Saving New Brain Cells

To All:

An article in this month's (March 2009) Scientific American gives the results of animal experiments on brain cells which may be applicable to humans.

It used to be thought that no new neurons were produced in human adults, but in 1998 that was found to be incorrect.

===============================================================

formatting link
Thousands of new cells are generated in the adult brain every day, particularly in the hippo­campus, a structure involved in learning and memory. Within a couple of weeks, most of those newborn neurons will die, unless the animal is challenged to learn something new. Learning?especially that involving a great deal of effort?can keep these new neurons alive. ===============================================================

Boosters of new neuron production:

Exercise. Antidepressants. Blueberries.

Blockers of new neuron production:

Alcohol. Nicotine.

Reply to
BottleBob
Loading thread data ...

(...)

Thanks Bob, That is reassuring news!

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

Blueberry wine....

Reply to
Bipolar Bear

A net zero... but not bad....

Reply to
Proctologically Violated©®

BPB:

Heh, yeah if you've got to have an alcohol fix maybe the Blueberry component will prevent two or three neurons from croaking. But it's the other 3,000 you've got to worry about.

Reply to
BottleBob

Big time emphasis on the exercise, yo, esp. aerobic. Also walnuts, omega

3's, etc.

Dr. Dan Amen and a cupla others who have been stumping for PBS/fundraising, have been talking about this at length for a while now. Sci Am was a li'l slow on this one....

Ultimately, tho, I think it is all damage control as we age. Shit never gets better, except hindsight (and then only iffin yer lucid, which excludes jb). But, damage control can be very effective, and the consequences of *not* employing damage control can be so disastrous that these strategies are not New Age optional bullshit, but rather essential nitty-gritty survival (anti-aging) techniques. Or graceful aging.

This also suggests that while young, and brain cells are naturally accruing, they might accrue a whole lot better with these same strategies.

Amen sez that exercise is *by far* the leader in this brain effect, which surprised everyone -- except me, of course, for very simple physiological reasons. And some complicated ones.

And, iffin exercise can affect something as "removed", fitness-wise, as the brain, imagine what it does for the rest of you.

Which also creates an upside for dumb people in the thought department: Iffin yer dumb, you have to think hard about everything, so you should be growing new neurons like a muhfugguh..... which is good news for jb.

Reply to
Proctologically Violated©®

PV:

Waddell & Shors work showed that exercise may boost the production of news neurons, but it's the challenged learning that keeps some of them. Without the learning aspect they just die in a week or two.

The Sci-Am article was taken from work done by Waddell & Shors published in the European Journal of Neuroscience June 2008.

Reply to
BottleBob

So, if I keep a positive attitude while drinking blueberry brandy, smoking a cigar, and walking on the treadmill, then I'm good, right?

KG

Reply to
Kirk Gordon

Kirk:

Well I don't know. Are you volunteering to have them take a biopsy of your hippocampus to see how all that works out, eh? :)

Reply to
BottleBob

Watch out BB .

Reply to
Why

Scientific medical research has actually demonstrated that the moderate consumption of alcohol is associated with better cognitive (thinking and reasoning) skills and memory than is abstaining from alcohol. Moderate drinking doesn?t kill brain cells but helps the brain function better into old age. Studies around the world involving many thousands of people report this finding.

Your good to go KG

Reply to
Why

DD:

Yeah, nobody gets out of life alive.

Reply to
BottleBob

I threaten Bottle weekly with calling his boss. :)

In my very large union, the stats for one division would buckle your knees: An extraordinarily high proportion of retirees -- something on the order of

50%, give or take, iirc -- in that division die within *two years* of retirement. I mean, spooky, yo, spooky. And bleeve me, it's not from mourning the job.

Ahm perty safe, tho, as I will likely never ever ever be able to retire. And, even if I did retire, I believe that whoever is orchestrating my ongoing misery is enjoying it so much, He/She will prolong it as long as physiologically possible.

I was thinking of perhaps retiring in jail, esp. now that ObamaDrama may stop the privatization of jails. You cain't really retire comfortably in a privatized jail.

Reply to
Proctologically Violated©®

This is actually perty debatable, from statistical/epidemiological/cultural viewpoints, as well as pure biochemical ones.

If I have surmised correckly, most of these studies are with wine, no? The active ingredient in the health benefits from wine is resveratrol, from the grape skin. iow, it's the grape that's healthy, not the wine per se.

So grapes/grape juice affords the same benefits, or more, due to the lack of alcohol.

Alcohol is essentially a toxin. You could arger that so is everything in some quantity (and this is in fact true, and applies to water and effing air!), and that very small amounts could still be beneficial. Some make this argument for lead, in the bone matrix!! But not cadmium. :)

My personal opinion is that this is not likely. Sure, small enough ingestion proly wouldn't amount to much ito of neg effects, but I think the positive claims are just contrarian bullshit, and confused with the grape.

And, you should know that the metabolism of alcohol follows a much different pathway than either carbs, fat, or protein, which, iirc, essentially amounts to metabolic/physiologic *stress*.

AND, alcohol has its own caloric value, which happens to be 7 cals per gram -- visavis 4 for carbs, 9 for fat, and, somewhat irrelevant, 4 for protein. Most nutritionists don't even count protein cals, unless yer an effing bodybuilder, as properly ingested protein is not used for energy or energy storage (ie, fat).

Which is why high protein diets appear to be effective in dieting, but some believe (as I do) this stategy will eventually neg'ly affect yer liver/kidneys -- altho bodybuilders hotly contest this. And are unhealthy for other reasons.

So alcohol is not only effing toxic, it's effing fattening. Not to mention swelling up yer liver.

The liquor peeple brag about zero sugar, zero fat, zero effing carbs, blah blah, but they neglect to tell you that the alcohol itself is nearly as fattening as fat itself!!!

Which is why you gotta love Merka and all of its wonderful special interest groups (and Congress), who hold our collective well-being so close to their hearts....

But I do think smoking while jogging is so effing cool, yo!!! Go, Kurt, Go!!

Reply to
Proctologically Violated©®

Tried that but had to discontinue the jogging part....was too difficult keeping the cigarette lit what with the cocktail in my other hand always sloshing out onto it.

Reply to
Bipolar Bear

Thats why the more I exercise the more I want to solve machine shop problems and the more machine shop problems I solve the more I want to exercise. Hmmm. It all makes sense now. After my daily 1 hour morning workout I do know everything.

Reply to
Bill

Daily workout, one hour??? You are a God!

Reply to
Proctologically Violated©®

Not till I'm done with it!

KG

Reply to
Kirk Gordon

It's worse on a Harley unless you have one of the new auto clutches, leaves the left hand free.

Reply to
Why

Not really, just obsessively addicted to endorphins. I jones all day if I don't get my morning fix.

Reply to
Bill

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.