Brain and Exercise

NEWSWEEK COVER: Health for Life -- Exercise and the Brain

In the March 26 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, March 19): "Exercise and The Brain." Newsweek examines the latest research and science that shows exercise can make you smarter. In addition to making your brain run more efficiently, there are clues that it can also stave off the beginnings of Alzheimer's, ADHD and other cognitive disorders. Also: what's next for Attorney General Gonzales and Iraq's Dora Farms, four years after the first U.S. strike. (PRNewsFoto/NEWSWEEK) NEW YORK, NY UNITED STATES
Growing Movement in Science Shows Exercise Can Make People Smarter; May
Stave Off Beginnings of Alzheimer's, ADHD
Exercise Decreases Anxiety, Improves Resilience to Stress
A Simple Plan to Go From Couch Potato to Exerciser: Have 'Exercise Snacks'
-- Pace While on the Phone, Walk Around the Office
NEW YORK, March 18 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent and rapidly growing
movement in science is showing that exercise can make people smarter,
Newsweek reports in the current issue. Last week, in a landmark paper,
researchers announced that they had coaxed the human brain into growing new
nerve cells, a process that for decades had been thought impossible, simply
by putting subjects on a three-month aerobic-workout regimen. Other
scientists have found that vigorous exercise can cause older nerve cells to
form dense, interconnected webs that make the brain run faster and more
efficiently. And there are clues that physical activity can stave off the
beginnings of Alzheimer's disease, ADHD and other cognitive disorders.
General Editor Mary Carmichael, with Harvard Medical School, examine the
latest research and findings about how an active body is crucial for
building a strong, active mind in the March 26 cover "Exercise and the
Brain" (on newsstands Monday, March 19).
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070318/CLSU006 )
"People have been slow to grasp that exercise can really affect
cognition," says University of Illinois neuroscientist Charles Hillman,
"just as it affects muscles." Armed with brain-scanning tools and a
sophisticated understanding of biochemistry, researchers are realizing that
the mental effects of exercise are far more profound and complex than they
once thought, Carmichael reports.
Also in the cover package:
-- Researchers are learning more about how exercise affects mood: it
decreases anxiety, improves sleep, improves resilience in the face of
stress and raises self-esteem. All these benefits don't come because
you notice what you've lost around your waist. Rather, they come from
exercise-induced alterations inside your head, writes Michael Craig
Miller, M.D., editor in chief of the Harvard Mental Health Letter.
-- If you are a couch potato, have couch-potato tendencies or just plain
dislike working out, there are more opportunities to exercise than many
people realize. Find the time with "exercise snacks" that last as
little as 10 minutes at a time. Examples are pacing in your office
while you're on the phone, taking the stairs instead of the elevator,
trekking up the stairs at home during a TV commercial break. Or break
up the day with two-minute walks -- to the mailbox, for example, or in
a loop around your office corridor.
-- General Editor Anna Kuchment reports that while moderate exercise is
good for you, vigorous exercise is even better. Specifically, it's more
effective at lowering blood pressure, improving insulin sensitivity
(which can reduce the risk of developing diabetes) and raising one's
aerobic capacity. And one way to stick to a high-intensity routine is
to participate in a competitive sport. Joining a team forces you to do
things that you might not otherwise do. Not only is it fun, but you
have an obligation to show up for practices and events. There are
teammates to work out with, and there's usually a coach on hand to keep
track of your progress, help set new goals.
-- Reams of research suggest that exercise -- an activity as old as the
human race -- substantially reduces the odds of ever getting breast
cancer, lengthens survival and considerably enhances quality of life
for women with the disease. Scientists don't completely understand why
exercise is so important, but they're actively looking for answers.