Why you need to learn a new skill!

It’s horrible out! It is two degrees outside and a mixture of sleet & heavy rain.

An hour and a half later sitting in M50 traffic I finally arrive at Awesome Walls climbing centre.

So why am I here? I’m learning a new skill! Besides the health benefits of rock climbing, I’m here for my brain benefits...

Here’s the hard truth, your brain starts to shrink when you get older. Scary, right? From the age of forty our brain starts to reduce in size by five percent every decade. This can affect memory, reasoning skills and even emotions.

But we can do something to slow the process!

Genetic factors only account for twenty-five percent of cognitive brain changes, the main contributing factors are upbringing and lifestyle.

This brings us back to exercise and the reason I’m swinging forty foot high off a wall tethered to a rope.

In recent years, much scientific research has focused on exercise and its effect on the brain. The news is good! Over the course of a ten week study, a group that started walking increased the volume of the Hippocampus by a sizeable percentage. The Hippocampus has an involvement with Cognitive performance, which boosts memory and the ability to learn.

A few possibilities have been suggested for the increased neurons, one of which being increased aerobic activity causing a release of certain chemicals responsible for neuron production.

In a separate group study, activities involving hand/eye coordination substantially increased Cortex volume. More good news as the Cortex has a direct link to complex thinking. This is the area of the brain that shrinks most as we age.

So why not take the best of both worlds, learn a skill that is aerobic and requires hand/eye corrindation!