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."

"The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg,

Thought of the week.
Whatever we practice  get get good at.  We become efficient, quick and proficient.   The things we practice becomes our default setting.  So the habit of the week's postural tips, really work if we really do practice.  It becomes our new normal.
Spread our dots,- that means expanding the triangle at the top of our chest framed by the imaginary dots at the front of our shoulders and the base of our sternum.. if we practice that 10 to 15 + times per day not only do we actually start to change our body, but we activate neural pathways,  those nerve muscle connections. The more we repeat the movement pattern,  the stronger those connections become.

However, take care. "Whatever we practice we get good at... " includes all our habits, "bad" habits, too. . Say, eating while watching TV, or biting your nails, smoking or whatever.   In "The Power of Habit"  Charles Duhigg outlines the simple ABC of a habit
A the stimulus
B the action
C the reward

Ouch, with this model, we need to figure out what ARE  the stimulus and reward are, for the nailbiting, smoking or the mindless eating. When we have cracked that little nut, then we can substitute another action in response to to the stimulus.

For example, 
A the stimulus  ... I feel lonely
B the action.     ..... I want to watch tv and eat
C the reward.   ...... a feeling of comfort.

This is a tough undertaking, and requires honesty,  when your strongly craving that reward, whatever that is, you are at the closest point to understanding the stimuls and therefore the action.

Charles Duhigg's "The Power of Habit" is well worth a read.

Draw the golden thread. Habit of the Week. - HOW

It's still too hot to seriously consider running around.  So this week's habit/homework is another posture shaper.
Draw the golden thread upwards.

Firstly you need to imagine a line the extends from the earth through the soles of our feet, up through our legs and body, finally through the crown of our head.  It needs to be a straight line.

Then by pulling upwards with thread, we not only improve the alignment of your body, neck and head, we lengthen.   This makes movements like  turning and twisting more easy. And, if we're lucky,  the more we move, the better we feel.
.

An Extra Serve*

The New York Times reports that an extra serve of vegetables per day can reduce the risk of COPD**, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,  up to 8%. This has significance for current and former smokers.

That's a powerful statistic for us all.   I am not even a smoker, but I am telling everyone this story, so we can marvel at the healing power of veg. 

Vegetables are superfoods.

They feed our gut bacteria, who seem to be more important with every passing day.
Their fibre keeps us regular.
Vegies help us "eat the rainbow", thus reducing inflamation and maybe even our risk of cancer.
Eating our vegetables is good for the planet. Far fewer emissions of greenhouse gas is required to produce a carrot, than say,  a steak.
You can grow your own -  If you dont have a garden, you might have a patio, or a pot to grow herbs.  A day with parsley is a sad day, indeed.
Sprouts count too.  You don't need an acre to sprout a handful of mung beans.  They are nutrition dynamite.

I'm trying to "pimp"  my meals by increasing the amount of vegetables each evening. I am seeking to become a better cook of vegetarian meals.  I'm curious about good cuisine so when we go out, I'll order vegetarian. Do you have any great vegetarian recipes?

Breaking news!  I  just heard the statistic that on average an one third of the food consumed by Australians is processed food. Yikes!


* In Australian slang "to give someone a serve" means to scold or reprimand them. Ha

**COPD is a group of lung diseases that block airflow and make it difficult to breathe. According to the Mayo clinic
"Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are the most common conditions that make up COPD.  Damage to the lungs from COPD can't be reversed."

Move more, hospital less

Newcastle University has conducted an interesting study which shows that middle aged people can reduce their number days in hospital by walking a little extra.

Not even the famous 10,000 steps are required

Researchers showed in a commendabley long study that, in middle aged people,  increasing the number of steps per day from 4,500 to 8,300 hospital stays were reduced between 4% and 8%. And even 1000 extra steps were shown accrue some benefit.

The study was able to be carried out for such a long period of time that participants' data was collected after the first two years elapsed. This interval removed  any short term benefits from the exercise itself and so researchers were able to look at really long term benefits.

Yeah but!
And there's always a "but" the most benefit, naturally accrued to the least active person. It makes sense:- a marathon runner is not going to be benefitting in any meaningful way from a few thousand extra steps.

Every step counts - the good news

Walking out to the letterbox, going to class, even a gentle class is more than 3,000 steps. Also aqua aerobics counts. You can even sneak in a few steps while waiting for the bus, standing in one place,  just shift your weight from one foot to the other. No one will even notice.

Here's the rub. We can't afford not to exercise

Exercise trends come and go, exercise theories come and go, but the benefits are real and measurable for the individual and for society.

A Healthy Breakfast idea - Cinnamon and Cacao Granola.

Our friend Jo brought this delicious dish to Christmas morning breakfast.  She says it is fast and very easy.  We think  we will add this to our bircher muesli. So here is the recipe.


Cinnamon and Cacao Granola

150g Coconut flakes
80g pepitas - pumpkin seeds
80g sesame seeds roughly chopped
125g pecans
80ml rice malt syrup, or honey - we're using honey
60ml melted coconut oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbs cacao powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Method

Preheat oven to 125C/255F
Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl
Combine (use your hands) to coat evenly
Line two trays with baking paper
Bake for 30 minutes turning once
Remove from oven and add goji berries or other dried fruit, as desired
Store in an airtight container.

Mobilize and Stretch, Habit of the Week, HOW

Each week we try one thing.  One small practice to implement. It is like homework.  And the more you practise the easier it gets.

This week's habit is to mobilise and stretch your joints.  This is a beneficial, especially if you sit for prolonged periods, commuting, or computing, driving, studying, sewing or doing that cryptic crossword.

As we grow tired and stiffen up, pain may overtake us. One way to alleviate the pain of stiffness, in say, neck, shoulders, or back is to do small semi circular movements of the shoulders, and ribs. These movements bring extra blood flow to the area and can help stimulate joint fluid.  And ah! we feel better.

An example may include shrugging the shoulders, or hands on the shoulders and draw circles with our elbows.  Lengthen the back of our necks and gently turn our head from side to side.
And, of course, stretching.
Three big stretches stand out, i.e. most bang for your buck.  
One of the most valuable stretch is the calf muscle stretch.
Secondly, the hamstring stretch
Thirdly, the deep hip stretch.

We talked about these in class, we do them every week.  They keep hips, knees and backs healthy and in the case of the calf muscle help to restore chronically tight muscles, and thus help our feet and knees.

Habit of the week, Stretching and mobilising,  Big impact, little effort.