’ cells to create new nerve cells.

But now, according to Science Daily USA, Professor Dr Gotz and his team have identified a singular regulator protein which acts as the command switch that orders a 'glia' cell to become a functional nerve cell.

The discovery is an important milestone in brain research. Knowing how to create new nerve cells in the brain leads us one step closer to being able to reverse many kinds of brain deterioration. 

For the full Science Daily story click here:

Milestone In The Regeneration Of Brain Cells

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A Californian woman claims that using a software brain exercise program solved her failing short-term memory and saved her family business. Charline Truitt, 62, who runs an auditing business with her husband Dan, says she and Dan used to laugh about her memory lapses, such as losing keys or forgetting people’s names, but things got serious when she started forgetting client appointments.

“I was honestly wondering if we would have to sell the company,” she told The New York Times. But then she started using a brain fitness program and after six weeks, she says, “I could suddenly remember where things were and remember appointments, and I didn’t have any problem recalling conversations.”

It proves that acting now and giving your brain a regular workout can not only stop the mental ageing process but can restore memory that has been lost. And, like Mrs Truitt, that can save your professional career and your self-esteem.

To see the full New York Times story click here: Calisthenics for the Older Mind on Home Computer

You too can start your brain training program through HeadStrong Cognitive Fitness.  Not only does HeadStrong offer brain training, but it provides a brain health program, and provides memory strategies and helpful tips to improve your cognitive functioning in your daily life.

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Leading British neuroscientist, Baroness Susan Greenfield, is endorsing a PC-based software programme which, she says, reverses mental decline associated with ageing. 

In a two-year study in Israel, 121 volunteers, aged over 50, were asked to spend 30 minutes playing the program three times a week. Only half were given the real brain gym software while the other half was supplied with sophisticated computer games. The results showed that while all the participants benefited from regular computer activity, the ones using the brain training product experienced greater improvement in short-term memory, visuo-spatial learning and focused attention.

 “There is evidence that such stimulation prompts brain cells to start branching out and form new connections with other cells”, one of Britain’s leading brain experts Baroness Susan Greenfield told London’s Sunday Times.

Greenfield, who is director of the Royal Institution, and runs an Oxford University laboratory researching the causes of degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s, told the Sunday Times, “it is clear that there is no drug on the horizon to treat Alzheimer’s or age-related mental decline”. She also said, “There is now good scientific evidence to show that exercising the brain can slow, delay and protect against age-related decline”. Baroness Greenfield is urging people in their middle years, who are healthy and want to stay that way, to start using brain training software now as a preventative measure.

To see the full story in the Times click here: Top Scientist Backs Workout for the Brain

The research will continue to prove brain training works- but why wait any longer.  HeadStrong provides you with the opportunity to complete brain training to increase your memory, visual spatial functioning and focused attention through its exercises specifically designed to target those functions.  

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A new study has shown that regularly performing mentally stimulating activities can actually protect the brain against degenerative illnesses like dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

The study, by Robert S. Wilson, PhD, of the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Centre at Rush University in Chicago, tracked 700 participants, whose average age was 80, over five years. Participants’ cognitive ability, meaning their thinking and reasoning capacity, was tested each year.

The results found that people who regularly enjoyed cognitive activities, whether reading, going to the library, playing chess or even watching a play, were 2.6 times less likely to develop either dementia or Alzheimer’s disease as those who didn’t. Importantly, the study found these results applied regardless of what sort of brain stimulation participants had in the past or even their current level of social and physical activity. Wilson called Alzheimer’s disease “among the most feared consequences of old age.” And while the results offer strong evidence that staying mentally active helps protect against its onset, Wilson said the study also found that regular, brain stimulating activity could reduce even mild impairment in mental alertness.

Thus, a healthy diet and regular exercise are not enough to ensure you stay mentally healthy in old age. These results prove that a powerful tool for everyone in staving off brain degeneration and illnesses such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is to enjoy regular, stimulating brain activity.

The HeadStrong brain exercises are designed to stimulate new brain cell development and increase neural connections.  We can not say enough times: "use your brain to keep it fit and functioning well."  Complete the HeadStrong brain exercise program three times a week and you will be getting a a through cognitive workout, and as this study demonstrates, reducing your chance of developing Alzheimer's disease.

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