One of the more popular sayings in the fitness world is, "if you don't use it, you'll lose it." It refers to any muscle you have managed to build, but also any gains you've experienced in fitness. The benefits for using it are well known. Being fit and healthy means you'll have more energy, sleep better and be less likely to suffer from depression.
But what good is going for a run if you cannot remember where you last left your running shoes? While many people neglect their bodies, just as many neglect their brains.
"We all know that keeping physically fit is vital to our wellbeing, but we often overlook the health and fitness of our brain," Florey Neuroscience Institutes Associate Professor Anthony Hannan says.
"Over recent years we have come to understand that brain exercise plus physical exercise plus a nutritionally balanced diet equals a healthy lifestyle. Challenging and stimulating your brain regularly can be protective against brain ageing/deterioration. For instance, if you have used your brain in new and interesting ways over the long-term, you are likely to be less at risk of developing such neurodegenerative disorders as Alzheimer's disease."
Using your brain and challenging it every day is crucial to living a long and fulfilling life.
"There are no certainties, but neurodegeneration is a distinct possibility," Hannan says. "By keeping your brain active and alive over the longer term it is likely that enhanced mental activity, when combine with physical activity, can induce both neuroprotection in the brain but also functional compensation for the ravages of ageing."
Lifting weights and going for a run are just two of the things we can do to stay fit and healthy. When it comes to the brain the methods are different, but the theory is the same. You need to train your brain and do it regularly. "There is evidence that regular cognitive exercise can be beneficial in training the brain to undertake certain tasks more efficiently and effectively," Hannan says.
This article was published in the Herald Sun on 15/11/2010. Download the press briefing from the Related Documents panel on the right of this page.
“Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind.”
