I was never really into politics until I retired, although I had a basic knowledge because the way the political wind blows can affect our lives. Now I've learned a tremendous amount about not only current but past politics. I'm a member in a political debate forum where other members will call BS if you post something without facts. The result has been that I've done a tremendous amount of research that has kept my brain active.
I also play word games a few hours a day and exercise 5 days a week.
Here's an excerpt from a scientific study on how walking benefits the brain.
Better circulation. Walking increases cerebral blood flow.
The brain needs more oxygen when working harder because it consumes more energy. The brain is the body's single most energy-consuming organ, accounting for about 20% of the body's total energy expenditure, even when we rest.
New research (2) has shown that blood flow to the brain is not just provided by the heart. The researchers discovered that the impact of our foot hitting the ground while walking sends a hydraulic wave upwards through our blood vessels, which significantly modifies and increases the supply of blood to the brain.
Using ultrasound measurements of blood velocity waves and arterial diameters, the small study of 12 young adults presented at the annual Experimental Biology meeting determined the cerebral blood flow rates to both sides of the brain during either a rest period or continuous walking at 1 meter per second. They found that, despite the fact that normal walking produces a smaller pressure wave than running does, it increases blood flow to the brain even more.
What is unexpected, according to research author Earnest Greene, Ph.D., "is the length of time it took us to ultimately measure this evident hydraulic effect on cerebral blood flow." When we're going quickly, our heart rates (about 120 beats per minute) are in line with our stride speeds and foot impacts.
Not only does this study show that among different kinds of physical activity, walking can have an impact on cognitive performance, but it also has implications for how we treat and prevent decline of cognitive function. As we age, our brains naturally shrink and we lose cerebral blood volume. This loss is linked to age-related cognitive detoriation, such as memory problems, Alzheimer's disease, mental health problems and impaired brain function.
Walking changes the structure of the brain and improves cognitive function
Until the late 1990s most researchers believed that people were born with the brain cells they would ever have. Due to the advances in science, we can now see that our brains remain plastic throughout life. New brain cells are created throughout a lifetime.
Animal research suggests that rodents produced brain cells 3 or 4 times more often when they ran, while human studies showed that beginning a program of regular exercise leads to greater brain volume. In essence, the research shows that our brains retain lifelong plasticity and change as we do, including in response to how we exercise.
Most studies of brain plasticity generally focused on gray matter, though, which contains the celebrated little gray cells, or neurons, that permit and create thoughts and memories. Less research has looked at the white matter, the brain's wiring. Made mostly of fat-wrapped nerve fibers known as axons, white matter connects neurons and is essential for brain health. But it can be fragile, thinning, and developing small lesions as we age, dilapidations that can be precursors of cognitive decline. It also has been considered relatively static, with little plasticity, or ability to adapt much as our lives change.
Agnieszka Burzynska, a professor of neuroscience and human development at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, suspected that science was underestimating white matter. She considered it likely that white matter possessed as much plasticity as its gray counterpart and could refashion itself, especially if people began to move.
In their study, they tested almost 250 older men and women who were in good physical health and had good aerobic fitness. At baseline, all subjects underwent an MRI to determine white matter volume. This examination was repeated at the end of the six-month study period. The group was then divided into 3 groups and trained three times a week for a total of six months with either stretching and balance training, brisk walking three times a week or dancing and group choreography classes in the third study group.
They expected that the brain changes would be seen more in the control group who were dancing because of the increased amounts of learning and practice. To the researcher's surprise, they found that walking had the greatest effects on white matter volume.
White matter is important for the brain´s overall health because it helps in the communication between different parts of the brain. The white color comes from the fatty sheath that surrounds each axon. This sheath helps speed up the messages as they travel from one part of the brain to another. Damages to these structures slow down or completely stop the messages from traveling between different brain centers as it occurs in various forms of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases. Walking seems to provide some protection against this decline.
