Sandy KumskovAnother reason to get moving (LINK)
September 2nd 2008 23:58
Category: Women's Bodies, What's Really Good For you
I'm always interested in finding another reason to encourage people to move their bodies. We're so hooked into the idea of exercise needing to be about "the burn" and lose or control weight, that when we don't care about weight for whatever reason, exercise often also goes out the window!
Driving to my clinic this morning I was listening to an interview on Radio National with a researcher, Professor Nicola T. Lautenschlager, from the University of Western Australia who's been working with older people to try to improve their memory.
The study involved two groups of people aged over 50. They had a control group maintain their normal exercise routine (for most of them it was no activity!
) and a study group walked for 50 minutes 3 times a week, or other equivalent moderate physical activity, for 24 weeks.
At the end of the study, the walkers had significantly better results in cognitive tests and had better delayed recall. That is, their memories had improved, and was still better six months after the initial program, and also a year after the program.
In other words, their memories improved!
Researchers don't know why but speculate it might be because of improved blood flow to the brain.
I spoke to the marvellous Annie Meredith, bodymind teacher extraordinaire because energy medicine is learned by studiing living bodies, so usually has a different understanding of what's going on in the body than does western medicine. She agrees the increased oxygen flow to the brain is part of the improvement. In energetic medicine, the kidneys both govern the brain and underpin the lung circulation. So when the kidneys are activated in a healthy balanced way, like regular moderate walking, not only more oxygen but more chi (life energy) is reaching the brain, and it responds!
Annie warns that if a person is on their feet for hours a day at work, or over-exercises, they risk over-stimulating the kidneys which over time depletes the brain and diminishes brain function.
Someone who sits too much (like me!) and doesn't activate their kidney yang enough, their brain starts to deteriorate over time, and memory loss begins to occur, and so on.
Annie says walking can actually improve our longevity because healthy kidneys means a healthy circulation and a healthy brain!
So there you have it - western science and eastern energetic medicine agree: walk for 30 minutes and a day and you'll feel great, mate!!
Driving to my clinic this morning I was listening to an interview on Radio National with a researcher, Professor Nicola T. Lautenschlager, from the University of Western Australia who's been working with older people to try to improve their memory.
The study involved two groups of people aged over 50. They had a control group maintain their normal exercise routine (for most of them it was no activity!
) and a study group walked for 50 minutes 3 times a week, or other equivalent moderate physical activity, for 24 weeks.At the end of the study, the walkers had significantly better results in cognitive tests and had better delayed recall. That is, their memories had improved, and was still better six months after the initial program, and also a year after the program.
In other words, their memories improved!
Researchers don't know why but speculate it might be because of improved blood flow to the brain.
I spoke to the marvellous Annie Meredith, bodymind teacher extraordinaire because energy medicine is learned by studiing living bodies, so usually has a different understanding of what's going on in the body than does western medicine. She agrees the increased oxygen flow to the brain is part of the improvement. In energetic medicine, the kidneys both govern the brain and underpin the lung circulation. So when the kidneys are activated in a healthy balanced way, like regular moderate walking, not only more oxygen but more chi (life energy) is reaching the brain, and it responds!
Annie warns that if a person is on their feet for hours a day at work, or over-exercises, they risk over-stimulating the kidneys which over time depletes the brain and diminishes brain function.
Someone who sits too much (like me!) and doesn't activate their kidney yang enough, their brain starts to deteriorate over time, and memory loss begins to occur, and so on.
Annie says walking can actually improve our longevity because healthy kidneys means a healthy circulation and a healthy brain!
So there you have it - western science and eastern energetic medicine agree: walk for 30 minutes and a day and you'll feel great, mate!!
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