More Brain Power!!

Remember back in grade school discussing the different parts of the brain? Chuckling at the possible fact that boys used the left side of their brain and girls used the right side of their brain. The brain is the "commanding officer" making sure his privates (the bodies processes) are adequately doing their job. To get us reacquainted again with these functions, let's take a quick look at the five areas:




1.    The Cerebrum consisting of two lobes controls your thinking and voluntary muscles
2.    The Cerebellum controls your coordination including balancing and movement
3.    The Brain Stem is the main channel for sending messages all throughout your body. It regulates all involuntary muscle movements in your heart beat, breathing and circulation
4.    The pituitary gland controls hormonal growth and the hormones responsible for metabolism
5.    Last but not least the Hypothalamus which regulates body temperature


The Nervous System is so complex with millions of neurons connecting to other neurons and as you grow the brain creates more connections between these neurons essentially making it easier to perform more functions efficiently.  So, when you were presented with those brain-teasers, you were making more neuron connections in your brain! See, technically your brain is getting bigger. 

Well, just like those brain teasers, regular exercise has been shown to substantially improve memory highlighting that certain types of exercise improve different cognitive functions.


In a study conducted at the University of British Colombia, they recruited dozens of women between the ages of 70-80 with mild cognitive impairments & randomly assigning them to six-months of supervised exercise in three different categories: lifting weight, brisk walking and stretch/toning groups. 


After six-months, the toning group scored worse on the memory and the women who walked or weight trained performed greater on any cognitive test with a variation that the women who walked showed greater signs in verbal memory then those who lifted weights. 


This suggested that different type of exercise improve different types of cognitive function. "Teresa Liu-Ambrose, an associate professor in the Brain Research Center at the University of British Colombia who oversaw the experiments with older women, is that for the most robust brain health, it's probably advisable to incorporate both aerobic and resistance training. It seems that each type of exercise "selectively targets different aspects of cognition," she says, probably by sparking the release of different proteins in the body and brain. (NY Times)

For the full article:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/how-exercise-may-boost-the-brain 

Sources:
kidshealth.org
well.blogs.nytimes.com