Saturday, January 21, 2012

Brain Research Identifies The Power Of Exergames

Physical exercise is important when it comes to staying healthy and increasing one’s life. But let’s face it, few actually get out and exercise on a consistent basis the way they should. Increased brain research has signaled to a new direction for people who are aging to aim at when it comes to getting that exercise; exergames.

Exergames are virtual reality games that combine exercise with interactive features. This is perfect for senior citizens to get their heart rate going while stimulating the brain. And with the Centers for Disease Control estimating just 14% of adults aged 65 to 74 exercising regularly and only 4% of those over 75 doing so, it is a step in the right direction.

It is no secret that exercise is crucial to keeping our brains healthy, energized and running efficiently. Physical exercise not only help your body remains healthy and reduces your stress, it can also have a positive impact on your overall brain health.

With this new brain research, exergames may be just another tool for people have been looking for to improve cognitive function. Today, there several regular brain training program which have the scientific validation proving that their training is effective. Exergames could be another layer for people who would like to train their physical abilities at the same time. The two kind of products can be seen as complementary.

The recent study looked at the executive cognitive function of over 100 older adults from eight different retirement communities. Usually, we can define executive cognitive functions as the area whichis responsible for multi-tasking or planning. It is one of the cognitive domains that can help to keep us independent in the long-run. When cognitive functions or other cognitive abilities begins to fade is when seniors typically enter nursing homes or need that extra assistance from loved ones.

Once the participants were split into two groups, one group rode a stationary bicycle with the other cycling the virtual reality way. Both participated in 45 minute exercises five days a week for three months. The results were enticing to researchers as the so-called cybercyclers experienced a 23% reduction in mild cognitive impairment compared to the mental benefits from the traditional physical exercise group. This study tends to add to the validity of serious and scientifically designed brain training tasks.

There is no question that more brain research must be done before seniors can begin to throw the traditional exercise equipment out the door and invest solely in exergames. Researchers are curious as to what kind of an impact physical exercise can have with mental interaction and some brain studies are being conducted around that topic. Brain training is effective and we can assume that combined with physical exercise, even not at the same time, would significantly improve cognitive functions.

Furtherneuroscientific research must also be conducted to on a larger population to see what kind of cognitive benefits are found. But for the time being, there is tremendous reason to be optimistic over the current results that have been found.

When it comes to brain research, it is all about taking steps and making strides. This is one example of that phenomenon as scientists and researchers can now build off of this exciting results.

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