Exercise (and alcohol) good for your brain
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As a bit of a follow-up to my article on how Alcohol is good for your heart, I wanted to link to this New York Times article: Lobes of Steel.
The article describes a study showing that exercise helps human brains build more neurons (a process called neurogenesis). It also reports on some mouse studies that indicate that the exercise actually improves intelligence, at least in mice.
It also goes on to list some other things that induce neurogenesis including not only exercise but also marijuana, alcohol (in moderation), sociability, and chocolate.
Bad for neurogenesis are saturated fat, sugar, and stress.
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Well saturated fat from overcooked pork fat and the oils that are overheated and carbs that absorb them are bad. Organ meat however or kidney or offal that are high in saturated fats are not harmful as everybody thinks. I argue organ meats are not group-able together in the same category as modern production methods. The native Americans were might in shape for all their offal saturated fat intake. As are the Thailand [Siam] population for the coconut eating.
I do support wine and beer drinking for heart and also that the long term effect of wine on the brain assist expanding neurons. Wine is a different animal from hard liqueurs that shrivel up cells more. Also wine has now been proven to enable radiation protection some.