2011-04-05 10:10:58
Recently we talked on this page about mice that could rejuvenate, although this was only possible thanks to the genetic manipulations that researchers had subjected them to to achieve this. Since no one likes having their genome touched, it would be fantastic if we found a way to delay aging, even if it were just in some part of our body (and not just the one or those we are thinking about) through some procedure that made possible. Well, it has been proven that it is possible to delay the aging of at least an important part of our brain through the simple procedure of doing moderate exercise. Incredible but, apparently, scientifically true.
True, as can be seen from studies published in the prestigious scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States by a large group of scientists from several American universities. These studies conclude that just one year of moderate exercise three times a week, although not just any exercise, but precisely the most natural and simple exercise, for which it is difficult to find any excuse other than a sofa, affects our brains in Positively, in particular, it affects a region called the hippocampus.
Age and size
The hippocampus, so called because its shape resembles that of a seahorse, that is, a hippocampus, is a very important region of the human brain and other mammals, which belongs to the limbic system. The limbic system affects the functioning of the endocrine system, which secretes hormones, as well as the functioning of the autonomic nervous system, which unconsciously controls the functioning of various organs. The limbic system is closely interconnected with the so-called nucleus accumbens, nothing less than the “Las Vegas of the brain”, since the nucleus accumbens constitutes the pleasure center and plays an important role in sexual arousal. I already told you that the hippocampus was important. As if that were not enough, it participates in long-term memory and spatial orientation.
Unfortunately, the size of the hippocampus decreases with age, which is perhaps why we begin to have memory problems and perhaps a decrease in sexual desire as we age. Likewise, the hippocampus is one of the first regions affected in Alzheimer’s disease.
To conclude that physical exercise affects the size of the hippocampus, the researchers conducted a comparative study. They studied 60 adults, ages 55 to 80, who committed to aerobic exercise, simply walking continuously and at a brisk pace for 40 minutes, three times a week. They compared these 60 people with another 60 of similar ages, who voluntarily committed to doing only toning exercises, such as yoga or stretching, also for 40 minutes, three times a week, but without walking.
Better memory
After this year of moderate exercise, they analyzed the participants’ brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Well, those who had only done toning exercises saw their hippocampus reduced by 1% in volume, which corresponds to the average reduction that occurs with age. However, those who had walked increased the volume of their hippocampus by 2%, that is, their apparent age had not only not increased, but had decreased. This “rejuvenation” of the hippocampus translated into better results in the memory tests that the participants were subjected to, in addition to the fact that those who had walked also showed higher levels of a specific hormone of the nervous system that helps the growth of neurons.
This scientific work reveals to us, therefore, that walking just three times a week for 40 minutes, of course, continuously, that is, without stopping at each shop window, or searching through the sales, is capable of stopping, even investing , the aging clock, at least in a region of our brain important for memory. These results provide new evidence about how important exercise is for health, not only to keep the body in shape, but also the brain, the organ that contains our “self”; nothing less than the second favorite organ of the comedian and brilliant filmmaker Woody Allen, as he himself stated, which in any case is necessary to ensure that his first favorite organ (what will it be?) works properly in the always rare moments in which was required.
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