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Tuesday, December 17, 2013 – Daily News Exercise revs your mood, brain It has long been accepted that exercise cuts the risk of heart disease, and recent studies suggest a raft of more general benefits, such as reducing the risk of certain types of cancer and even preventing the onset of Type 2 diabetes. Now it seems that gym junkies can also expect a boost in brainpower, too. This is not just the vague glow of well-being suggested by sayings such as "a sound mind lives in a healthy body." John Ratey, a neoropsychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and others are finding that fitness has a long-term influence on a wide range of cognitive abilities. Physical activity seems to be important during childhood, powering the brain through the many changes that help us to mature into adulthood. But it may also play a role as we reach advanced age, with a decline in fitness explaining why some people are more prone to dementia than others. "It's a really amazing effect," says David Raichlen, a biological anthropologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Raichlen is investigating whether our ancestors' athleticism may have accelerated the evolution of their intelligence millions of years ago. Our brains may, in fact, be a byproduct of our brawn. The link between fitness and the performance of simple cognitive tasks was first suggested by studies in the 1960s, but its importance became more greatly appreciated about 30 years later. *** In the 1990s, Fred Gage, a geneticist at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif., found that exercise seemed to cultivate the growth of new neurons in mice. At about the same time, Arthur Kramer, a cognitive psychologist at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois, published a paper in Nature showing that previously sedentary adults who undertook an aerobic fitness plan for six months boosted their performance in cognitive drills that required executive control. That's the kind of concentration that helps you to switch between different tasks without making mistakes, and it is a key contributor to more general intelligence. A spate of later papers tracked people's fitness and cognitive skills over several years, sometimes decades. Initially, most of the investigations examined older people whose mental abilities were expected to diminish with age. One German The Gold Exchange 2nd Annual Christmas for A Cause Nov. 16th-Dec. 14th Visit www.ChristmasForACause TehamaCounty.com *For Details and *Wish list* BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION 423 Walnut St., Red Bluff 528-8000 study, published in 2010, tracked 4,000 people older than 55 for two years. It found that those who rarely took part in physical activities were more than twice as likely to suffer from a cognitive impairment by the end of the study than those who engaged in exercise such as gardening, swimming or cycling a few times a week. Another study, which had followed a group of nearly 1,500 people for 20 years, showed that these effects may be long-lasting. Those who exercised at least twice a week during middle age were much less likely to develop dementia by the time they reached their 60s and 70s, even when potentially confounding factors such as education, drinking and smoking were taken into account. Although there are fewer studies of younger people, the available evidence suggests that physical activity enhances brain health at every stage of life. Some of the most striking statistics concern schoolchildren in New York. Students in the top 5 percent of the fitness rankings scored 36 percentile points higher on standardized academic tests than students in the bottom 5 percent. Similar results come from the records of 1.2 million men who enlisted for military service in Sweden between 1950 and 1976; these data allowed researchers to compare the men's physical education grades at 15 with their cardiovascular performance at 18. Changes in fitness during these teen years seemed to correlate with the young men's intelligence scores and cognitive abilities by the end of that period. What's behind the link? A short-term mood boost might be bringing some of the benefits. "People really enjoy that euphoric aspect of a runner's high and the clarity of mind you get from a routine workout," saysBrian Christie, a neuroscientist at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Stress can inhibit your brain's responses when solving a problem, blocking it from making the necessary connections. "If you go out for a walk, your stress levels usually plummet. And that's when the answer comes to you," Christie says. That may partly explain why fitter children tend to do better at their schoolwork, for instance. Exercise probably contributes to more-permanent changes, too. The brain relies on a steady supply of nutrients and oxygen through an intricate network of capillaries. Physical activity can encourage the construction of these supply lines, and it can also ease their maintenance. Matthew Pase at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, has found that high blood pressure, particularly in the central large arteries that feed the brain, can lead to a slump in cognitive performance, perhaps because it damages those vessels. Since regular physical activity reduces blood pressure, it should protect the brain from this undue stress. Improved fitness also cuts the risk of diabetes and obesity. These problems disrupt the brain's insulin system, which is thought to trigger a cycle of reactions that contribute to the buildup of the plaques linked to brain damage in people with Alzheimer's disease. Exercise also has been found to spur the release of such neurotransmitters as serotonin, noradrenaline and dopamine, which help regulate signaling in the brain. These neurotransmitters are the same ones that antidepressants and drugs for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder act on, which is why time on a treadmill or bicycle is akin to taking a mix of Prozac and Ritalin, Ratey says. It also prompts the brain to send out growth factors such as insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and brainderived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Ratey describes BDNF as "Miracle-Gro for your brain" because it creates an environment where neurons can flourish and promotes the formation of new connections between cells. The brain-enhancing consequence of exercise has serious implications today. The Department of Health and Human Services is encouraging schools to offer more physical education, and the Institute of Medicine recommends that elementary school children get 30 minutes of physical activity a day, 45 minutes daily for middle and high school students. "We need to have kids moving every day, not just because it makes sense health-wise, but because it raises test scores," Ratey says. Can I opt out of my retiree plan to get subsidized health insurance? Q. My wife and I are retired, and we're both under 65. We have health insurance through my previous employer's retiree-only plan. In 2014, the premium for our coverage will double, to 13.3 percent of our income. But since coverage for me alone would "only" cost 6.7 percent of our income, we won't qualify for subsidies on the exchange. Is there any way that one or both of us can opt out of my retiree-only plan and get subsidized insurance on the exchange? A. The short answer is yes, you can opt out of your retiree-only plan and shop for subsidized coverage on the health insurance marketplace. In general, people who have employersponsored insurance that meets the definition of "minimum essential coverage" are eligible for exchange subsidies only if the employer plan is considered unaffordable or inadequate under the health law. It's inadequate if it pays for less than 60 percent of covered medical expenses, and it's unaffordable if the premium for selfonly coverage costs more than 9.5 percent of family income. That affordability standard is where many people run into trouble: As long as coverage for one person doesn't exceed 9.5 percent of family income, the plan is considered affordable, even if the premium for family coverage exceeds that threshold. Since the plan is affordable, employerinsured workers generally can't qualify for subsidies on the marketplace. However, the law treats people with retiree coverage differently than those in the workforce with job-based insurance, says Timothy Jost, The Hope Chest Thrift Shop serving the community since 1965 FREE KIDS SCOOP We have gently pre-owned clothing for women, men & kids, household items, furniture and more!! Mon.-Fri. 10-4 • Sat. 9-2 905 Walnut St. | Red Bluff • 528-1698 11am-9pm • 7 days facebook.com/scoopsofredbluff http://www.facebook.com/scoopsofredbluff 714 Walnut St., Red Bluff Free Gift Wrapping for Seniors Proceeds from The Hope Chest help support Family Counseling Center FREE SMOG CHECK TAI'S DELI ✓ Visit us on the web at www.eliteautomotiveredbluff.com No Appointment Necessary 527-5314 ONE STOP ✓Check out our selection of beer, wine & tobacco Your One Stop Convenience Store 530-527-0270 Is Your Check Engine Light On? We'll Code Check it Where Excellence Meets Affordable 5am to 11pm Like us on Facebook or email us at hopechest@yahoo.com Monday-Friday 7:30-5:30 Buy 1 sandwich 2 Chips & 2 drinks, & receive 2nd sandwich a law professor at Washington and Lee University and an expert on the health law. "If you are a retiree and you're eligible for retiree coverage but elect not to receive it, you do not have minimum essential coverage and therefore would be able to get through the firewall and apply for premium tax credits," says Jost. In other words, if you opt out of your retiree plan to choose a policy on the health marketplace instead, you may qualify for premium tax credits that are available to people with incomes between 100 and 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($15,510 to $62,040 for a couple in 2013). Keep in mind, however, that even though the premiums may be more affordable on the exchange, it's important to carefully compare the benefits in your retiree plan with those in the exchange plans to make sure a new policy provides the coverage you need. This article was produced by Kaiser Health News with support from The SCAN Foundation. Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan health policy research and communication organization not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente. 1359 Grant St., Red Bluff with purchase of equal or greater value Must present coupon 5A 20815 Dalby Ln. Red Bluff Monday thru Friday 8am to 4pm Until 12/20/13 (2 gift limit) Tehama Estates 750 David Ave., Red Bluff 527-9193 FREE One coupon per order • Expires: 12/31/13 Full price of equal or lesser value, can't be combined with any other offers. 2230 Main St, Ste. 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