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May 20, 2013
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
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Jewish World Review
Harvard Experts: Regular exercise pumps up memory, too
By
Michael Craig Miller, M.D.
How -- and why -- it works
JewishWorldReview.com |
Q: Does exercise really help you keep your memory?
A: Regular exercise may protect against the "normal" memory decline of aging.
I'm reluctant to think of any memory loss as normal, but by age 65, more than half of adults say they're concerned about memory problems.
Research from the University of Pittsburgh, however, is encouraging. It suggests that we can fight back against memory loss.
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In the study, older adults were divided into two groups. One group walked briskly for 40 minutes per day, three times a week. The other group performed stretching exercises for the same amount of time.
One year later, people in both groups were more physically fit than they were when the study began. The walkers, however, improved significantly more than the stretchers. All the participants did better on memory tests. Again, the walking group improved more than the stretching group.
Moreover, test scores correlated closely to brain scans taken at the start of the study and one year later.
A structure in the brain, the hippocampus, helps process memories. It shrinks 1-2 percent for every year we age. The stretching group saw a 1.4 percent decline. That fits with the average expectation. The hippocampus of walkers actually got 2 percent bigger on average. Memory test scores tended to correlate with hippocampus size.
Exercise probably does not prevent major neurological disorders that contribute to memory loss, such as Alzheimer's disease and most other forms of dementia.
But otherwise, this study is good news. It provides evidence that a shrinking hippocampus -- and memory loss -- may not be inevitable.
Your doctor likely already recommends moderate exercise. And this is one more reason to do it. And the work is manageable: three sessions per week of moderately vigorous aerobic activity.
It may motivate you to know that exercise doesn't just help your physical endurance. It also boosts your brain power.
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