NEW YORK – Exercise does more than keep your heart health. It
also boosts brainpower. Researchers recently found that exercise
targets a region of the brain within the hippocampus that
underlies normal age-related memory decline that begins around
age 30 for most adults. Using an MRI imaging technique developed
at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, it was
the first-ever observation of the growth of neurons within a
living brain. “No previous research has systematically examined
the different regions of the hippocampus and identified which
region is most affected by exercise,” says Scott A. Small, the
study’s lead author. “I, like many physicians, already encourage
my patients to get active, and this adds yet another reason to
the long list of reasons why exercise is good for overall
health.” Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, the finding builds upon previous research. “Our next
step is to identify the exercise regimen that is most beneficial
to improve cognition and