Blogging as an Exercise of the Brain

Every six months or so, I turn to blogging itself as the topic for that week’s post.  Perhaps, as someone wrote in a comment to a previous post on blogging several years ago:  “You know that someone has run out of things to say when they start blogging about blogging.”  It is quite possible that when all else fails in coming up with a topic, a self-referential blog will do the trick, as long as you don’t do it too often.

In reality, blogging continues to play a pretty central role in my life.  I have been blogging now, week-in, week-out, since May of 2005.  Writing and editing each post consumes quite a number of hours each week, let alone the time it takes to think what to write about and how to best frame the subject.  Much to my surprise, despite the time and effort it takes to produce each blog, I have not missed a week yet since I started doing them.  Several times I have come close to finally skipping a week when I am very busy.  Other times, especially when I am having a particularly tough time with a subject, I wonder why I am subjecting myself to such seemingly unnecessary anguish.

The truth is that few will care or even notice if I miss a week now and then.  So, why then am I so disciplined about my blogs?  Is this perhaps a manifestation of a somewhat obsessive-compulsive personality?  Is it a way of bringing a certain order to my life?  A weekly blog certainly adds structure to my life, especially now that I am no longer working full time for one company and live a somewhat distributed life, working with several different private sector and academic institutions.

Is there any other kind of activity that, like blogging, I engage in with near-religious regularity even though no one else cares that I do so?  Yes, there is one other such activity in my life - physical exercise.

I started exercising regularly while living in Manhattan around 1980.  One of the pleasure of living there was being able to go jogging in Central Park, along with what seemed like a large fraction of the city’s population.  After we moved out of New York in 1991, I continued jogging, albeit under more solitary circumstances.

About twelve years ago my knees started giving me trouble when running on hard surfaces like asphalt.  I then discovered that jogging on a treadmill did not bother my knees, so I was able to continue exercising.  A few years later, even running on the treadmill was hurting my knees, so I switched to using an elliptical machine as well as walking fast on an inclined treadmill.  In addition, I have included weight training in my exercise regime.

So, for almost thirty years now, I have been been exercising five days a week on average.  Questions similar to the ones I asked above about blogging could be asked about my disciplined approach to exercising.  However, few would view my physical exercise regime as compulsive or driven by a need to add structure to my life.  The link between exercise and good health has by now been well established in study after study.

Most people would say that regular exercise is just prudent behavior on my part, especially at my age.  “Regular exercise is a critical part of staying healthy.  People who are active live longer and feel better.  Exercise can help you maintain a healthy weight.  It can delay or prevent diabetes, some cancers and heart problems.”  In addition to helping improve our physical health, exercise also improves our mental health and helps prevent or reduce depression. 

Recently, I have been wondering if blogging has now similarly become a kind of mental exercise for my brain.  This would explain why I treat my weekly blogging with the same kind of discipline as I do my near-daily physical exercise.  After all, I would expect that my aging brain needs at least as much care as my aging body.

As I typically do when researching a new subject, I went to the Web, and found lots of material on brain health.  I particularly liked the brain health web site of the Alzheimer’s Association.   It is one of the most comprehensive and easy to read, as well as being careful to base their materials on the best available scientific evidence.  It writes:

“When people think about staying fit, they generally think from the neck down.  But the health of your brain plays a critical role in almost everything you do: thinking, feeling, remembering, working, and playing - even sleeping.  The good news is that we now know there’s a lot you can do to help keep your brain healthier as you age.  These steps might also reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia.  Simple lifestyle modifications also would have an enormous impact on our nation's public health and the cost of healthcare.”

It then groups its recommendations for a healthy brain lifestyle into four main areas:  physical activity; nutrition; socialization; and mental stimulation.  Let me say a few words about each.

The connection between physical exercise and brain health is probably the best understood.  About a quarter of the blood generated by each heart beat goes to the brain.  Physical exercise helps maintain good blood flow to the brain, encourage the formation of new brain cells, and significantly reduce the risk of heart attack, diabetes and strokes.  Physical activity also helps in the release of endorphins in the brain, which is associated with feelings of well being and reduced depression.  Aerobic exercise in particular improves the flow of oxygen to the brain, which generally benefits brain functions and reduce brain cell loss as we age.

A lot of research is underway to better understand the connection between diet and brain health.  There is evidence that the same diet guidelines for reducing the risk of heart attack and diabetes apply to maintaining healthy brain functions, including carefully managing body weight, cholesterol and blood pressure.  In addition, certain foods have been shown to not only reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, but also appear to protect brain cells.  They include fruits, vegetables and nuts with high levels of antioxidants and cold water fish, like salmon, containing high levels of omega-3 fatty acids.

Research also indicates that social interactions are important to a healthy brain lifestyle:  “A recent study reported that leisure activities that combine physical, mental and social activity are the most likely to prevent dementia.  In the study of 800 men and women aged 75 and older, those who were more physically active, more mentally active or more socially engaged had a lower risk for developing dementia. And those who combined these activities did even better.  Other research found that sports, cultural activities, emotional support and close personal relationships together appear to have a protective effect against dementia.”

While the scientific link between mental stimulation and brain health is not that well understood, just about everything I read on the subject urges people to stay mentally active.  They all generally conclude that an active brain may help build its reserves of brain cells and connections, and perhaps generate new ones.  I am convinced that future advances in functional magnetic resonance imaging and similar tools will validate these preliminary, more anecdotal findings.   

The Franklin Institute Resources for Science Learning observes that:  “Mental stimulation improves brain function and actually protects against cognitive decline, as does physical exercise.  The human brain is able to continually adapt and rewire itself.  Even in old age, it can grow new neurons.  Severe mental decline is usually caused by disease, whereas most age-related losses in memory or motor skills simply result from inactivity and a lack of mental exercise and stimulation.  In other words, use it or lose it.”

Another good source of information is  Dr. Paul Nussbaum, a clinical neuropsychologist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and a prolific writer and speaker on brain health.  He is also a very strong advocate for the power of mental stimulation.  Among his recommendations for exercising our brains are any activities that present us with novel and complex challenges, including reading and writing.

From everything I have read, it is reasonable to view my blogging as a form of mental exercise that will hopefully help keep my brain as healthy as possible for as long as possible.  The fact that it is at times frustrating and I'd rather be doing almost anything else is perhaps a sign that I am properly pushing my mental faculties.

After all, while I generally enjoy my physical exercise, every so often I have to remind myself that I am not doing it just for fun, but because it is supposed to be good for me.  I do hope that years from now, I will be able to convincingly say that blogging turned out to be good for my general mental health, and all this time, energy and even pain have been well worth it.

Comments

[Bryan Alexander]

Great post, Irving. It's good to see such an argument for the benefits on blogging in terms of health.

Your focus on the schedule and repetition reminds me of the journaling pedagogy in composition, and the "write every day" practice of creative writing.

[Sorekara]

Irving-san,thanks for sharing, blogging in terms of health(an Exercise of the Brain). I'm looking forward to reading your blog every week.

[Tomforemski]

There is another aspect to blogging that I find very interesting: it is very difficult to 'fake it.' If I don't like something but pretend that I do, it doesn't come out right, it doesn't read well, it feels like work to write it. You really do have to keep it real. I know this is a catch phrase but that doesn't keep it from being true.

The more I blog the more genuine I am online, and offline. If you keep it real it really does make life a lot simpler, and it is a lot less work.

I was wondering if you had noticed something similar or an affect of blogging on your offline life...

[Tomforemski]

PS I mentioned you recently in a post: The Original Gangsters of Blogging :)

http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2009/12/5years_the_old.php

[Account Deleted]

A blog (a contraction of the term "web log")[1] is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, http://www.ccnpcourse.com, although some focus on art (Art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (Video blogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.

[Ivan Walsh]

Hello Irving,

I read the Teachers live the longest (of all professions, that is).

Emotional interaction and a sense of vocation were two factor in their mental well-being.

At the other end of the scale were writers who died the youngest. These were mainly the solitary type writing by themselves with little or no human interaction.

and... we live in China and it's interesting to see how active the OAPs are. They often retire at 55 but seem to be forever up to things, always outdoors doing stuff.

Outside my window the 'lads' are playing cards and doing tai chi (not at the same time, of course) and they also mind the little nippers when their own offspring go to work.

Ivan

[workouts for women]

People often neglegt to exercise one of the most important parts of the body, the brain. More often than not, when it comes to exercising, the body is the favorite choice. People sometimes forget that the mind can move mountains.

[Full Fast]

You make some good points about brain health. A lot of the time when people think about staying fit they think about everything but the brain.

[Todd Bowman]

Exercise doesn't have to be done physically, yes.... brain have to exercise as well, with blogging.. Exercising the way you make your structure on topics, exercise your social life and exercise your whole being.

- but my problem is: if I'm likely want to write, all the topics scattered and left me nothing. I just read blogs of others and laugh, reading the topics which were in my mind the whole time but leaves when I'm about to write them. I just read and leave compliments on other's blog with related topics such as mine.

Best Workout Program
http://www.gainmuscleandloseweight.com/best-workout-program/

[Treatment For Alzheimer's]

Great article.

I lost a family member 12 months ago and since then have researched many alternative treatments mainly for my wife because it was her side of the family.

There has been some serious research using resveratrol as a Treatment For Alzheimer's.

There are some very exciting research being conducted with so many people looking and mini breakthroughs being published all over the world. I think we are all confident a cure or prevention will be found soon.

[Cross Trainer Exercise]

Just like you Irving I now have chronic pain in my knees and joints, too many years working on concrete floors and running also took their toll.
Now I use an elliptical also and at least I can get some physical exercise in. I must also agree that we need to exercise our brains also.

[Glen Alison]

Good points about brain exercise importance. The more different the brain activity is from our usual activity, the better the brain is exercised. Just like physical exercise, as you point out, brain exercise has to be done on a regular basis to improve health.

[Getting Rid of Fat]

Hi Irving,

Very interesting post. Exercising the brain is absolutely critical as we are complete vegetables without it. With the rise in Alzheimer's it is becoming critical to stay mentally sharp and focused.