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5 Habits That Will Help Your Brain Stay in Peak Condition

Yes, the simple act of juggling has recently been linked with better brain function. A new study reveals that learning to juggle may cause certain areas of your brain to grow.

The study found that volunteers who participated in a juggling exercise improved white matter in two areas of their brains involved in visual and motor activity.

‘We have demonstrated that there are changes in the white matter of the brain — the bundles of nerve fibres that connect different parts of the brain — as a result of learning an entirely new skill,’ explains Dr Heidi Johansen-Berg of the Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Oxford, who led the work.

Insights into anti-aging properties of experimental Alzheimer’s drug

Scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are homing in on exactly how two new experimental Alzheimer’s drugs could be generating the anti-aging effects seen in early animal studies. The discovery of a unique metabolic pathway, associated with both general aging and the onset of dementia, offers researchers novel directions for future anti-aging studies.

Salk researchers have been developing two experimental drugs for several years with a view on improving cognition and slowing the neurodegenerative decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Called CMS121 and J147, the drugs were effective in slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s in initial animal tests. However, the compounds also seemed to demonstrate signs of slowing down general markers of brain aging.

As the two drugs move toward human trials, the researchers have been working to uncover exactly what molecular mechanisms are at play to explain how they work. One potential mechanism was uncovered in early 2018 but that was only part of the story. Now, the Salk team has uncovered an exciting new molecular pathway, influenced by the two drugs, that could explain how the compounds slow down brain aging.

Alzheimer’s memory discovery reveals function of brain area affected at onset

Scientists at the Universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh have discovered the functions of the area of the brain in which Alzheimer’s begins, offering hope for the development of future treatments.

Alzheimer’s disease is the commonest form of dementia with more than 520,000 people in the UK suffering from the disorder.

The first symptoms of this progressive disorder (which results from degeneration of networks in the ) are problems remembering the things that have happened to us. This type of memory is called .

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