When grandchildren would overhear their grandparents or even their parents quip "I must be getting old" they would take this as a true statement that - and in fact this would work like a self-fulfilling prophesy, if you firmly believe old age to be synonymous to becoming senile then your body would obey as much as it would if you believed the contrary. But we will leave the subject of autosuggestion and what it can do for you till a later article in this series.

Today we want to show you how working out can increase your intelligence ... In several studies recently conducted neuroscientists found that bodily activity increases the likelihood of achieving greater mental capacity. Here is what they found and how it seems to work:

A 2006 study conducted by Swedish scientists found a direct relation between exercising and increased IQ levels. While it is not a direct causal relationshiplike "if you do so many push-ups your intelligence will increase by x points" it is a statistical relationship, i.e.those who exercised regularly and to some extent would eventually increase their IQ levels. This must be the result of growth stimulated in the hippocampus region of the brain as a recent study by Dr. Josef Bischofberger from Freiburg University (Germany) found. It is due to certain brain cell growth factors who are stimulated by bodily exercise. What's more: newly grown brain cells are likely to learn faster than older ones. So there are several benefits of exercising:

* your brain and body get more oxygen, which in itself tends to increase brain performance

* certain growth factors are stimulated that lead to new cells eager to learn "new tricks"

* and most sports activities tend to increase the speed with which you react in general (e.g. if a child crosses the road in front of your vehicle you're likely to brake more quickly); this reaction speed is also related to IQ levels, the faster you can react the more intelligent you tend to be (of which we'll report in another article).

Sources: Exercise Grows New Brain Cells, by Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Staff Writer, posted: 28 June 2007 12:25 pm ET http://www.livescience.com/health/070628_exercise_brain.html "Schlau durch Sport - Neurophysiologen stellen Zusammenhang her zwischen Bewegung und Intelligenz" in: Freiburger uni-Magazin, vol. 2/April 2006, p. 13 (Freiburg University, Germany ISSN 0947-1251). http://www.pr.uni-freiburg.de/publikationen/unimagazin/2006/fum-2-2006.pdf/attachment_download/file