Does your Dentate Gyrus need some exercise?

At Back to Health, we seek to promote active lifestyles among our patients, especially as they reach middle age and beyond. This is because we know that people remain functional and independent much longer when they engage in regular physical activity, and there is a raft of studies to support this fact.   

Now it appears that regular, moderate aerobic exercise also facilitates the growth of new brain cells, probably by increasing blood flow to the dentrate gyrus. What the heck is that, you ask? It is a small section in the area of the brain called the hippocampus which is crucial for memory. In research at Columbia University in 2007, scientists discovered that when mice ran on their little wheels they produced new brain cells at twice the rate of sedentary mice. Additional research at the Salk Institute by Fred Gage, one of the foremost neuroscientist working today, found that exercise had the same effect on elderly mice. The benefit of the neurogenesis was that the exercising mice were much better learners than their sedentary counterparts.    

In follow up studies on humans, it was found that exercisers had nearly twice the blood flow of non exercisers and that the increase occurred in the area of the brain that is critical for memory-you guessed it-the dentate gyrus!     

Over the last several years scientists have been focusing attention on what-if anything- can help our brains as we age. There are lots of ideas and many false claims, but at this point the scientific research indicates that exercise is the answer.    

The great part about this is it's something that we can do for ourselves and it's free!

Professor Gage recommends that we all do something active-even walking at a moderate pace- for 30 minutes each day. So get your shoes on and get going; your dentate gyrus will appreciate it!     

 

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