Exercise improves memory and thinking

Mild cognitive impairment is an intermediate stage between the expected cognitive decline of normal aging and the more serious decline of dementia. Symptoms can involve problems with memory, language, thinking and judgment that are greater than normal age-related changes. Generally, these changes aren't severe enough to significantly interfere with day-to-day life and usual activities.

 A new guideline for medical practitioners says they should recommend twice-weekly exercise to people with mild cognitive impairment to improve memory and thinking. However, mild cognitive impairment may increase the risk of later progressing to dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease or other neurological conditions.

But some people with mild cognitive impairment never get worse, and a few eventually get better. Engaging in aerobic exercise like walking briskly, jogging, whatever you like for more than 100 minutes a week can improve memory. The level of exertion should be enough to work up a bit of a sweat but doesn't need to be so rigorous that you can't hold a conversation. Exercising might slow down the rate at which you would progress from mild cognitive impairment to dementia.
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Urea in the brain causes dementia

 The build-up of urea in the brain to toxic levels can cause brain damage - and eventually dementia. Metabolic linkages between Huntington's, other neurodegenerative diseases and type-2 diabetes. Huntington's Disease - one of seven major types of age-related dementia - is directly linked to brain urea levels and metabolic processes. Urea is similarly linked to Alzheimer's disease.

The Huntington's study also showed that the high urea levels occurred before dementia sets in, which could help doctors to one day diagnose and even treat dementia, well in advance of its onset. Urea and ammonia in the brain are metabolic breakdown products of protein. Urea is more commonly known as a compound which is excreted from the body in urine. If urea and ammonia build up in the body because the kidneys are unable to eliminate them, for example, serious symptoms can result.

Alzheimer's and Huntington's are at opposite ends of the dementia spectrum. Dementia results in a progressive and irreversible loss of nerve cells and brain functioning, causing loss of memory and cognitive impairments affecting the ability to learn. Currently, there is no cure.

The team used human brains, donated by families for medical research, using cutting-edge gas chromatography mass spectrometry to measure brain urea levels. For levels to be toxic urea must rise 4-fold or higher than in the normal brain. Treating this metabolic state in the brain may help in the regeneration of tissue that can reverse dementia.
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Levels of genetic code can cause neuropsychiatric disorders

Studying the genetic code allows researchers to know whether some patients with neuropsychiatric disorders either have extra copies of the CHRNA7 gene or are missing copies. Pluripotent stem cell technology helps better understand neuropsychiatric disorders. Taking skin biopsies from patients with these conditions, grow the cells in culture in the lab and reprogram them to become brain cells. Using this approach, researchers gained insights into the mechanisms of disease at the neuronal level.

The CHRNA7 gene is translated into CHRNA7 proteins that form a channel on the cell membrane that allows calcium to enter the cells. By regulating calcium levels, the CHRNA7 gene plays an important role on how neurons communicate and function with each other. The researchers found that neurons with fewer copies of the gene show a reduction in calcium flux, almost half of what they see in control samples, which they expect will have functional consequences on neuronal functioning in those patients.

These results provide insights into why the patients with fewer copies of the gene share clinical characteristics with the patients with extra copies of the gene, despite having opposite underlying genetic makeup. In both cases, the result of the genetic imbalance is a decrease in calcium flux in the neurons. Clinically, while the patients with fewer copies present with moderate to severe cognitive impairment, high prevalence of autism and other neuropsychiatric problems, those with extra copies present with similar but less severe characteristics.

Opposite genetic imbalance results in similar biological effect mediated by different mechanisms. In the case of neurons with fewer copies of the gene, and therefore fewer CHRNA7 proteins to form calcium channels, the researchers proposed that the reduction in calcium flux in the cells results from having fewer calcium channels.For the neurons with extra copies of the gene, we found that having extra copies of the gene results in more CHRNA7 proteins, which overwhelms the process that assembles them together, causes cellular stress and disturbs the formation of calcium channels.
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Exercise maintains brain size

Aerobic exercise can improve memory function and maintain brain health as we are getting older. Researchers examined the effects of aerobic exercise on a region of the brain called the hippocampus, which is critical for memory and other brain functions. Brain health decreases with age, with the average brain shrinking by approximately five per cent per decade after the age of 40.

Studies in mice and rats have consistently shown that physical exercise increases the size of the hippocampus but until now evidence in humans has been inconsistent. The researchers systematically reviewed clinical trials which examined the brain scans of different people before and after aerobic exercise programs or in control conditions.

The participants included a mix of healthy adults, people with mild cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer's and people with a clinical diagnosis of mental illness including depression and schizophrenia. Ages ranged from 24 to 76 years with an average age of 66. They examined effects of aerobic exercise, including stationary cycling, walking, and treadmill running. The length of the interventions ranged from three to 24 months with a range of 2-5 sessions per week.

Result showed that while exercise had no effect on total hippocampal volume, it increases the size of the left region of the hippocampus in humans. When you exercise you produce a chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor BDNF, which may prevent age-related decline by reducing the deterioration of the brain. Exercise maintains the program for the brain, prevents ageing-related neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and dementia.
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Regular physical exercise prevents dementia

Regular physical exercise prevents cognitive impairment, boosts brain metabolism and dementia in old age. Physical exercise enhances general body fitness and also has a positive impact on brain metabolism and memory.

Researchers examined older people that engaged in regular physical activities with magnetic resonance tomography MRT and magnetic resonance spectroscopy MRS.

They discovered that physical activity had improved their brain metabolism by preventing an increase in choline, it enhanced stable cerebral choline concentrations.

Regular physical exercise prevents an increase in choline- a macronutrient that is important for liver function, normal brain development, nerve function, muscle movement, supporting energy levels and maintaining a healthy metabolism.

High concentration of this metabolite often rises as a result of the increased loss of nerve cells, which typically occurs in the case of Alzheimer’s disease.
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