memory •

Breast Cancer Survivors Memory Issues Fixed By Exercise Therapy

July 9, 2016 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

Breast Cancer Treatment Fatigue is Countered By Exercise

Exercise for women can easily combat the stress brought on by breast cancer.

STATES CHRONICLE – A new study has revealed that the phrase “a healthy mind in a healthy body” is especially true in the case of women who survived breast cancer.

After undergoing treatment for breast cancer, the majority of women report memory problems. While the causes can vary, the truth is that women do have these issues. The study focused on finding applicable and safe ways to combat the issue.

Undergoing breast cancer treatment is not something anyone could cause enjoyable. The treatment itself is quite aggressive and will end up wearing out the body and the mind. Chemotherapy and radiation treatments, especially lengthy one, are known to affect the human memory.

Apart from the physical aspects of treatments, there are the mental repercussions as well. Undergoing any medical treatment adds stress and fatigue to anyone’s life. In the case of cancer patients, it adds the already existing stress and fatigue caused by awareness of having the disease.

Low self-confidence and emotional exhaustion are also emotional factors which have been previously shown to lead to issues regarding memory.

Data from the study was gathered from 1,800 members. All the members of the study group were breast cancer survivors.

After Breast Cancer Treatment Women Have All The Reasons To Exercise

As part of the study, it was observed that members who took part in either moderate or vigorous physical activities were, as expected, able to better cope with the fatigue and the stress brought on by the treatment.

In time, members who were physically active also reported fewer issues with their self-confidence.

In the hectic and busy lifestyle the world is currently living, it is easy to forget a few things along the way or to not have time for everything one would hope to achieve.

A lot of people see exercise as something people do to lose weight, or what fit people do to stay in shapes and keep their bodies looking good. Three weekly hours of exercise, however, are enough to cause the brain to generate small doses of hormones that make us happy and content.

Exercising has been proven in the past to be a very effective stress reliever when the proper mindset is used.

Issues with memory exist due to the daily stress. In the case of women who suffered from breast cancer, the stress of that, as well as the exhaustion from the treatment itself can quickly lead to depression. Before considering medical help in the case of depression, always consider and try to exercise first.

Image Courtesy of Free Stock Photos.

Need Memory Boost Before Exams? Hit the Gym!

June 19, 2016 By James Faulkner Leave a Comment

STATES CHRONICLE – According to a new study, new information sticks better if you workout four hours after a learning session. Researchers found that vigorous physical activity can boost memory but only if it is done after four hours.

Guillén Fernández, co-author of the study and researcher at the Netherlands-based Radboud University Medical Center, said that sports indeed consolidates the memory but only if it is done right.

The study involved 72 adults who were asked to remember as many picture-space associations as they could in a 40 minute learning session. Next participants were divided into three groups.

The first group was asked to hit the gym immediately, the second group was asked to do some workout four hours later, while the third group did not exercise at all. The groups that exercised were asked to spend 35 minutes on a bike and ensure that their pulse hits 80 percent of their maximum heart rate.

After exactly two days, participants from all groups were called to test their long-term memory. The volunteers’ also agreed to have their brains scanned through MRI while solving the tests.

The study revealed that participants who exercised within the 4-hour time frame had a higher score on memory tests than the individuals in the other two groups. Brain imagery showed that these people’s hippocampus was more active when trying to answer the questions correctly. The hippocampus is a region of the brain that helps with learning and information consolidation.

Study authors believe that timed workout can boost long-term memory and the learning ability. Scientists recommend the new findings to be applied in schools and health facilities alike.

Still, researchers couldn’t tell why the 4-hour time window is so important for information consolidation. They speculate that it may have something to do with the levels of a group of hormones that helps the long-term memory: the catecholamines. These hormones which include dopamine get released by the body during exercise.

As a follow-up, researchers plan to further analyze the timing of the exercise and its molecular impact on learning and long-term memory.

The study, which was funded by the European Research Council, was published Wednesday in the medical journal Current Biology.

The findings are consistent with past studies which had found an association between physical activity and better thinking and memory. For instance, a 2014 study found that people who engage in moderate physical exercise for at least six months on a regular basis have larger prefrontal and medial temporal cortexes, two regions in the brain that help the brain with processing and retaining information.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Why Reading is Good for You

March 17, 2016 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

Reading has been scientifically proved to improve your cognitive abilities

STATES CHRONICLE – I enjoy reading very much mostly because it is a form of entertainment and relaxation at the same time and also because the stories manage to get me to a whole new world. But besides these, let’s say, purely entertaining reasons, there are also some scientific reasons that make reading good for you and your health.

What reading doesn’t do is improve your eyesight or help you build muscle. For that, you can go to the gym. However, reading improves your cognitive abilities, and this has been scientifically proven.

First of all, reading can improve your memory. Unlike watching a movie, reading a book is different as it works parts of your brain such as language, vision, associative learning. In other words, people who read have a more complex brain than those who don’t read. Moreover, exercising your memory will also help decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s, as suggested by a study conducted in Chicago.

Reading can also reduce your stress levels. While we all feel relaxed when we get back to our book at the end of the day, scientists have proved that only 6 minutes of reading can actually reduce stress by up to 68 percent. So, reading works even better than listening to music or simply going for a walk.

Reading can also improve your attention span and help you to be able to focus more easily on a task. This is especially helpful for children as reading a story can help their brain process things as they happen, in a sequence: beginning, middle and end. The kids manage to link cause and effect and are less likely to mix things up, which will than transfer into real-life situations.

Some studies have also shown that reading can make you live longer. A study from Harvard Medical School suggests that reading helps you make a “reserve” which you can use later in life to prevent brain cell loss. Researchers from the U.K. suggest that a book club is the perfect solution to keep yourself young as not only will you be reading but you will also be socially interacting with people having the same interests as you.

All in all, reading does help a lot, so it is recommended that you replace watching TV with reading a book. And while you still have to exercise to keep your body as healthy as your mind, you should make sure you have a book with you wherever you go.

Image source: www.bing.com

Omega-3 fatty acids may not boost memory, says study

September 27, 2013 By Janet Vasquez Leave a Comment

Omega-3 fatty acids have been considered as a great source of memory improvisers. But a new study suggests, fish may not be necessarily a complete brain food.

According to a new research, older women with higher blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids did not have any better memory or thinking skills after six years than women with lower levels.

Since ages, experts have debated for the effectiveness of diet rich in fish. The results have been turned out to be mix. It is a general consideration that diet rich in fish is good for improving brain health. Fish high in omega-3 fatty acids include salmon, tuna, swordfish, mackerel and sardines.

Study

Researchers at the University of Iowa examined 2,157 women ages 65 to 80 who participated in the Women’s Health Initiative research trials for hormone therapy.

The scientists tested the participants for their thinking and memory skills (verbal memory, verbal knowledge, verbal fluency, visual memory, spatial ability, fine motor speed and working memory) for about six years.

At the beginning of the study, they had blood tests that measured the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood. It was a gauge of the fatty acids that they had consumed over the last two months. The blood tests were repeated for a subset of women one year into the trial, but not at the end.

Following are the findings of the study:

• There was no difference in thinking and memory skills between the women with high and low levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood at the time of the first memory tests.

• There was also no difference between the two groups in how fast their thinking and memory skills declined over six years.

• However, the women with high levels of omega-3s in their blood had slightly better fine-motor speed and verbal fluency.

The findings were published in the online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

After Breast Cancer Treatment Women Have All The Reasons To Exercise

Categories