BDNF and exercise

And no, BDNF is not an acronym for Best Darn New Friend. It stands for Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor. It is stimulated by vigorous exercise, ergo people who exercise perform better on memory tests. Scientists have long known that exercise boost brain function; the unknown is why. With a few recent studies, they think they’re beginning to understand the link a little better.

From the article in The New York Times:

“To learn more about how exercise affects the brain, scientists in Ireland recently asked a group of sedentary male college students to take part in a memory test followed by strenuous exercise.

First, the young men watched a rapid-fire lineup of photos with the faces and names of strangers. After a break, they tried to recall the names they had just seen as the photos again zipped across a computer screen.

Afterward, half of the students rode a stationary bicycle, at an increasingly strenuous pace, until they were exhausted. The others sat quietly for 30 minutes. Then both groups took the brain-teaser test again.

Notably, the exercised volunteers performed significantly better on the memory test than they had on their first try, while the volunteers who had rested did not improve.

… Immediately after the strenuous activity, the cyclists had significantly higher levels of a protein known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, which is known to promote the health of nerve cells. The men who had sat quietly showed no comparable change in BDNF levels.

If you’re not someone who normally exercises, take heart. In a separate study, they put elderly rats on a treadmill and made them run for five minutes, and after just one week of exercise, the rats BDNF levels had increased and there were lots of “precursor molecules” that the scientists believe will develop into more BDNF molecules.

BDNF also seems to play a vital role in being able to perform skilled tasks — like driving a car. Hm. Another reason to exercise – independence.

Dr. Ahmad Salehi, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford notes that there are many other factors and chemicals that go into memory  and brain function other than BDNF, but since BDNF “shows the fastest, most consistent and greatest response… It seems to be key to maintaining not just memory but skilled task performance.”

Girl Stuff

First, I wanted to give you an update on the oil cleansing method. Deep love. In fact if for some reason I skip a day of the oil cleaning, I’m almost certain to have a pimple or two the day after. Best side benefit? It removes mascara really well. So no black smudges on my pillowcases.

My skin is dewy enough afterwards that I don’t need to moisturize… but I also found a great moisturizer. It’s a lavender and sandalwood moisturizing cream made by Falcon Formulations. And I shouldn’t even tell you about it because I don’t think it’s available anywhere online. In fact, it might just be limited to the NY area. But boy do I love it.

Second, remember my whole experiment with Curly Girl and not shampooing? And I bought a buncha product by DevaCurl? I could not stick with the never-shampoo-your-hair thing because I couldn’t stand the smell. And I couldn’t stick with the DevaCurl shampoo because I couldn’t stand the smell of that either. As for the DevaCurl styling product. Meh. It really didn’t do anything for me. I went back to blow drying my hair straight, but that gets to be a drag, you know? I do love that bed-head, tousled look.

So I’m at my health food store the other day, and I notice they have something called BeautifulCurls (all one word.) They had a spritz on thing called Curl Refresher (did nothing for me), some shampoo and conditioner (didn’t try those yet), a curl enhancing cream (probably too heavy for my hair because I’m not really curly, I’m just wavy), and a curl defining gel (says it’s great for curly or wavy hair.) Feeling adventuresome, I got a jar of the Curl Defining Gel. It kind of has a gross texture. Remember those jars of slime? It was a kids’ toy in the 70s? That’s sort of what it’s like. But yee-haw does it work.

The compliments I got! And best of all, the volume lasts for a few days.  It’s fantastic! Not much of a scent. If I had to describe it, I’d say vaguely fruity. The key ingredient is shea butter, so in theory it’s good for your hair. My neighbor, Vicki, loved my hair so much, she made us stop at the health food store on the way back from yoga class so she could buy a jar. I used it again today, and then ended up stuck in the rain for an hour or so. But when I got inside, I just gave my hair a couple of “scrunches” with my hands and it dried looking fantastic. (Well… fantastic if you like messy looking hair.)

Here’s the photographic evidence. This is post-face washing with the oil method, and post doing my yoga and having my hair clipped back goofily (and after being stuck in the rain for an hour.) It looks even better right after styling.

And this is with makeup and brushing my hair straighter (again, I like the volume.)

Lastly – Body Pump – that weight lifting class at the gym? I love it! Absolutely addicted to it now. I go three times a week. And did you know that there are some gyms you can join for free if you are over 65? That’s what my neighbor, Vicki, said. She said it’s some program she gets through her insurance (I should find out the name of her health insurance…I wonder if she’s enrolled in the Medicare Advantage Program?) I asked her whether she was limited to taking the “Silver Sneakers” classes or something, and she said, no, she could take advantage of the whole gym.

Besides Body Pump, my next favorite class is Body Combat. Although I can’t say I’d recommend either of those classes to a frail person. However — when I went to my second Body Pump class, there was a very thorough lady instructor. So many tiny corrections. I don’t think she missed a thing. She made me a convert.

But still… if you’re new to the gym, you might want to start with something easier.

Back to Body Combat – maybe it’s because I know absolutely nothing about kickboxing / combat at all, but I think that class is such a blast. Talk about a core workout! Who knew punching air could be so effective? I have yet to try Body Flow (which is a combination of tai chi, yoga and pilates… I think), and I’m thinking about sitting in on a couple of the Silver Sneakers classes, just so I can tell you guys about those.

But I am so glad I joined the gym! I’ve only been going two weeks, but I just love it.  I think the classes help me work off some of the stress and tension from my job from h**l at the end of my working day.

Gluten Free is going Mainstream

In the Sunday Times Magazine, there’s a great article called “Should We All Go Gluten Free?” It is a fascinating history of celiac disease and the rise of gluten-free products in America. Did you know that until 1999, celiac was believed to be a mostly European disease, and the estimates for the number of Americans with celiac were placed at 1 in 10,000. A doctor from Italy, Dr. Fasano, who was practicing at the University of Maryland thought that figure had to be off. After all, where do the bulk of Americans come from? Europe. (Well. Not anymore.  I believe Puerto Rico and Mexico are fast catching up.) So this doctor did an informal blood study — he randomly took 2000 blood samples and tested them for celiac and found that 1 in 250 had the disease. So then he decided to do a crazy large study (13,000 subjects in 32 states) and the number went up to 1 in 133 with the disease. Young people are being diagnosed at a rate of 1 in 5.

1 in 5?!!

Bad news for a lot of bones out there.

The silver lining is that General Mills (who we know is  a huge food conglomerate) is jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon. Gluten-free Chex cereal, gluten free Betty Crocker mixes, gluten free icing, gluten free pancake mixes, gluten free soups. It’s a really interesting article. And again, it makes me wonder whether I should get tested again. (The last time I got tested might not have been so accurate because I’d been trying to do without gluten for weeks prior to being tested. You have to eat it long enough for the antibodies to build up in your blood.)

You can give the article a read here.

This is what three cords of firewood looks like.

And you can’t even see all of it. There’s another turn behind the first pile. We stacked all of it yesterday. Oy. It had been sitting in a heap at the top of the drive for about two months, it was time to get stacking before the snow fell. Wanna know the real bummer? It isn’t seasoned (? Grr! ?) so we won’t be able to use it until next year. But at least we’ll be ready in 2012. Does stacking three cords of firewood count as exercise? My thighs say yes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

On this day, I give thanks for so many things. My sweet husband tops the list, followed by the basics:  a roof over my head, food on my table, a job that allows me to pay for the former two items, that my Pop is still with us and vital, my dear friends (old and new, in person and on the interwebs), that I’m 2-1/2 years post osteoporosis diagnosis and still fracture free. I’m thankful for hot running water, and showers, and indoor plumbing in general.  And for polar fleece. Whoever invented polar fleece should be given a medal. I’m thankful for crackling fires (and quick start logs for the non-woodsy amongst us), and music, and how crystal clear the stars are tonight. For the kingbird that nests above our bedroom window, for the four crazy crows who caw away the afternoons in the tall pines out back, for the murmuring of the stream across the road which is a little pronounced because of the rain earlier today. For my sweet sister-in-law and the great job she’s done raising my nieces. For Bing Crosby records (hubby’s listening to the Bingle right now.) For forgiveness and forgetfulness of things that are bad, and remembering and cherishing things that are good. For being another year older (as of today), realizing that not everyone gets that gift and being especially grateful that it was bestowed upon me.

Wherever you are on this holiday, I hope you, too, have many things for which to be thankful.

Variety. It’s the spice of life and the key to strong bones

SR8832 sent this to me yesterday and I forgot to pass it along. It basically says the same thing as the sheep in Wolff’s Law article says: exercise your bones from a variety of different angles in a variety of different ways to maintain and/or increase bone density.

Walking is not enough. You need to walk + do some kind of balance work (yoga or tai chi or dance) + do some kind of resistance training (yoga… but I think my body adapted to yoga and I needed to add weight lifting / resistance bands.)

Variety and challenging yourself are very important. (Plus having a good diet and all that jazz.)

Vitamin D and Atrial Fibrillation – Don’t Panic. More Shoddy Reporting.

I guess MSNBC did some kind of report on a recent study that linked high Vitamin D levels with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation. What they failed to stress was that your 25(OH)D has to be at 100 ng/ml or higher; that levels lower than 20 ng/ml bring a host of other problems; that there is no risk of increase atrial fibrillation for people with 25(OH)D levels of 20-40, 41-60, 61-80 or even 81-100 ng/ml. Do you know how hard it is to get your circulating D levels up to 100 ng/ml? Pretty dang hard.

Here’s what the Vitamin D Council has to say about it. I highly recommend you visit and read that link. It will help you relax. If you were panicking. Which hopefully you weren’t because hopefully you’ve figured out by now that the media loves scare headlines.

Another study that proves bone responds to loading.

It was published in Bone The Official Journal of the International Bone and Mineral Society. NOTE:  I received notice of this study through a newsletter to which I subscribe. I’m not certain if you have to have password to view the abstract or not. But in brief: they set out to prove Wolff’s Law, a theory that says bone will respond to loads placed upon it. Dr. Fishman talks a great deal about Wolff’s Law. It’s the premise upon which the entire Yoga vs. Osteoporosis study is based.

I digress.

In this recent study, they used sheep. And once again they found that not only was Wolff’s Law true, but that the results were pretty phenomenal. Here’s the abstract in its entirety (in case you do need a password):

This study tests Wolff’s law of trabecular bone adaptation by examining if induced changes in joint loading orientation cause corresponding adjustments in trabecular orientation. Two groups of sheep were exercised at a trot, 15min/day for 34days on an inclined (7°) or level (0°) treadmills. Incline trotting caused the sheep to extend their tarsal joints by 3–4.5° during peak loading (P<0.01) but has no effect on carpal joint angle (P=0.984). Additionally, tarsal joint angle in the incline group sheep were maintained more extended throughout the day using elevated platform shoes on their forelimbs. A third “sedentary group” group did not run but wore platform shoes throughout the day. As predicted by Wolff’s law, trabecular orientation in the distal tibia (tarsal joint) were more obtuse by 2.7 to 4.3° in the incline group compared to the level group; trabecular orientation was not significantly different in the sedentary and level groups. In addition, trabecular orientations in the distal radius (carpal joint) of the sedentary, level and incline groups did not differ between groups, and were aligned almost parallel to the radius long axis, corresponding to the almost straight carpal joint angle at peak loading. Measurements of other trabecular bone parameters revealed additional responses to loading, including significantly higher bone volume fraction (BV/TV), Trabecular number (Tb.N) and trabecular thickness (Tb.Th), lower trabecular spacing (Tb.Sp), and less rod-shaped trabeculae (higher structure model index, SMI) in the exercised than sedentary sheep. Overall, these results demonstrate that trabecular bone dynamically adjusts and realigns itself in very precise relation to changes in peak loading direction, indicating that Wolff’s law is not only accurate but also highly sensitive.

Highlights

► We tested Wolff’s law of trabecular bone adaptation in sheep carpal and tarsal joints.
► Sheep running inclined had a more extended tarsal joint angle compared to sheep running level.
► Inclined group tarsal joint trabecular orientation responded to the change in joint loading direction and became more obtuse.
► Trabecular orientation difference between the 2 groups corresponded tightly to the difference in joint angle.
► The lower magnitude of loading in the sedentary group was not sufficient to initiate a significant trabecular modeling response.

Translation: Yes, loading with weight increases bone density.  Changing the direction or angle of the load by either walking on an raised or lowered surface (like a treadmill with an incline), or by changing the angle at which you pull a given resistance (i.e., using different weight machines or doing yoga) also has favorable impact on bone density.

So do some yoga. Go dancing. Lift weights. Build bone.

Get a buddy.

As you know, my life has been consumed by my job in the same way that an abandoned house on a backwater road in Alabama gets covered in kudzu. It has choked the life out of everything. Including my desire to exercise.

A friend of mine is a member of a local gym. Since I’ve finally gotten back my house from the renters (yay) I’m around a great deal. Said friend invited me to a *body pump* class with her on Monday at her gym. (body pump = loud music + lots of squats and lunges and shoulder presses using a barbell with weights on it.)

I went to the class and was struck by two things: (a) I’ll do a lot more reps of something if an instructor tells me to do it than I would ever do on my own; and (b) if you have osteoporosis and you’re going to go to a pump class at a gym, you’d better know what you’re doing because your instructor may not be versed in what not to do if you have osteoporosis of the spine. The blurb on the website says you do over 100 reps for each body part. Ye-ow!

Gym Buddy. It’s a good thing. I went to the pump class and had a great time. The next night I went with my friend to a Zumba class (think latin-ish dancing to disco music), and then I entertained myself in the weight room while my friend took a Core Class. I figured the Core Class probably involved lots of crunching and it was best for me to avoid that. Today, buddy went to the gym again. I had to sit this one out because my rump is so sore from all the leg presses I did yesterday. I need a day to recover. But I’ll probably go to whatever class she’s going to tomorrow.

My friend keeps me motivated to exercise: I don’t want to let her down by not going. And going to a class means I don’t have to boss myself around; there’s someone else to do the bossing for me. I’m liking it. I’m liking it enough that I might actually pay for a membership. The thing with me and gyms is: I join and then I don’t go. But if my buddy is dedicated enough to go every day (and she is and she does!), then that will force me to go every day.

If you’re having a hard time staying motivated with your exercise, consider roping someone else into doing it with you.

Should you ever go to a body pump class, do yourself a favor and start with ridiculously low weight. That’s what I did, and it was a life-saver. If only I’d been as smart while lifting weights on my own the next day.

Vibration Therapy: doesn’t improve bone density.

There.  I just saved you some moolah. Aren’t you glad? Whole-body Vibration Platforms have been touted as a way to increase your bone density. You see them at many gyms these days. And you can purchase one for your home with a price that ranges from the sublime ($159.00) to the ridiculous ($14,000.00.)

But recent studies have shown they don’t boost bone density at all.

… researchers studied healthy postmenopausal women with BMD T-scores between -1.0 and -2.5 who were not prescribed bone medications. Patients were randomly assigned to three groups: two groups were asked to stand on a low-magnitude (0.3 g) WBV platform operating at either 90-Hz or 30-Hz for 20 minutes daily, and the third group served as the control group.

Baseline age and years since menopause interacted with the effect of WBV on change in tibial trabecular structure measurements. In those over 60 or having undergone menopause more than 10 years previously, greater decreases in trabecular thickness and separation, and greater increases in trabecular number were found in both WBV groups versus the control. In contrast, these changes were similar among the three groups in younger patients.

The groups did not differ in the number of clinical fractures during the period. None of these that did occur were not thought to be related to frailty because they were caused by car, household, or sporting accidents or involved only the small bones of the foot. [Bone Architect:  could there be a more confusing sentence?  I think what it's saying is that all the fractures were thought to be related to frailty, because none of them were caused by incidents like car wrecks or falling off a ladder or crashing into a tree while skiing, nor were the fractures limited to bones more vulnerable to fractures, like the small bones in the feet.]

The primary outcome of tibial trabecular volumetric BMD saw a mean change from baseline of 0.4 mg/cm3 (95% CI -0.4 to 1.2 mg/cm3) in the 90-Hz WBV group, -0.1 mg/cm3 (95% CI -1.0 to 0.8 mg/cm3) in the 30-HZ group and -0.2 mg/cm3 (95% CI -1.1 to 0.6 mg/cm3) in the control group (P=0.55).

“[Twelve] months of low-magnitude WBV at either 90- or 30-Hz had no effect on BMD or bone structure in healthy, community-dwelling, postmenopausal women who received calcium and vitamin D supplementation, and thus is not recommended for preventing age-related bone loss in this population,” wrote the researchers.

You can read the abstract here, which hopefully is better written than the entry above, which is from MedPageToday.com

The recommendation in the end was to take your calcium, vitamin D, and engage in a moderate weight-bearing exercise program such as walking or weight-lifting.

P.S. I had a feeling those things didn’t really perform as well as promised. They seem about as effective as this device is for helping you lose wieght.