Update: Let’s move, slow down, innovate, think and play

You have heard that phys­i­cal exer­cise is good for the brain. How much exer­cise are we talk­ing about? Can the ben­e­fits be seen both for chil­dren and adults? In Fit­ter bod­ies = fit­ter brains. True at all ages? Dr. Pas­cale Mich­e­lon answers these ques­tions for you, based on lat­est sci­en­tif­ic stud­ies. We need fun ways to…

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Walking increases brain volume and reduces risks of decline

In the lat­est issue of Neu­rol­o­gy a study by Erick­son et al. (2010) sug­gests that walk­ing reg­u­lar­ly can increase brain vol­ume and reduce the risks of devel­op­ing cog­ni­tive impair­ment. The researchers stared with 2 mains facts: Gray mat­ter vol­ume shrinks with age, often lead­ing to cog­ni­tive decline. Phys­i­cal exer­cise seems to be neu­ro-pro­tec­­tor (see our previous…

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Brain Training and Cognitive Health: September News

A round-up of inter­est­ed news dur­ing the month: 1) Train­ing Young Brains to Behave (New York Times) 2) Head Games (OpEd in New York Times) 3) Will Geron­tol­ogy rec­og­nize the Brain? (Amer­i­can Soci­ety on Aging event) 4) Brain func­tion gets a boost from walk­ing (Los Ange­les Times) 5) An idea whose time has (final­ly) come (McK­night’s Long Term Care News) 6)…

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Improve Memory and Enhance Post-Stroke Rehab with Exercise

A cou­ple of recent stud­ies have rein­forced the life­long poten­tial for brain plas­tic­i­ty (the abil­i­ty of the brain to rewire itself through expe­ri­ence) and the impor­tance of phys­i­cal exer­cise for cog­ni­tive vital­i­ty. One study focused on 1) adults over 50 with mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment, the oth­er one on 2) stroke sur­vivors. 1)  Mem­o­ry prob­lems: Adults…

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