Want Bigger Brains? Walk

True, there’s no home-gym equipment designed to build up your brain muscle. But a simple walk will do.

A new study shows that regular cardiovascular exercise can enlarge the hippocampus — a brain structure vital to memory function.

Fit Body, Better Memory
As we age, our brains tend to shrink, and our memory can wither in the process. But a new study shows that an aerobically fit person has a larger hippocampus and performs better on spatial memory tests than a less fit subject. In the study, being more fit did not slow the rate of hippocampal shrinkage once it began, but it meant that people generally had more to work with once shrinking started. And that means less total deterioration overall. Continue reading

The Hobby That Leads to a Longer Life

A hobby is more than a way to pass the time. It may be a way to get more of it.

Know which hobby has probably added years to the longest-lived people in the world? It’s gardening. Okinawans — whose men typically live to age 78, women to age 86 — have a long tradition of working with soil.

Flex Your Green Thumb
The benefits of gardening reach body and soul, according to Dan Buettner and his book The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest. “It’s a source of daily physical activity that exercises the body with a wide range of motion and helps reduce stress,” he writes. So, as the ground thaws and the seed catalogues start arriving, make a pact to plan — and plant — a plot this year. Continue reading

Get Fitter, Faster

Want to lower lousy LDL cholesterol and raise heart-lung health faster than Oscar-gown knockoffs hit the stores? Just say, “I’ll take the stairs.” And do it.

We’re not talking about climbing the Empire State Building. If you do just 2 minutes of stair climbing — that’s a couple of flights — five or six times a day, in 8 short weeks you can:

• Increase your heart-lung fitness by almost 20%, upping your odds of a longer, better life
• Reduce bad LDL cholesterol by 8% and raise good HDL by about that much, shrinking your risk of a heart attack, stroke, erectile dysfunction, and wrinkles (all are increased by LDL) Continue reading