Africa-Press – South-Sudan. HEALTH experts keep reminding us of the importance of physical exercises to our general health. But not all of us take it seriously because we are either not used to making physical exercises or find that we don’t have time to do exercises because we have other duties to perform and for the very reason that ‘time is money’.
There may be other reasons preventing us from doing physical exercises. But the truth is that regular physical exercises are just as important as eating the right type of food or developing healthy lifestyles.
This has been proved by a recent study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings from the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases which suggests that physical exercises, such as walking briskly, running, biking and just about any other exercise that gets your heart pumping, are good not only for health in general, but particularly for the brain’s grey matter.
The latter includes regions of the brain involved in muscle control and sensory perception such as seeing and hearing, memory, emotions, speech, decision-making and self-control.
According to the study, there is new evidence of an association between cardiorespiratory fitness and brain health, particularly in grey matter and total brain volume – the regions of the brain associated with cognitive decline and aging. But how many people do regular exercises to improve their general health and in this case their brain’s grey matter?
The researchers are of the view that “the results are encouraging, intriguing and contribute to the growing literature relating to exercise and brain health… This provides indirect evidence that aerobic exercise can have a positive impact on cognitive function in addition to physical conditioning.”
Another key issue they have discovered is that “these results may apply to older adults, as well. There is good evidence for the value of exercise in midlife, but it is encouraging that there can be positive effects on the brain in later life as well.”
We want to encourage regular physical exercises because they don’t only keep us physically fit, but also improve our cognitive faculties. This is particularly important because it pays part in developing good or intelligent thinking – that is having citizens with a tendency of positive thinking and making right decisions for the betterment of both the country and people.
So, besides being busy as we often happen to be, we must create some time for physical exercises and encourage members of our families to do the same.
Let’s develop a culture of doing regular physical exercises for they are not only important to our general health, but also to our brain’s grey matter which is crucial to cognitive functions.