Weightloss boosts memory, says new study

New York: Weightloss boosts memory, according to a new study from Kent State University in Ohio.

Tests were carried out on 150 volunteers who weighed 21 stone plus and these were compared with healthy people.

In many of the tests the scores of a quarter of the obese participants were so low they were considered learning disabled.

Following the tests, two thirds of them has gastric by-pass surgery and lost an average of 3st. 8lb. And after 12 weeks took the same tests again.

In the group who had lost weight, the scores involving memory had been boosted, as well as improvements in organisational skills.

The results of 41 volunteers who declined obesity surgery declined further.

The researchers discovered, by using magnetic resonance imaging of the brain that obese people appeared to have damage to the organis substances around the nerve fibres responsible for chemical brainmemory.jpgmessage communications.

 

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Exercise boosts brainpower in rats

Gothenburg: Moderate exercise stimulates the brain, according to new research from Sweden.

The key to being quick-witted lies in working out little and often, but taking too much exercise can have the opposite effect.

Biologist Andrew Naylor who led the research at Gothenburg University said that they had looked at how exercise affected the brains of rats. Half were given access to treadmills. After nine days the rats taking exercise had five times as many new brain cells in the hippocampus, the area responsible for memory, than those who did not.

Another experiment showed who took lots of exercise were no better than those who took none.

Dr Naylor believes the results can be explained by the actions of hormones – ‘ feelgood’ endorphins and glucocorticoids, which are produced during stress.
The former are produced during exercise and stimulate the production of new brain cells. But if the body becomes stressed from over- exercise, their effects are cancelled out by the latter, which slows the production of new brain cells.