2009-10-21/Challenges make the brain sharper
y Michael de Laine, the Copenhagen Voice, 21 October 2009
Lots of exercise to raise the pulse, and a diet with many fruits and vegetables and little meat and fats will not only keep your body in shape, but also keep your brain sharp, according to Milena Penkowa, a doctor of medicine, researcher and professor at the Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology at the Panum Institute under the University of Copenhagen.
Milena gave some lectures over the past week at Experimentarium, the hands-on science exhibition centre in Hellerup, in connection with the centre’s new theme exhibition about the brain.
As the lights were switched off around us, Milena told the Copenhagen Voice that the brain likes to be challenged. Solving crosswords and sudokus and learning a new language are therefore good ways of massaging the 1.4 kg organ that is so vital to us - and can help us postpone, and even partly recover from, the onslaught of brain-related illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease.
The exhibition’s slogan is ‘Use it or lose it!’ and the 45 activities will give your brain a real work-out ‘because your brain can benefit from regular training just like your body - all your life’.