[Buddha-l] Yoga or walking: Which increases the hippocampus and memory as one ages?

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

Conclusion: aerobics and work out is bad for your memory.

erik

Op 08-02-11 05:30, Dan Lusthaus schreef:
> Time to take a stroll, it seems.
>
> Remember Buddha walked most of his life (except during the rainy season).
>
> Dan
>
> from NYTimes:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/health/research/08fitness.html?_r=1
> http://tinyurl.com/678j2n7
>
> Vital Signs
> Fitness: A Walk to Remember? Study Says Yes
> By PAULA SPAN
> Published: February 7, 2011
>
> In healthy adults, the hippocampus - a part of the brain important to the
> formation of memories - begins to atrophy around 55 or 60. Now psychologists
> are suggesting that the hippocampus can be modestly expanded, and memory
> improved, by nothing more than regular walking.
> Well
>
> In a study published on Jan. 31 in The Proceedings of the National Academy
> of Sciences, researchers randomly assigned 120 healthy but sedentary men and
> women (average age mid-60s) to one of two exercise groups. One group walked
> around a track three times a week, building up to 40 minutes at a stretch;
> the other did a variety of less aerobic exercises, including yoga and
> resistance training with bands.
>
> After a year, brain scans showed that among the walkers, the hippocampus had
> increased in volume by about 2 percent on average; in the others, it had
> declined by about 1.4 percent. Since such a decline is normal in older
> adults, "a 2 percent increase is fairly significant," said the lead author,
> Kirk Erickson, a psychologist at the University of Pittsburgh. Both groups
> also improved on a test of spatial memory, but the walkers improved more.
>
> While it is hard to generalize from this study to other populations, the
> researchers were delighted to learn that the hippocampus might expand with
> exercise. "And not that much exercise," Dr. Erickson pointed out.
>
> People don't even have to join a gym, he noted. They just need shoes.
> ---
>
> The actual study
> http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/01/25/1015950108
>
>
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