http://www.thatsfit.com/2006/09/27/e...your-brain-fit

Research says that exercising your brain can prevent Alzheimer's and just plain adds to overall fitness. So why not try these five easy brain exercises to keep your memory sharp, add new things to your brain's repertoire, play mind games and add a little humor to your life. Your brain will thank you for it.

The fun part about these brain exercises is that they are well rounded. Some are simple, like recalling conversations to help your memory skills. I love the idea about adding new activities to your life. This interested me, not just because it exercises my brain, but because it keeps everything about life fresh and fun. Some suggestions are moving furniture around and talking to someone new that you tend to see in your daily life (like a librarian). Along those lines of just spicing up your life are things like taking a dance class or reading a book in a different genre than you would normally read.

Still not convinced that exercising your brain can be fun? The experts say that games like Hangman and listening to comedians help with alertness. So exercising your brain doesn't have to be a MENSA meeting. Just challenge yourself with new and different things that add excitement to your life and you'll keep your brain fresh for years to come.
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Shift In Brain's Language-control Site Offers Rehab Hope;

Language Center Site Becomes More Lateralized With Age


CINCINNATI--Scientists have found that the site in the brain that controls language in right-handed people shifts with aging--a discoverythat might offer hope in the treatment of speech problems resultingfrom traumatic brain injury or stroke.
The shift was documented by researchers led by Jerzy Szaflarski, MD,PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at theUniversity of Cincinnati (UC) Academic Health Center, and ScottHolland, PhD, professor in the UC departments of biomedicalengineering, pediatrics and radiology. Dr. Holland also heads thePediatric Brain Imaging Research Program at Cincinnati Children'sHospital Medical Center.
Their results will be published in the February 2006 edition of the journal Human Brain Mapping.
While the site of language activity in right-handed people isoriginally the left side of the brain, the researchers report, startingas early as age 5 language gradually becomes a function shared by bothsides. Between the ages of about 25 to 67, the site becomes more evenlydistributed, until language activity can be measured in bothhemispheres simultaneously.
This, the researchers say, may explain why young children whohave had a large portion of one side of the brain surgically removedoften recover completely.
"This knowledge may give new hope for rehabilitation of brainfunction in adults after stroke or traumatic brain injuries," said Dr.Szaflarski. "The fact that language adaptability is seen even in theolder people supports the notion that these patients can berehabilitated and returned to productive life, possibly even after adevastating stroke."
Scientists have long thought that the hemisphere or side ofthe brain that controls language and speech is determined before birth.Most people are right-handed and demonstrate more activity duringlanguage or speech in the left hemisphere of the brain. In left-handedpeople language centers are located more symmetrically.
Drs. Szaflarski and Holland studied brain activity in 177right-handed children and adults aged 5 to 67 at Cincinnati'sUniversity Hospital and Cincinnati Children's using functional magneticresonance imaging (fMRI). The technique shows brain activity, in thiscase language tasks such as reading or speaking, in a specific color.
"Our research revealed that language activity in the brainincreases in the dominant hemisphere from age 5 until about 25," Dr.Szaflarski said, "which may be related to improving linguistic skillsand maturation of the central nervous system.
"We observed that the nondominant side of the brain startedhelping the dominant side during reading or speaking from the age of 25to 67," Dr. Szaflarski continued. "It's possible that as cognitivesystems began to fail in the dominant side of the brain, the other sideor hemisphere needs to compensate. Our study showed that older peoplehave a more balanced capacity for language, with activity on both sidesof the brain."
From around age 5 until about 25, said Dr. Szaflarski, languagecapacity in right-handers grows stronger in the left hemisphere of thebrain. Similarly, fMRI shows increasing brain activity in the righthemisphere of left-handed persons until age 25.
"We were most interested in why this occurs, and the age atwhich the hemispheric language dominance began to decrease," said Dr.Szaflarski.
Drs. Szaflarski and Holland and their colleagues are alsoinvestigating how the brain handles language when it is damaged by astroke or traumatic brain injury.
In children, Dr. Szaflarski said, the brain seems able toreorganize and shift the work load to the uninjured side. In adults,this doesn't happen as easily.
With a view to developing better treatment for brain injury inchildren and adults, the researchers are now trying to learn at whatage this transition occurs.
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Dr. Szaflarski and Dr.Holland's research is funded by the National Institutes of Health andthe Neuroscience Institute of Cincinnati, a center of excellence inneuroscience specialties at the University of Cincinnati College ofMedicine and University Hospital. The Neuroscience Institute, of whichDr. Szaflarski and Dr. Holland are members, is dedicated to patientcare, research, education and the development of new medicaltechnologies that may help patients with stroke, epilepsy, multiplesclerosis, trauma, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and othermovement disorders.

CtenaLouise: Your post on brain exercises is very timely. I was diagnosed 3 and a half years ago and almost immediately incorporated brain exercises into my daily regimen. Some of them, as you have indicated, are quite simple. Having a conversation with someone can test your memory and your mental agility. Last December I attended a meeting in SAn Francisco in which many long time colleagues would also be present. Not only tested was my memory but my ability to hold up my end of the convesation. I watch Jeopardy religiously and find it a helpful brain exercise. Several weeks ago I took a cruise along the Northeast coast of the U.S. and Canada and was talked into playing a game of Scrabble. It was a disaster. It is difficult to win when the only words at your disposal are rat, cat, dog etc. But I recognized that it was a good exercise for my brain and I now play several games of Scrabble every night. I'm still losing but I'm getting closer to finally winning a game and many of my words are polysyllabic.

I try to memorize one new poem every week; a short one. Thank you for your post and your suggestions for mind games. I confess that I've passed over your posts in the past but will now pay greater attention to them.

All the best,

Lloyd

Don't forget crossword puzzles! I like the little books with 50 NY Times puzzles. You can get easy, difficult and a mix of both to fit your mood.
Playing card games is also good brain exercise - as well as being fun and companionable.
And then, if you are lucky and one of your grand children - or a niece or nephew - likes to hear family stories, you can dredge out and dust off your memories of all the old family stories you were told when you were young, and add to them your own childhood escapades. If you find the right young listener, you will be asked to tell the same stories again and again.
Good point to bring up, Zucchiniflower.

Thank you,

birte

OOps, I certainly am observant.... several days later and I finally discover that it was you, CTena Louise,( or LavenderLuv) who brought up the subject and not Zucchiniflower.......sorry - passed me by completely till this moment. I'd better play scrabble or read some Shakespeare, my brain must need more flexing than it is getting.

Hi Lloyd & birte,
you both do very well!
I have never played scrabble? I used to do crossword puzzles?
I challenge myself to learn one new word a day?
and I am trying to learn Italian, very slow going.
please, keep up the good brainwork!
arrivederci! sp?

Dear CTenaLouise:

Success!. Last night I played 3 games of scrabble and won 2 out of three...and I won by big scores. I really kicked butt. I am so happy. Can't wait for tonights game.

All the best

Lloyd

but no one to play with....sad story. I had a friend who used to play against himself. Yahtzee is also a good game and can be played anywhere anytime. When Sean, my youngest son broke his leg playing soccer a few years ago I went out and bought some of the popular card games...Uno, Milles Bourne (sp?) and a few others I can't remember now. Uno is a favorite. But we are too easily drawn away by electronics (case in point...what I am doing right now).
One of the current gurus on agingsays anything you have to use your brain to think about is good. If you want a real challange learn to rebuild the motor in your car. I can't even identify the motor.... Maybe I'll start reading Shakespear, I heard he wrote some good stuff!

I played Scrabble last night and kicked butt again. I'm on a role

Lloyd