WALKING ENLARGES YOUR MEMORY CAPACITY

   Sedentary adults aged 55 and older participated in a study at the University of Illinois.   They agreed to either walk briskly for 40 minutes three times a week, or spend an equivalent amount of time doing weight training exercises with a test to be taken one year later. 

   A year later, researchers conducted a follow-up brain scan to assess any changes.  According to the report of this research published in Science News, they found that the hippocampus, an important area of the brain’s ability regarding memory formation had grown 2% larger in the walkers, while that same area had shrunk by 1.5 percent among the weight training group. The researchers estimated that the beneficial effect was equivalent to taking off about two years from the person’s mental aging.

   THE POWER OF SMILING

   There is power in a smile and we’re not just pointing out how it may improve one’s appearance but its positive effects on our body’s health, as confirmed by several studies described in Forbes magazine.  When we smile, there is neural feedback to the brain.  One effect is that the brain then interprets emotions differently.  When pain is suppressed happiness is emphasized.  One study found that the brain responds to the smile as it would to the consumption of chocolate or to the receipt of a large sum of money.  Smiling is healthy and our blood pressure goes down, and as a result there are other positive health effects as well.  In one study, a comparison of the extent of smiling among graduates in a school yearbook predicted the extent of the student’s level of happiness 30 years later.  A study among baseball players in their baseball card photographs predicted their longevity.  Those players with the biggest smiles lived, on average, seven years longer than those with the least smiles.  These studies were reviewed by Ron Gutman who discovered it during a presentation he was giving.  When he smiled, the fatigue and pain would disappear and a new source of stamina and enthusiasm took over.