and “training-induced” structural changes…
There are so many variables when it comes to learning, comprehension and memory. As we enter into retirement, the workplace minute-by-minute tasks and outcomes focus is replaced for many by patterns of routine and sameness, ultimately challenging our brains less. And there are areas of the brain which shrink as we get older and so our ability to remember begins to drop off noticeably from our 50s or 60s onwards as neurogenesis slows down.
The good news is, in the last two decades research around the world has revealed many positive impacts of physical and mental exercise on brain health as we age. Research has in fact helped to dispel the long-held view that our brains are inevitably in decline as we age. For instance, a 2003 University of Regensburg study, published in the science journal “Nature” in January 2004, examined changes in the brain structure of individuals who learned how to juggle.
In this study, a small group of 24 non-juggling individuals, mostly female with a median age of 22, was split into two groups where one group was tasked with learning how to juggle; the three-month target was to be able to juggle continuously with three balls for 60 seconds. Brain scans were conducted before and after the three-month period for both groups with the key observations:
Increases in grey matter volume in brain regions associated with visual and motor coordination was observed in each of the jugglers, but remained the same in the control, non-juggling group
Brain scans held at the six-month mark showed expansions to recede, although not completely, when participants stopped juggling in the following three months
The indications were of the human brain's remarkable plasticity in relation to new challenges and learning new things
In a subsequent study in 2008, a larger group size of 93, around two-thirds male participants, went through essentially the same trial routine. But this time the median age was 60 with the view to investigate whether similar brain characteristics might be observed in more elderly subjects.
It should be noted that while 100% of the original, younger trial subjected learning to juggle achieved that task, in the case of the elderly subjects’ trial, not all in the juggling group were able to complete the 60s challenge*. But, again as per the earlier study, key findings included;
Similar increases in grey matter volume were observed in the same brain in the new juggling group, but remained the same in the control, non-juggling group
Despite the range of successes*, there was little observed difference in brain expansion with the new jugglers, implying the learning more than the success more influential
The six-month tests reveal a reversal in the brain expansion but not completely to the original, demonstrating similar plasticity in brains of 40 years more senior
Given that cortical plasticity of the human brain is, not only on a functional but also on a structural level, preserved even in later years, the data supports a conclusion about the potential value of exercise with a brain-plasticity-based training program offering promise of an improvement of the operational capabilities of aging adults via learning something new. In effect and anecdotally, but increasingly supported by peer reviewed research, there is every indication that learning something new offers enormous potential to preserve a healthy brain and promote longevity.
Of course, we don't all need to learn to juggle - many of us struggle to do that with our finances - but whatever we do, I can state from personal experiences with learning Rubik's cube and more recently starting with Mandarin, "an old dog really can learn new tricks!"
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