Nut-sized brain region can be manipulated to increase longevity: scientists. By Ian Sample, The GuardianThursday, May 2, 2013 3:26 EDT US team identifies mechanism deep in brains of mice which can be tweaked to shorten or lengthen lives Scientists have found a biological command centre for the ageing process in a lump of brain the size of a nut.
The US team identified the mechanism in the hypothalamus, which sits deep inside the brain, and showed they could tweak it to shorten or lengthen the lives of animals. In a series of experiments, the researchers found they could extend the lives of mice by a fifth, without the animals suffering from muscle weakness, bone loss, or memory problems common in old age.
The work raises the tantalising prospect of drugs that slow down natural ageing to prolong life in humans, but more crucially to prevent age-related diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. “We’re very excited about this. . © Guardian News and Media 2013 [women power via Shutterstock.com.] Living Longer: Learning Musical Instrument Protects Brain, Memory, Reduces Hearing Loss. <br/><a href=" US News</a> | <a href=" Business News</a> Copy Want your brain to be as fit as a fiddle, even after you are old and gray?
Then learn how to play a real violin. Or a tuba. Or just about any other musical instrument. Scientific research over the years has shown that studying music has many rewards, from improving performance in school to dealing with emotional traumas, but the newest research shows that it can do even more than that. Think of musical figures who have had long careers -- from Mick Jagger to Paul McCartney to Barbara Cook -- and it appears there's something, beyond love of their art, that has kept them going. Nina Kraus's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University in Evanston, Il., has been studying how music affects the human brain for years now, and the latest study from that busy lab shows that musicians suffer less from aging-related memory and hearing losses than non-musicians.
Playing Instrument Helps Processing, Hearing. Cognitive Training. This cognitive training is not only a lot of fun and simple but might also help your brain, your cognitive and prediction sense along with your reflection skills, a good player would be someone who predicts well where the exact spot that the ball would hit and therefore have a fast reaction to be in the right spot, a good score is 2 points different than your opponent (which is the computer in this case).
Cognitive training game cannot be played with a touchpad, because your reaction is way slower than a mouse when using a touchpad. So if you have a laptop you might get a mouse to play this game. Instruction for cognitive training When playing try not to focus a lot on where the ball is but try to predict where it may end up instead. That's the fun of the game and that's how your cognitive skills are put to the test. Instructions for mind exercise To start the game and exercise your mind you have to left click your mouse. Health Habits That Will Extend Your Life. One of the biggest factors that determines how well you age is not your genes but how well you live.
Not convinced? A study published in 2009 in the British Medical Journal of 20,000 British folks shows that you can cut your risk of having a stroke in half by doing the following things: being active for 30 minutes a day, eating five daily servings of fruit and vegetables, and avoiding cigarettes and excess alcohol. While those are some of the obvious steps you can take to age well, researchers have discovered that centenarians tend to share certain traits in how they eat, move about, and deal with stress—the sorts of things we can emulate to improve our own aging process. Of course, getting to age 100 is enormously more likely if your parents did.
Diet.