Posted by bobman on June 21, 2010, at 11:12:12
In reply to Re: im also rejecting meds..., posted by Hombre on June 21, 2010, at 2:10:29
> Actually, bobman, as you are probably aware, your Muay Thai training is just as likely to have spurred neurogenesis as the herbs. Vigorous aerobic exercise has been shown to increase the various nerve-growing factors you mentioned, even in rodents that have been exposed to too much alcohol as fetuses. Feti? Feta? No, that's a cheese. Point being that exercise can reverse damage done early on.
>
> There are even some studies done at the University of Illinois that have shown growth in the prefrontal cortex, but I'm not sure if these results have been reproduced yet. Definitely growth in the hippocampus. Encouraging.
>
> I just thought I'd bring it up because you only mentioned it in passing, but actually there is probably more evidence sitting behind the power of exercise to regrow brain cells than eating turmeric or gotu kola. The fact that you were also learning somewhat complex movements and adapting to the stress of people throwing elbows and roundhouse kicks at you --> a recipe for recovery.
>
> Check out the book "Spark" for some encouraging new ideas about the power of exercise to rebuild a broken brain.Cool man, thanks for the ideas. Yeah, I was aware of the general consensus on neurogenesis and recovery. In some of the studies that I've read, and I believe it was one on curcumin, the significant effect demonstrated was said to be equal to that from exercise. Which makes me wonder if the effects are additive/independent, or whether both exercise and the nerogenic effect of some exogenous substances achieve increase via the same pathways, and are therefore mutually exclusive. I'd like to think that the effect is additive of course.
As far as I know, pretty much everything that increases brain levels of glutathione and superoxide dismutase is shown to be "neurogenic", although that relationship is certainly due at least in part to the survival of more neurites & mature neurons, as opposed to an increase in neural stem cell proliferation or increased differentiation (afaik, exercise increases the latter, possibly proliferation as well?). It's actually interesting, because neural stem cells apparently survive upwards of a year, so although neural stem cells in the brain are produced at a fairly low rate, they have the life span to migrate to every region (demonstrated to be produced in the pre-frontal cortex ventricles as well dendate gyrus), and can therefore contribute a large amount of material to any damaged area. Scar tissue is probably the largest impedance to cognitive recovery, and you would only have that (as far as I know) from TBI, and it doesn't seem unlikely that some substances could dissolve scars, both endogenous and exogenous. Exercise probably increases the catabolism of scars. I know for instance, of one substance that has been demonstrated to dissolve insoluble amyloid beta plaques.
poster:bobman
thread:951199
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100615/msgs/951743.html