“If you do only one thing to keep your brain
young, exercise,” says Art Kramer, Ph. D.,
professor of psychology and neuroscience
at the University of Illinois. Higher exercise
levels can reduce dementia risk by 30 to 40
percent compared with low activity levels,
and physically active people tend to main-
tain better cognition and memory than inac-
tive people. “They also have substantially
lower rates of different forms of dementia,
including Alzheimer’s disease,” Kramer says.
Working out helps your hippocampus,
How you work up a sweat is up to you, but most experts recom-
mend 150 minutes a week of moderate activity. Even a little bit can
help: “In our research as little as 15 minutes of regular exercise three
times per week helped maintain the brain,” says Eric B. Larson, M.D.,
executive director of Group Health Research Institute in Seattle.
GET MOVING
Seek out new skills
Learning is like Rogaine for your
brain: It spurs the growth of new brain
cells. “When you challenge the brain,
you increase the number of brain cells
and the number of connections be-
tween those cells,” says Keith L. Black,
M. D., chair of neurosurgery at Cedars-
Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
“But it’s not enough to do the things
you routinely do—like the daily cross-
word. You have to learn new things, like
sudoku or a new form of bridge.”
UCLA researchers using MRI scans
found that middle-aged and older
adults with little Internet experience
could trigger brain centers that con-
trol decision-making and complex
reasoning after a week of surfing the
net. “Engaging the mind can help older
brains maintain healthy functioning,”
says Cynthia R. Green, Ph.D., author of
30 Days to Total Brain Health.
3
Say “Omm”
Chronic stress floods
your brain with cor-
tisol, which leads to
impaired memory.
To better understand
if easing tension changes your
brain, Harvard researchers stud-
ied men and women trained in
a technique called mindfulness-
based stress reduction (MBSR).
This form of meditation—which
involves focusing one’s attention
on sensations, feelings, and state
of mind—has been shown to
reduce harmful stress hormones.
After eight weeks, researchers
took MRI scans of participants’
brains. The density of gray
matter in the hippocampus
increased significantly in the
MBSR group, compared with a
control group.
4
Older women who participated in a yearlong weight-training program at the University of
British Columbia at Vancouver did 13 percent better on tests of cognitive function than a group
of women who did balance and toning exercises. “Resistance training may increase the levels of
growth factors in the brain, such as IGF1, which nourish and protect nerve cells,” says Teresa Liu-
Ambrose, Ph.D., head of the university’s Aging, Mobility, and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory.
