Boosting your memory naturally

Today's episode of Kyou no Kenkou 今日の健康　on NHK featured Dr.Shimada Hiroyuki of The National Institute for Longevity Sciencies 島田裕之（国立長寿医療研究センター室長）who introduced simple exercises to prevent the onset of dementia (ninchishou認知症). 
While I'm not yet at a risk for dementia, I'm intrigued by the link between exercise, brain activity and memory. The doctor mentioned that physical exercise done together with brain exercises increases BDNF levels, which will help to prevent Alzheimer's and dementia. 

一体、ＢＤＮＦって何なんだろうね。

This begs the question, what exactly is BDNF?

In a nutshell, BDNF is the acronym for Brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein and a member of the "neurotrophin" family of growth factors. In animal studies, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been shown to impact neuronal survival and function and improve synaptic plasticity and long-term memory. Some prior studies showed lower circulating BDNF in persons with Alzheimer disease (AD) compared with control participants; however, it remains uncertain whether reduced levels precede dementia onset. (Extracted from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24276217) In other words, while people afflicted with AD are shown to have lower BDNF, scientists aren't sure yet if a reduction in BDNF would bring on dementia. 

This interesting study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24276217) published in JAMA Neurology and available online at Pub Med, came to a conclusion after 10 years of observation, that higher serum BDNF levels may protect against future occurrence of dementia and Alzheimer's Disease, especially in select subgroups of women and older and more highly educated persons. (So I suppose the not-so-highly educated men are at a disadvantage then?)

Since high levels of BDNF seems to be a good thing, how do we optimise its production? The very same report states that circulating BDNF levels increase with physical activity and caloric restriction. So people, if we get our arses off our comfy seats, move more and eat less junk, we can actually have better memory. 

Now I bring you back to Dr Shimada's recommendations. Just a little background information about myself, I used to be in research for my university as a Master's student, and I also did Japanese-English translation and interpretation for several years, before everything crashed and burnt when I started flying. Now my memory is no better than a goldfish's, and I attribute that to the poor ventilation on board. Dr Shimada's recommendations are thus very timely and greatly appreciated. According to the show, this is what happened to the group of MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment) participants' memories in a year: 

 Pictures are taken from http://www.nhk.or.jp/kenko/kenkotoday/archives/2014/05/0501.html and translations are done by myself.

1) Counting as you walk

As you take each step, count backwards. Shimada recommends counting from a number and subtracting from it. E.g. counting from 100 and subtracting 3 from it. But be sure to change the starting number and the number you're subtracting from it, cause the aim is to get your brain thinking constantly of the next number. E.g. you can try subtracting 7 from 209 instead of 3 from 100 the next time round.

2) Steps + Shiritori game

Combining the shiritori game with the stepping exercise. This is best done with two or more people. 

3) Ladder Training 

Use coloured tape to make the outline of a ladder. One ladder column has steps 1-4 pasted on it, and the other ladder column has steps 5-8 pasted. Another person chooses two numbers from 1-8, e.g. 2 and 8. The aim is to step on all the other numbers besides 2 and 8.  

I also found a really good video on the NHK website on stretching exercises to help you sleep better (http://www.nhk.or.jp/kenko/kenkotoday/archives/2012/05/0524.html#a02). I can't embed it because I'm a tech noob. Watch it here --> http://www.nhk.or.jp/kenko/move/move02.html