Exercise to maintain and activate memory

     'Mens sana in corpore sano'. This derives from the Latin aphorism Satire X of the Roman poet Juvenal, in which, after asking what people would call to life, gives, among several other responses, a healthy mind in a healthy body.

     A healthy body can hope that in several ways. One of them is 'inherit', ie, receiving agenetic legacy of our ancestors that includes genes that give us both strength and metabolic flexibility so as to be capable of supporting both our body and to adapt to the stresses of everyday life. But we can earn it by adopting a healthy lifestyleincluding two on which we have more ability to control: diet and physical activity.

      In this regard, much has been said and talk about healthy nutrition and is not yet clear what the 'perfect menu'. Most likely, they vary from person to person as suggested bythe science of Nutrigenomics. The same goes for physical activity. Is it enough to the custom of leisurely ride through the streets or parks? Or do we really need to 'sweatshirt' to get the benefits? Probably this is also something individual in accordance with our genome. What seems clear is that any activity is better than none.

     Exercise not only impacts on physical health (healthy body), it is also a major contributor to mental health (mens sana) improving mood and helping to overcome depression. In addition, you can very positively influence memory.

     The ability to create, store and access memories is an essential part of every day life.From remembering where the keys are left to memorize information for a class, memory allows us to function and interact properly with the world around us. Not surprisingly, then, we all worry about memory. While some prefer to selectively eraseportions of the same, what is clear is that 'memory loss' or not being able to 'remember things as before' are some of the first indications that lead us to perceive that our brain is aging.

     Therefore, in a society that is shifting the population pyramid to increasingly advanced ages, the longer maintain a healthy mind, including memory, it is increasingly imperative for individual and social welfare.

Effect on young and old

     Just in the last month several studies have shown how exercise is an important ally for capturing memories and their maintenance. This was the case in a study conducted in a group of Irish college students showed that after being exposed to unknown photographs and names of those who had performed exhaustive exercise (bicycle)remember names much better than those who had been this time resting. But these volunteers were young and probably at the peak of his intellectual capacity.

     Would this also apply to older age and potentially more engaged in mental activity? In this regard, Brazilian scientists found that in sedentary aged rats and the mere fact of running for about five minutes several times a week led to activate the biochemical processes associated with memory coming to score on memory tests as well as rats much young people. Similar results were obtained by researchers in California and published in the journal Neuroscience.

     The common denominator in all these studies was the activation of a molecule knownas brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF, English brain-derived neurotrophicfactor) that belongs to the neurotrophins, a family of proteins that promote survival of neurons.

     For some time, scientists have believed that the BDNF helps explain why mental function seems to improve with exercise and this series of studies in humans and animals strengthened with this belief. But of particular interest is the observation that these molecules are activated and exert their function in response to exercise even at older ages, suggesting that it is never late and opens enormous possibilities in the adult population to prevent the decline of the years and even as therapy in olderpeople already affected by memory loss.

     The evidence of the importance of BDNF in humans comes also from California in research published in the journal Translational Psychiatry. The researchers studied the behavior of 144 drivers, aged between 40 and 65, in a flight simulator periodicallyfor two years. During this time, the performance of the pilots was a widespreaddecline and anticipated, but the decline was particularly rapid among those drivers who had a genetic variation of the BDNF gene, resulting in reduced activity of this protein in the brain .

    This suggests that perhaps the carriers of this genetic variant would be the priority of preventive measures based on physical exercise and thereby significantly extending the period of optimal mental activity of these individuals

     But we should not wait for scientific knowledge allows us to distinguish between those who benefit more or less the exercise. What is clear is that we all benefit andan active lifestyle is essential to maintain the balance between the physical and mental health quality necessary to live with each of the stages of our lives.