Just think it

Neurologist lectures on breakthroughs involving the brain

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

Dr. Patrick Hogan of Puget Sound Neurology, a neurologist and athlete, gave a free lecture last week at the Gig Harbor Civic Center about the benefits exercise has on the brain and nervous system. His speech, “Exercise and the Brain,” was co-sponsored by the City of Gig Harbor, the Pierce County Medical Society and Healthy Harbor, an umbrella program that encompasses local events, activities and ideas that make Gig Harbor a healthy place to live, work and play. One of the main points Hogan spoke about was the ground-breaking scientific study that reverses an age-old belief.

“We’ve been told over and over that you are born with a certain number of brain cells, and that is wrong,” Hogan said. “You can not only make new brain cells, but you can create connections with the brain cells to other brain cells. All these things we thought we couldn’t control, we’re now finding that we can. We can re-program our brains the way we can reprogram a computer.”

During a PowerPoint presentation, Hogan said recent studies show regular exercise can combat and reverse debilitating conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, spinal cord injuries and other neurological disorders.

Physical therapist Craig Faeth of MVP Physical Therapy said that, in his practice, exercise helps improve neural pathways in the brain.

“If a person has had Parkinson’s or a stroke, certain movement patterns become disrupted,” he said. “What are simple movements for you and I becomes difficult for someone who has had that kind of brain injury or a brain disease. We use exercise to retrain those movement patterns.”

Faeth said there is research that proves different parts of the brain can compensate for injured parts of the brain.

“With a brain injury, a certain part of the brain is dead,” he said. “But you can retrain a different part of the brain to perform that same function.

“It’s exactly like children learning how to play hopscotch,” Faeth added. “They don’t learn how to hop on one foot right away, they learn how to jump on two feet first. In utilizing exercise, we can train that client to learn the components of jumping, then hopping and eventually return them to the skill of hopscotch.”

Faeth said a recent study shows that even part of the damaged brain tissue can be reclaimed to some extent.

Hogan alluded to a recently published book called “Spark” by Dr. John J. Ratey that delves into the body-brain relationship.

Some say the reason exercise benefits brain health is because exercising helps the heart pump more blood and oxygen to the brain, Hogan said, but it’s not that simple. Exercise causes the brain to release certain chemicals that can form new blood vessels, a process known as the Enhanced Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor.

“Exercise has a chemically positive effect on the brain,” he said. “You can improve the brain or let it deteriorate over time. Over the past few years, we’ve discovered that exercise controls free radicals. Exercise, in a sense, is the best anti-oxidant to prevent disease and promote recovery from stress.”

Free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms with an odd number of electrons that can form when oxygen interacts with certain molecules. They can cause damage to important cellular components, such as DNA or a cell membrane.

Antioxidants are a body’s defense against free radicals.

“Stress is harmful and has a damaging effect on the brain,” Hogan said. “We need to find a constant balance of dealing with stress and the damage caused by stress.”

Hogan said exercise stresses the body, but it also makes it stronger, like when a virus is slowly introduced to the body in order to make the body immune to the virus.

“Exercise challenges your body,” he said. “It stresses it and allows you to better cope with other stresses placed on your body, like from a stroke. If you are sedentary, when there are insults to your system, the body can’t cope as well.”

He said a lot of our modern-day health problems, such as cancer, stroke and heart disease, are a result of evolution not being able to anticipate our sedentary lifestyle.

Studies have shown that constant TV watching is associated with an increase in Alzheimer’s Disease, but science has not been able to pinpoint whether that is due to someone being inactive or the person’s brain being inactive.

What is certain is that people who are regularly engaged in physical activity have half the rate of Alzheimer’s as those who don’t.

“The human body was designed to be active,” Hogan said. “We have elasticity in our feet that is only activated while running. There are muscles in our buttocks that are only used while running. Even our pelvic posture is designed to be running.”

Exercise releases chemicals in the brain called Dopamine and Serotonin, the “feel good” chemicals people can also attain by drinking, taking drugs or smoking cigarettes, he said.

“Nicotine addicts are addicted to the dopamine cigarettes release in the brain,” Hogan said. “Some athletes actually become addicted to exercise, but it’s a good addiction. It can replace what the brain needs from those other addictions.”

The problem is, exercise is work.

“Humans are pleasure-seeking, pain-avoiding organisms,” Hogan said. “But the human brain was not made to be inactive. You must get your heart rate up enough for it to be a challenge. The brain has to realize that you’re trying to do something different.”

The trick is to get the brain to release those chemicals and build new cells, he said.

The level of activity needed varies: A marathoner would have to work a lot harder to stimulate brain activity than someone undergoing physical therapy to overcome an injury.

“It’s easier to maintain health than it is to try to get it back once you’ve lost it,” Hogan said. “We can change this epidemic (of inactivity.) We in Gig Harbor can become an example for the rest of the world.”

Laureen Lund, marketing director for the City of Gig Harbor, said she was impressed with Hogan’s lecture.

“I thought it was fascinating — his enthusiasm was infectious,” she said.

“Healthy Harbor is a community health campaign,” she said. “It’s not just about physical health, but environmental health and historical health.”

Lund said Healthy Harbor plans to serve as a forum to provide more lectures. The next scheduled forum will be “Active Living Every Day” with Dr. Jane Moore on Oct. 20.

Reach reporter Susan Schell at 253-853-9240 or by e-mail at susan.schell@gateline.com.