Gardening your hippocampus with Physical and Mental Exercise

Phys­i­cal Fit­ness Improves Spa­tial Mem­o­ry, Increas­es Size Of Brain Struc­ture (Sci­ence Daily)

- “Now researchers have found that elder­ly adults who are more phys­i­cal­ly fit tend to have big­ger hip­pocampi and bet­ter spa­tial mem­o­ry than those who are less fit.”

- “Cer­tain activ­i­ties are believed to mod­i­fy hip­pocam­pus size in humans. For exam­ple, a study of Lon­don taxi dri­vers found that the pos­te­ri­or por­tion of the hip­pocam­pus was larg­er in expe­ri­enced taxi dri­vers than in oth­er sub­jects. And a study of Ger­man med­ical stu­dents found that the same region of the hip­pocam­pus increased in size as they stud­ied for their final exams.”

- “Stud­ies also have found that the hip­pocam­pus shrinks with age, a process that coin­cides with small but sig­nif­i­cant cog­ni­tive declines. The rate at which this occurs, how­ev­er, dif­fers among individuals.”

Relat­ed articles:

Phys­i­cal Exer­cise and Brain Health

Brain Plas­tic­i­ty: How learn­ing changes your brain