Anti-Aging Tenets Key to Brain Health

Studies presented at Neuroscience 2013, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (Washington DC, USA), reinforce the potential impact of anti-aging tenets for healthy lifestyle choices to address depression, the effects of aging, and learning. Jennifer Arnold, from Louisiana State University (Louisiana, USA), and colleagues report that as few as 12 consecutive days of exercise in aging rats helps preserve and improve movement function, an effect possibly caused by changes in dopamine. The results suggest that exercise could stave off or reverse the slowed movements that are hallmarks of age.  Yong Tang,from Chongqing Medical University (China), presented data that demonstrated that long-term exercise in aging rats improves memory function, as well as increases the number of blood vessels in the white matter of their brains — the tracts that carry information between different areas of the brain. And Michael Salvatore; from Louisiana State University (Louisiana, USA), shared evidence that a low calorie diet starting in middle-age onward protected rats against the effects of aging on movement. Collectively, these studies suggest that healthy behaviors, such as regular exercise and managed caloric intake, are practical approaches to maintain or improve neurological performance and cognitive skills.