Health: Ward Off Dementia with Sex, Crossword

Society | April 8, 2005, Friday // 00:00

Sex, simple sports and doing the crossword seem to be a good means to fend off dementia that usually comes along with ageing, according to a research.

Sex, cryptic crosswords and a good run could help ward off this and other degenerative conditions by stimulating new brain cells.

According to Perry Bartlett, a professor at the University of Queensland's Brain Institute, mental and physical exercise helped create and nurture new nerve cells in the brain, keeping it functional and warding off diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

He said a chemical called prolactin appeared to promote new cells in the brain and could be found in high levels in pregnant women.

"Perhaps doing something a little more inquisitive or intellectual might be good at selecting their survival so perhaps we should run a long distance and do the cryptic crossword or something like that," he said.

"If we understand these mechanisms we should be able to use them to treat neurodegenerative diseases, or even mental illnesses in the long-term," he added.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

Society » Be a reporter: Write and send your article

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria