Physical exercise can boost brain capacity

Judging by physical nature we are meant to be active and moving around during the day, but judging from what seems to be psychological nature, we are lazy, “conserving energy”. With our new tools, methods and ways of organizing society, this dilemma may prove so difficult that perhaps the virtual world is the only “rescue”, and we end up in jars with the body used as battery..? With a little extra research we will probably be able to keep the brain on top concentrated level with the blood circulation flowing well, simply by using impulses, without moving the body and spending energy “unnecessary”… Oh, I think I need to see Matrix again.

clipped from www.newscientist.com Simply walking sedately for half an hour three times a week can improve abilities such as learning, concentration and abstract reasoning by 15 per cent. There’s another reason why your brain loves physical exercise: it promotes the growth of new brain cells. Until recently, received wisdom had it that we are born with a full complement of neurons and produce no new ones during our lifetime. Fred Gage from the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, busted that myth in 2000 when he showed that even adults can grow new brain cells. He also found that exercise is one of the best ways to achieve this. In mice, at least, the brain-building effects of exercise are strongest in the hippocampus, which is involved with learning and memory. This also happens to be the brain region that is damaged by elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol. So if you are feeling frazzled, do your brain a favour and go for a run.