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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday May 05 2019, @10:23AM   Printer-friendly
from the i-think-i-remember-reading-about-that dept.

A single, moderate workout may immediately change how our brains function and how well we recognize common names and similar information, according to a promising new study of exercise, memory and aging. The study adds to growing evidence that exercise can have rapid effects on brain function and also that these effects could accumulate and lead to long-term improvements in how our brains operate and we remember.

Until recently, scientists thought that by adulthood, human brains were relatively fixed in their structure and function, especially compared to malleable tissues, like muscle, that continually grow and shrivel in direct response to how we live our lives. But multiple, newer experiments have shown that adult brains, in fact, can be quite plastic, rewiring and reshaping themselves in various ways, depending on our lifestyles.

Exercise, for instance, is known to affect our brains. In animal experiments, exercise increases the production of neurochemicals and the numbers of newborn neurons in mature brains and improves the animals’ thinking abilities. Similarly, in people, studies show that regular exercise over time increases the volume of the hippocampus, a key part of the brain’s memory networks. It also improves many aspects of people’s thinking.

But substantial questions remain about exercise and the brain, including the time course of any changes and whether they are short-term or, with continued training, become lasting.

That particular issue intrigued scientists at the University of Maryland. They already had published a study in 2013 with older adults looking at the long-term effects of exercise on portions of the brain involved in semantic-memory processing.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06 2019, @07:55PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06 2019, @07:55PM (#839801)

    Every morning since I was maybe 11. We listened to NPR over breakfast, in the car too if I had a ride. When I was in highschool my dad gave me a copy of usa today. We had subscriptions to newsweek too.

    Anytime I was around other young people, especially in the morning. Televisions were tuned to music videos or if I was lucky maybe cartoons. I became aware that most people weren't usually up to date on the news and what's going on.

    Now all these people watch entertainment news like fox and it's clones or maybe one of the traditional outlets that have switched to entertainment news in recent years; Like CNN if they're a little more liberal.

    But for the most part all the stupid fuckers of the world would stop paying attention and go back to watching j-lo's ass if we weren't spicing up the news for them. If I hadn't watched it happen I'd tell you that we need to motivate the uncaring sheep of america so we can take the country back from the various special interests disproportionately calling all the shots.

    No. Stupid people will always be stupid they were raised this way. Despite people consuming more news media than ever I think we have just about as many informed people as we ever did.