Originally published June 30 2005
Exercise key to a healthy mind, and may ward off Alzheimer's
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Experts in the field of Alzheimer's Disease research say that exercising is invaluable to the mind's health, the Cape Argus reports, and could help reduce an individual's risk of developing this most common form of dementia or reduce its effects if it does occur.
Use it or lose it, say experts, and you may ward off Alzheimer's disease.
But more research shows that some fairly simple steps can truly lower your risk of the deadly dementia.
Also, if Alzheimer's strikes anyway, people who have followed this advice tend to do better - their brains withstand the attack longer before symptoms become obvious.
"Cognitive reserve is not something you're born with," said Dr Yaakov Stern.
"It's something that changes and can be modified over time."
In fact, there's now enough research backing this theory that the Alzheimer's Association is offering free classes around the country to teach people - of any age, but especially baby boomers - just how to do it.
A healthy brain can continue to grow new neurons and rewire and adapt itself throughout old age.
That growth starts in childhood, when parents read to tots, and depends heavily on education.
Brain scans show that when people use their brains in unusual ways, more blood flows into different neural regions and new connections form.
Declining social interaction predicts declining cognitive function, new government research shows.
People who have what's called chronic distress, extreme worriers, are twice as likely to develop some form of dementia, reports Dr Robert Wilson of Rush University Medical Centre.
Autopsies show these people had fewer bush-like tentacles linking their brain cells, meaning their brains were more vulnerable when disease struck.
It's not clear if someone can reverse a lifetime of worry, but animal studies suggest exercise eases the effects of this kind of stress.
Researchers found eating green leafy vegetables like spinach improves cognitive function.
B vitamins and folic acid, found in cereals, breads and fruits such as strawberries, are important for brain health.
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