Exercise and Alzheimer's

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

Art Kramer: An even better reason to exercise (as if we really needed another)

I attended Art Kramer's talk with two of my close friends. By the time we left the event, we had made a pact to be exercise buddies during the upcoming semester. We'll see how well that plan holds up, but it got me thinking: why was Art Kramer's presentation so much more motivating than the MILLIONS of other reasons that there are to exercise regularly? The fact that exercising is good for us has really never been disputed, unless you're injured nothing but good can come of it. However, we often think of the benefits as being purely aesthetic and physical. Sure, it's great to feel good, look good, and stay physically healthy into old age, all of these are extremely desirable benefits. However, I would argue that, especially as we age, we are much more attached to our mental acuity than to our physical well-being. Physical decline is uncomfortable and inconvenient, mental decline is debilitating. On a certain level we ARE our minds; to lose mental capability is essentially to lose a part of ourselves. People seem to have a much easier time coming to terms with the physical losses of aging. Can't play a sport that you used to enjoy anymore? It's a bummer, but after all I am getting older. Can't find your car keys or remember the name of a distant acquaintance? That's it, it's over, the dementia is here. So, Kramer's studies give us a special sense of hope. Something that is usually never associated with mental preservation has suddenly become an option, even when mental faculties seem to be on the way out. The study that Kramer presented about the effect of exercise in patients that already had Alzheimer's, MS and Parkinson's was probably the most impressive to me. It's easy to believe that exercise could have a positive effect in people who still have a healthy brain, but when it can improve or help lessen the effect on already diseased brains you know that it is rather powerful. What did I take away from this talk? It's never too late to improve your mind and exercise really does help everything.

Can Exercise Make You Smarter?

The Art Kramer talk was one of the most influential talks I have ever attended. Kramer emphasized a point that everyone has heard at least once in their lifetime, exercise is great for you. Kramer presented this argument with many studies and experiments and quite frankly, even with my busy schedule he got me to go to the gym. He gave various examples about how exercising allows the brain to shrink less in areas that become smaller with age and that exercise can even turn the elderly into incredible athletes. He gave the example of Olga Kotelko, a 94 year old female who started exercising at age 75 and has won 26 world records and was named a world class field athlete. Kramer has become an expert in this field of study and through many years of research he has proven that aerobic physical activity increases neurotransmitters in the brain and therefore there are more neuronal connections that trigger better functional connectivity in the brain. This also leads to the phenomenon that aerobic physical activity can help decrease diseases that involve a decline in cognition, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The whole presentation presented the benefits that come with exercise, such as decreases in anxiety and depression and increases in one’s well-being and self-esteem. Overall, Art Kramer was able to support his original opening statement about the flexibility of your brain, you either use it or lose it.

Exercise and the Brain

Senile. When you hear this word the next reasonable step is to visualize an elderly person. As one ages, the loss of mental faculties is the most well-known characteristic. This outcome was thought to be inevitable before researches found an easy way to slow and reverse this process. Art Kramer of Beckman Institute for advanced Science and Technology discovered the positive effect of exercise on the brain. It is known that increase in physical activity will decrease the risk of diabetes, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, and many other diseases. However, what has now been discovered is that the degrading of cognition can be slowed down by performing simple physical workouts. Dr. Kramer and his lab have tested older adults that have significant improvement in brain function and test much better on cognition experiments. Even more recently, scientists have now discovered that exercise promotes neurogenesis. What was once believed that humans could not grow new neurons has evolved to new belief of “ brain cell growth through exercise”.  Even more exciting is that they may be able to create a pill to promote brain development. A certain part of the brain that is stimulated by neurogenesis is the hippocampal area. Through endurance exercise, scientists have discovered that a protein called FNDC₅ is released into the bloodstream. When this protein reaches the brain another protein, Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor(BDNF), is also releases, which promotes nerve growth and reconnection of synapses. The hope is that scientist will be able to capture the protein that directly stimulates neural cell growth and offer to Parkinson and Alzheimer patients.  Even though, it has been seen to increase hippocampal growth in mice, researchers are still studying these effects and looking forward to the release of this drug to degenerative disease patients. Even if a person does not have these specific diseases, the idea of neurogenesis and slowing the aging of your brain should encourage you to turn off the tv and break a sweat.

 http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2013/10/13/how-exercise-makes-your-brain-grow/ 

Biotechnology in Animals

At the Neuroscience Banquet Emily Anthes came and spoke about her book Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts. Most of the experiments that she talked about took place with animals and what stuck out to me was at the end of the talk when she talked about being pre-science and pro-animal. It made me think, how can people be so against testing on animals when it has brought such good things to the human race? Things like cures for diseases and vaccinations. It has even done things for veterinary medicine.

Since there are many animal activists that are against any kind of animal testing or anything they believe violates an animal's rights, I wanted to see what the benefits were for the animals. Since Frankenstein's Cat was about animals and biotechnology I focused on that when researching. We as humans have been using selective breeders for a long time. This is how we currently have so many breeds of dogs which are actually the most diverse species in the world (Anthes, 2013). Although there are some things that are bad for the animals, there are also benefits to selective breeding. One example is improving resistance to disease (BBC, 2013). This should be like music to an animal activists ears. Being a dog owner myself, I can say that I am happy that the selective breeding of dogs has helped create animals that can maybe be with us longer than they would have otherwise. Also, selective breeding can "remove characteristics that can cause injury" (BBC, 2013).

Therefore, I believe that some animal activists need to take a closer look at what some of this animal testing and selective breeding can do for animals and for people. It is the only way we can continue to progress in the medical and biotechnology world.

Anthes, E. (2013). Frankenstein's cat: Cuddling up to biotech's brave new beasts. (1st ed., p. 5). New   
          York: Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
BBC. (2013). Ethics guide: Biotechnology. Retrieved from  
          http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/using/biotechnology_1.shtml

Kramer & Mammen on Exercise

Professor Arthur Kramer from university of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana gave a lecture at Loyola University Chicago on November 20^th on his research done on the effects of physical activity and exercise on the brain and cognition.  With his years of research he has found that aerobic if strongly associated with better functional connectivity in the brain.  This is due to increased brain plasticity caused by exercise.  Therefore, aerobic exercise can help decrease diseases that result in a decline in cognition, such as the progression of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.   It also helps increase brain volumes in regions which normally decrease in volume with age, such as the hippocampus.  Kramer also mentioned how benefits lie in decreases of anxiety and depression, and increases in self-esteem, which are all innately advantages to one’s well-being.

Science Daily further explored this phenomenon by studying an experiment done by PhD candidate George Mammen.  Mammen published a review in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine when he found that moderate exercise can prevent depressive episodes.  This study stands out from the rest because it was the first longitudinal study that actually looked at exercise and mental health changes in the same individuals over the course of 26 years.  Mammen notes that genetic factors do play a large role, but we can influence those factors and their effects by controlling other aspects of our lives, such as physical exercise.  We need to consider exercise as a preventive measure so we can wean our society off prescription medicines.  For example, if a person has a long standing family history of depression in older age, they can be encouraged to exercise moderately starting a young age in order to prevent the onset of depressive episodes.

1.       George Mammen, Guy Faulkner. Physical Activity and the Prevention of Depression. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2013; 45 (5): 649 DOI:10.1016/j.amepre.2013.08.001

2.       University of Toronto (2013, October 28). Moderate exercise not only treats, but prevents depression. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 30, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2013/10/131028163003.htm

Art Kramer Talk

I really enjoyed the Art Kramer Talk. It basically emphasized the point that we've all heard countless times from our parents and elders: that exercise is good for you. Kramer showed how much it's good for you, and how exercise affects the brain directly. One aspect that really caught my attention was his demonstration of how exercise affects the ability to multitask. It's interesting how children who are fit are also able to do multitasking better than those children who did very little exercise. He proved this with the video of the treadmill experiment where a fit child is able to cross the road while talking on the cell phone, but if a less fit child does the same, it would not work.  The most interesting part of the talk was the part about Olga Kotelko, who woman over 90 years who is still a Canadian track athlete. At such an age she can actively run and compete in races. Her exercise increases neurotransmitters in the brain and allows greater neuronal connections, which in turn causes her activeness in sports. Exercising allows the brain to shrink less as you age.