When brain exercises

There has been a lot of research showing what improves our brain (lecitine, ginkgo biloba, working memory practices, etc.). In search for another factors, an interesting study conducted at University of California, Irvine examined the role of exercise in the brain power. It seems that exercise is a very effective tool in improving the performance of your brain, and more so than thinking itself (One could always think of the Greek concept of kalokagatia- equlibrium between body and mind).

In the research by Berchtold et al. (2005), they looked at how lab animals brains response to various degrees of busy, or enriched environments- environments either furnished with toys and running wheels OR  environments devoid of any of those.  It was shown that leaning of very specific cognitive tasks (e.g., navigation) is domain specific, not allowing newly acquired brain network to respond to any other stimuli than those of the navigation task. This is NOT the case for exercise. When the mice ran, many other neural networks were activated- creating agile neurons later responding to various kinds of tasks. Thus, exercise lead to neurogenesis through the release of so called B.D.N.F. (brain-derived neurotropic factor).

Research of Arthur F. Kramer examined effects of exercise on elderly brain examining one-year walking versus stretching.  One area of the brain where neurogenesis occurs is hippocampus, a center involved in memory consolidation and storage. The volume of hippocampus after one year of exercise has increased for the walkers, but stretchers´s volume returned to normal atrophy. Walkers also showed improvement  in cognitive abilities and higher level of B.D.N.F in their blood stream.

Hippocampal size seems to be an indicator of many things, see also our post on Deja Vu.