Exercise and Brain Health
Can’t find your keys? Forgot to attend that virtual meeting? Overwhelmed with the plethora of emails from your child’s school? These uncertain times can translate into chronic and acute stress. Our brains suffer from the ongoing onslaught of anxiety and memory is often the first to go. However, exercise is a quick trick that can… read more
It’s the newest science-supported motive: exercise boosts physical fitness AND mental fitness. But how much, how intense, how does it change as we age, and the big question: how does it correlate to the current coronavirus epidemic? In a May publication of Redox Biology, scientists evaluated the impact of exercise on extracellular superoxide dismutase (EcSOD).… read more
Research on age-related dementia continues to accelerate as our US population grows ever more top-heavy. According to the US Census Bureau, within the next 15 years there will be more older adults than kids for the first time in our country’s history. Learning how to improve the quality of our aging years has never been… read more
(Back by popular demand…re-post from 1 year ago!) It was the evening of January 1st when my oldest son garnered the family’s attention at the dinner table. “It’s New Year’s Day,” he announced with a dramatic flair, “and I’ve got something important to tell you all.” While his tone was serious, I detected a twinkle… read more
It has been estimated that half of all adults in the United States will develop a serious chronic disease in their lifetime, but what can be done to lower these prevalence rates? Recent research published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine suggests that the amount of time spent sitting or lying down may negatively impact… read more
February is here, Spring is right around the corner, and time is rushing by at breakneck speed. And yet. And yet I sat there in the winter sunshine and did nothing. Of course there were ten-thousand-and-one things on my to-do list, emails to return, phone calls to make, kids to pick up…but that could all… read more
It was the evening of January 1st, 2019 when my oldest son garnered the family’s attention at the dinner table. “It’s New Year’s Day,” he announced with a dramatic flair, “and I’ve got something important to tell you all.” While his tone was serious, I detected a twinkle in his eye that alerted me to… read more
Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in America. With an ever-increasing use of computers and other technological learning devices, the typical classroom has become far more sedentary than it was even twenty years ago. Left to themselves, these iGen kids will tap, post and scroll through social media rather than ride ride a bike or… read more
Peer pressure generally gets a bad rap, followed closely by the banality of social media. Yet recent research published on Nature.com reveals an exciting benefit from the peer pressure of social media networks. A group of preteens participated in a study to ascertain the effectiveness of social media to motivate and affect changes in exercise… read more
New Pediatric Research published by Nature.com investigated the cognitive impact of weight loss in obese adolescents. The link between obesity and many other medical problems is well documents, yet there has been little research on the correlation between weight loss and cognition. Thus, scientists evaluated 62 medically-obese teens before and after a 30-week program for… read more
By Terissa Miller, MS Psy She ran on ahead as I stopped to take a swig from my water bottle and relish the cool shade of a sprawling cypress tree. Her strong, trim figure disappeared around the curve of the hike-&-bike trail, but I wasn’t worried. This had been her daily run for as long… read more
The effects of chronic stress on the memory center of the brain can be reduced by running. Researchers at Brigham Young University investigated the impact of stress on the connections between neurons in groups of mice who were either sedentary or who ran 5 km per day on a running wheel. The mice who ran… read more
