Date: Sun Aug 15, 1999 2:57 pm

Subject: The head muscle

Sunday, Aug. 15th, 1999

Associated Press

Raleigh, N.C. - Ever try driving with mittens on? Sniffing vanilla or

peppermint first thing in the morning? Brushing your teeth or eating with the

"wrong" hand? Choosing potatoes at the grocery store with your eyes closed?

No, it's not a Dr. Seuss story. A duke University scientist and a New

York writer say the brain needs novelty and multisensory experiences to stay

sharp. They propose those activities as part of their brain-fitness regimen,

which they call "neurobics".

Dr. Lawrence C. Katz and Manning Rubin lay it out in "Keep Your Brain

Alive", throwing in 83 exercises to get the brain's cerebral cortex and

hippocampus off the couch and out the door. The book has gone into a fourth

printing since it hit the bookstores April 1.

Katz said daily life has the potential to be a "neurobic brain gym",

satisfying their program's two daily prerequisites: Experience the unexpected

and enlist all the senses.

"It's not about tricks or about coming up with a few things that will help

you remember a list of names, but how to live a life that is brain healthy",

said Katz, a Duke neurobiology professor who runs a brain research lab.

Some exercises are simple: taking a different way to work, switching

seats at meals and shopping at a farmer's market. Others might make people

wonder about your sanity: turning your desk calendar and clock upside down,

wearing earplugs to breakfast, getting into your car and starting it with your

eyes closed.

Neurobics, a synthesis of recent brain-research findings and Katz's own

research at Duke, wakes up the brain's "attentional circuits" to start the flow

of growth-promoting molecules called neurotrophins, according to their book.

Neurotrophins create new circuits that improve memory and creative and

logical thinking. The brain produces neurotrophins when stimulated by novelty

and experiences that engage the emotions and two or more senses, Katz said.

"Doing daily activities in a slightly different way can have a very

positive effect," he said.

Katz, on the cusp of middle age at 42, said he and Rubin, who is close to

60, were inspired to write the book after watching Katz's young children.

"It's remarkable how much more they rely on all their senses," he said.

"They use touch and hearing, smell and taste to learn about the world. Adults

tend to abstract things," Katz said. "You look at something and you figure you

know everything you need to know.... That's a kind of impoverished way of

looking at the world."

Neurobics can be practiced at the beginning and at the end of the day,

while commuting, at work and during meals and leisure time. Katz said the

book's 83 exercises are just a start. There is a Web site

(www.keepyourbrainalive,com) where people can share other neurobic exercises

they have discovered.

For people reaching advanced age, the exercises can reduce the inevitable

decline in brain processing that occurs, Katz said. "When you age, you want to

have a healthy body and you want to have a brain that won't stop you from doing

a lot of things," he said.

Hallmarks of people who age well always have been a willingness to break

routines and attempt the new - the very same cornerstone of neurobics, he said.

"They decide to hike the Appalachian Trail at 75 or take up a new hobby or

language," Katz said. "They're always living a life where they're taking on

new mental challenges or not falling into the routine of watching TV every day"