We all know that exercising improves your physical health, but studies conducted in Illinois and Columbia University are now suggesting that exercise improves your mental health as well.
As adults age, their blood glucose levels rise (sometimes to the point of diabetes). They also tend to have memory problems. Scientists and doctors have decided to put the two problems together, and have come up with the idea that our memory loss could be due to our increased blood glucose levels. This sounds pretty reasonable to me!
Also, there have been some pretty elaborate tests to show this correlation. For example, kids who exercise for at least ten minutes (and thus, decrease their blood glucose levels) have better problem-solving abilities in school. Also, adults who stay physically active (again, decreasing their blood glucose levels) are less likely to develop Alzheimer's later in their lives. (See article: http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/brain-and-behavior/2008/12/30/low-blood-sugar-levels-may-help-protect-against-memory-loss.html)
The study also suggests that physical exercise helps stimulate memory more than mental exercise. So for all of you guys who want to improve your memory by playing mind games like Sudoku, you may be in for a surprise. According to new US research, you might be better off playing football than playing Sudoku if you want a keener brain.
2 comments:
Lauren C. Strojny- Science really does amaze me. What we come up with daily to improve our lives and health is a complete gift. This completely makes sense though considering many uninherited problems are through lack of exercise and poor nutrition. With better food ingestion and increased physical activity.. we can increase memory and help fight althemiers. I really enjoyed this article, something positive in our world of sad distructive news.
aha who would have thought excercise would do the trick. Although i am not surprised it really does improve your physical health in all sorts of ways including increasing endorphines and it helps you stay in a positive mood and does not make you as lethargic. Unfortunately the downside of this finding is that yes although exercise does make you mentally more stable, it is hard to do this in your old age due to arthritis and many other joint pains which prevent exercise. Better start early!
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