少壮不锻炼,老大脑袋徒伤悲

又到开学时!同学们是否已为自己定下了新学期的目标呢?如果还未着手,看了本文之后也许你会把多进行体育锻炼和多睡觉列为学期目标的两大要点哦!

How active you are early in life may affect how able-minded you are late in life. That was the finding of a new study of cognitive impairment[认知障碍], or a loss in mental abilities.

The study involved more than 9,000 women in the United States over the age of 65. They answered

questions about their level of physical activity as

teenagers and at age 30, 50 and late in life.

Laura Middleton of the Sunnybrook Health

Sciences Center in Canada led the study.

Middleton: People who were physically active on a regular basis had lower risk of cognitive impairment in late life. But it seemed that teenage physical activity was particularly important in terms of the prevention of cognitive impairments.

Laura Middleton noted two long-lasting effects that physical activity can have on teenagers. Exercise could help strengthen the blood vessels[血管] that carry blood and oxygen to the brain. Also, physical activity is known to improve the brain’s ability to repair itself.

The study is in the Journal of the American

Geriatrics[老年病学] Society.

Women who said they were physically active even once a week showed less cognitive impairment as measured by a test. There was not a strong link between the amount of physical activity and the extent of impairment. But the link was strongest among those who were active as teenagers.

Laura Middleton says other studies of exercise and cognitive skills have found a stronger link in

women than in men. Still, she says, there is no reason

to suggest that the finding about teenage physical

activity should not apply to men as well.

Now speaking of teenagers, they were the subject of another new study. It looked at the effects of a later start to the school day.

For the study, an independent high school in Rhode Island delayed morning classes from 8 o’clock to 8:30. The change affected about 200 students in grades 9 through 12.

In online surveys, students reported feeling less sleepy during the day. They rated themselves as less depressed and more active in school. They also

reported sleeping longer on school nights and making fewer tiredness-related visits to the school health center.

Judith Owens of the Hasbro Children’s Hospital

led the study. It appears in the Archives[档案] of

Pediatrics[小儿科] & Adolescent Medicine.

The study says class attendance improved. It also says teachers and sports coaches had resisted the change, and administrators had planned to return to the 8 o’clock start time after the study. But students and teachers voted to keep the half-hour delay for another term.

你在年少时的活跃程度也许会影响到晚年时期头脑的灵活程度。这是一项关于认知障碍(或称心智损失)的全新研究发现。

该研究的对象包括超过9000名年龄在65岁以上的美国女性。她们对自己在青少年时期、30岁、50岁和晚年进行的体育锻炼水平等问题作出回答。

加拿大森尼布鲁克健康科学中心的劳拉・米德尔顿是此次研究的带头人。

米德尔顿:定期进行体育锻炼的人晚年患上认知障碍的风险较低。但是就预防认知障碍这方面来讲,青少年时期的体育锻炼似乎特别重要。

劳拉・米德尔顿指出,体育锻炼对于青少年可能产生两项持续性影响――锻炼能够帮助强化为大脑输送血液和氧气的血管;并且,大家都知道体育锻炼能够改善大脑的自我修复能力。

该研究发表在《美国老年医学会杂志》上。

根据一项测试显示,那些即便是每周只进行一次体育锻炼的女性,其认知障碍的病症也较轻。体育锻炼的强度与障碍的程度并没有密切联系。但对于在青少年时期活泼好动的人来说,这种联系最为紧密。

劳拉・米德尔顿说,其他关于体育活动和认知能力的研究发现,这种联系在女性当中的要比在男性中更为明显。不过她表示,没有理由认为这项关于青少年时期体育运动的发现不适用于男性。

提及青少年,他们也是另一项新研究的对象。该研究观察的是推迟上学时间对学生所产生的影响。

为了进行研究,罗德岛一所独立高中将早上的上课时间从八点整推迟到八点半。这一变化影响了大约两百名九年级至十二年级的学生。

网上调查发现,学生们称自己白天犯困时间减少了,在学校也不会觉得那么郁闷,表现更为活跃。他们还说自己在上课期间的晚上睡眠时间长了,也较少由于疲劳的关系去学校的健康中心看病。

(罗德岛)孩之宝儿童医院的朱迪斯・欧文斯领导了这次研究,其结果发表在《儿科与青春期医学》杂志中。

该研究称,学生的上课出勤率有所提高。起初,教师和体育教练均拒绝进行调整,管理层则计划研究结束后即恢复八点钟上课。但后来学生和教师经过投票,支持将此项推迟半小时上课的规定延长至下学期。