We know that exercise is good for the body, but now researchers have found that it’s also good for the BRAIN: Both aerobic exercise and strength training play a vital role in maintaining brain and cognitive health throughout life.
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In the future, you may be able to forgo exercise and still stay healthy, by having your genes tweaked instead. By tweaking a single gene, scientists have mimicked in sedentary mice the heart-strengthening effects of two weeks of endurance training.
The genetic manipulation spurred the animals’ heart muscle cells to proliferate and grow larger by an amount comparable to normal mice that swam for up to three hours a day. Alas, this type of gene manipulation can’t be done in humans, but these findings may suggest a future strategy for repairing injured hearts through muscle regeneration.
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Walking as the best exercise for the body AND the brain. It’s great for losing weight, and new research suggests that walking at least six miles per week may protect brain size and preserve memory in old age. But don’t go for a walk on New Year’s Day–more walkers are killed on the road on that day than any other time of year. It’s called "DWW"–Drinking While Walking.
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A new study shows that just 3 months of aerobic exercise decreased body fat and calorie intake in overweight and obese people, and researchers this is due to a basic change in the central nervous system. Exercise can even help you stave off colon cancer. Many experts now consider colon cancer a largely preventable disease, but a new study finds most doctors neglect to tell their patients about one important step they can take to reduce their risk: exercise! But there’s one time when it’s UNHEALTHY to exercise: if you’re coming down with the flu!
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