Meditation - There's so much evidence

Bridget Schulte, The Washington Post has interviewed a Neuroscientist Sara Lazar, of Harvard,about her personal meditation.   She benefitted so much that she changed her research.  This is a great article, worth a look , if you are into science, like me.

Here's the link:-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/05/26/harvard-neuroscientist-meditation-not-only-reduces-stress-it-literally-changes-your-brain/?tid=ss_fb-bottom&utm_term=.cb6759e813e2

Dancing! For the Brain?

There was an older European lady I knew.  In fact, she was in her late eighties. She had completed two degrees since retirement.   She took up aqua aerobics with gusto, because she thought she needed to give her body attention - she had already been looking after her brain after all, and it was time to work on her fitness.

Little did we know, however, how beneficial fitness was to the functioning of the brain.

Scientists have known that the white matter in our brains is responsible form transmitting signals.  To quote the New York Times:-
"White matter consists of specialised cells and their offshoots that pass messages between neurons and from one part of the brain to another."
As we age our white matter frays and becomes thinner. The fraying of the white matter means our brains'processing speeds slow down as we age.

A study conducted by the University of Illinois, Urbana, wanted to know whether exercise would slow down this fraying process and while they were at it, what type of exercise would be most useful.

This was an interesting experiment because,  in addition to testing processing speed of participants' brains. Brain scans were administered to measure their white matter.

The participants were aged 60 to 70 years of age and were divided into three groups.
Three different exercise regimes were  undertaken.
1.  A walking regime,  a total of three hours per week.
2. Stretch and balance class, three times a week
3. Learn country-dancing, three lessons a week

Six months later their white matter was measured and their processing speeds were tested.
Results were amazing and should really cause a stir.

All groups improved in the speed of mental processing.   However the brain scans showed a degeneration of the white matter in the six months, to an extent that was surprising even to the researchers.
" The degeneration was especially noticeable in the oldest volunteers and those who had been the most sedentary before joining the study.", New York Times.

 Except the dancers, whose white matter IMPROVED. .

What is the lesson here?

Keeping active in old age has consequences for our conserving mental ability. It is worth taking a closer look at the content of the dance class in the study:-

"These men and women showed up to a studio three times a week for an hour and practiced increasingly intricate country-dance choreography, with the group shaping itself into fluid lines and squares and each person moving from partner to partner." New York Times

During our exercise class, we form lines, circles, square. We do partner work.  We try to learn new routines.  It might just be worth perservering those frustrating new routines, because we lose our marbles from the feet up.

From the New York Times  Article by Gretchen Reynolds, "Walk, Stretch or Dance? Dancing may be best for the brain."

And Another Serve

An Apple a day keeps the psychologist away.  It was reported on the The Age that eating a high quality diet can reduce the risk of depression.  This means extra serves of fruit and veg.  If we bump up our daily dose of fruit and vegetables up to between five and seven serves we can reduce the risk of depression.  WOW

It gives me pause though.  Fruit and Veg!  Exercise!

How come  that which, literally, makes us feel great, physically and mentally, is what we turn away from at a given moment.  We seek comfort instead of movement. We'd rather stay in than go out for a walk or a run.  And we choose rich food instead of the good stuff. It makes us feel fine, in the moment, but makes us feel sluggish and heavy afterwards.

Our caveman heritage may have something to do with our moment-to-moment choices.  Maybe we are seeking shelter in the cave again.  And maybe we are "gorging" on the bounty, in order to prepare for an upcoming famine.

Our environment - obeso-genic

We live in an environment, where not only are we surrounded by the stimulus to eat, it is practically unavoidable.  Everywhere there are billboards, commercials  on TV cooking shows have practically turned cooking into a religion.  And here is a trick, bright coloured packaging of processed foods speaks directly to that ancient hunter-gatherer brain.  It's as though we see a bright berry in the forest and we go towards it.(I'm growing cherry tomatoes and my eyes are drawn to the red jewels compulsively).
In addition,  the brightly coloured store-bought packet keeps on prompting us as it sits in our home in our pantry, and  when we use it and on the way to the bin.

I hate being manipulated by packaging.

More veg

An Apple a day keeps the psychologist away.  It was reported on the The Age that eating a high quality diet can reduce the risk of depression.  This means extra serves of fruit and veg.  If we bump up our daily dose of fruit and vegetables up to between five and seven serves we can reduce the risk of depression.  WOW

It gives me pause though.  Fruit and Veg!  Exercise!

How come  that which, literally, makes us feel great, physically and mentally, is what we turn away from at a given moment.  We seek comfort instead of movement. We'd rather stay in than go out for a walk or a run.  And we choose rich food instead of the good stuff. It makes us feel fine, in the moment, but makes us feel sluggish and heavy afterwards.

Our caveman heritage may have something to do with our moment-to-moment choices.  Maybe we are seeking shelter in the cave again.  And maybe we are "gorging" on the bounty, in order to prepare for an upcoming famine.

Our environment - obeso-genic

We live in an environment, where not only are we surrounded by the stimulus to eat, it is practically unavoidable.  Everywhere there are billboards, commercials  on TV cooking shows have practically turned cooking into a religion.  And here is a trick, bright coloured packaging of processed foods speaks directly to that ancient hunter-gatherer brain.  It's as though we see a bright berry in the forest and we go towards it.(I'm growing cherry tomatoes and my eyes are drawn to the red obeso-genic,  compulsively).
In addition,  the brightly coloured store-bought packet keeps on prompting us as it sits in our home in our pantry, and  when we use it and on the way to the bin.  In other words, it's  still advertising.

Take a H.I.I.T

As in days of yore, those, in the know, are recommending High Intensity Interval Training H.I.I.T. for older adults.  A previous study, from the eighties , in Norway says that high intensity Interval  training is not only suitable for older adults, but is recommended for for those even in cardiac rehabilitation. You've got to love Norway. So the very people that we would "tip toe around", and whom we would treat with "kid gloves" turn out to thrive with a bit of huff and puff.


New York Times reports that H.I.I.T is especially beneficial to older adults.  It works at the cellular level. The mitochondria are the power houses of the body's cells. As we age, our mitochondria reduce in size and power. What keeps our mitochondria in good shape is some high intensity work.   However, with age, our tendons, muscles and ligaments are more inclined to sprain, strain and tear.  So while older adults can certainly enjoy the benefits of higher intensity workouts, we need to safeguard ourselves. We must wear correct shoes for safety, and we must warm up to prevent injury. This is where the interval training makes sense.  Some intervals classes include high intensity blocks of one minute duration,  some 20 seconds duration I believe an older adult can  work really hard for 8 seconds...Then take it down to moderate  for 12 seconds. Our bodies adapt to the load they are given, so requiring less and less of yourself means actually reduces our capacity. Thus

So included in classes are short intervals of 8 seconds fast and 12 seconds slow.  In class we do four sessions of two sets each.  This means 8 times altogether.  It doesn't seem like much while you sit and read about it , however these intervals are  interspersed with our regular aerobic exercise.  So we really are seeking to get puffed.
So let's step up to the challenge of High Intensity Interval Training.  It just might be the fountain of youth.

Dancing? For your brain!?

There was an older European lady I knew.  In fact, she was in her late eighties. She had completed two degrees since retirement.   She took up aqua aerobics with gusto, because she thought she needed to give her body some attention - she had already been looking after her brain after all, and it was time to work on her fitness.

Little did we know, however, how beneficial fitness was to the functioning of the brain.

Scientists have known that the white matter in our brains is responsible form transmitting signals.  To quote the New York Times*:-
"White matter consists of specialised cells and their offshoots that pass messages between neurons and from one part of the brain to another."
As we age our white matter frays and becomes thinner. The fraying of the white matter means our brains'processing speeds slow down as we age.

A study conducted by the University of Illinois, Urbana, wanted to know whether exercise would slow down this fraying process and while they were at it, what type of exercise would be most useful.

This was an interesting experiment because,  in addition to testing processing speed of participants' brains. Brain scans were administered to measure their white matter.

The participants were aged 60 to 70 years of age and were divided into three groups.
Three different exercise regimes were  undertaken.
1.  A walking regime,  a total of three hours per week.
2. Stretch and balance class, three times a week
3. Learn country-dancing, three lessons a week

Six months later their white matter was measured and their processing speeds were tested.
Results were amazing and should really cause a stir.

All groups improved in the speed of mental processing.   However the brain scans showed a degeneration of the white matter in the six months, to an extent that was surprising even to the researchers.
" The degeneration was especially noticeable in the oldest volunteers and those who had been the most sedentary before joining the study.", New York Times.

 Except the dancers, whose white matter IMPROVED. .

What is the lesson here?

Keeping active in old age has consequences for our conserving mental ability. It is worth taking a closer look at the content of the dance class:-

" These men and women showed up to a studio three times a week for an hour and practiced increasingly intricate country-dance choreography, with the group shaping itself into fluid lines and squares and each person moving from partner to partner." New York Times

During our exercise class, we form lines, circles, square. We do partner work.  We try to learn new routines.  It might just be worth perservering those frustrating new routines, because we lose our marbles from the feet up.

From the New York Times  Article by Gretchen Reynolds, "Walk, Stretch or Dance? Dancing may be best for the brain."