On November 20, 2013, Dr. Art Kramer from the University of Illinois came and spoke about the effects of physical activity on the brain and cognition. He spoke of research done on high and low fit children and an experiment of a stimulated street crossing, similar to Frogger. The high and low fit children did about the same at first, but when they were distracted by music, the high fit children were making better decisions about when to cross.
I found it very interesting that there was a difference between this children and it make me wonder about the effect of exercise in preventing or delaying degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Dr. Kramer touched on it for a minute about how it might be able to set the clock back, but I decided to look further into it. According to the Mayo Clinic, physical exercise is currently the most effective way to prevent Alzheimer's. (Lunde, 2008) There is evidence of this in a study done at the University of Chicago with mice that have been bred to develop the brain plaque that can cause Alzheimer's. Only some of the mice were allowed to exercise and those that were had 50-80% less plaque than the mice that were not allowed to exercise. The exercising mice had less plaque because they produced more of an enzyme that prevents the plaque. (Lunde, 2008)
In conclusion, if you did not have enough of a reason to exercise before, this should get you to the gym very quickly.
Lunde, A. (2008, March 25). Preventing alzheimer's: Exercise still best bet. Retrieved from
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alzheimers/MY00002
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