Many view aging as a predestined journey towards senility, dementia or Alzheimers…or at least that’s what current American statistics would have us believe. Those with Alzheimers have no ability to create new memories and store them in their hippocampus — that part of the brain intimately involved in memory and cognitive sharpness. When an area of the brain is unused or un-exercised the gray matter begins to shrink because the neurons have pruned back their expansive maps. In an article posted in the PNAS journal in Feb. 2011 it was noted that exercise increased the size of the hippocampus, increased a vital growth hormone responsible for neurogenesis (BDNF), and improved memory. So perhaps choosing the stairs instead of the elevator has far greater impact than we might think.
