A、An examination of farmers in northern Japan. B、Tests given on a thousand old people. C、Examining the brain volumes of differen

If you want to stay young, sit down and have a good think. This is the research finding of a team of Japanese doctors, who say that most of our brains are not getting enough exercise, and as a result, we are growing old unnecessarily soon. Professor Taiju Matsuzawa wanted to find out why quite healthy farmers in northern Japan appeared to be losing their ability to think and reason at a rather early age, and bow the speed of getting old could be slowed down.
    With a team of researchers at Tokyo National University, he set about measuring brain volumes of a thousand people of different jobs.
    Computer technology helped the researchers to get most measurements of the volume of the front and side parts of the brains, which have something to do with intellect and feelings, and decide the human character. As we all know, the back part of the brain, which controls tasks like eating and breathing, does not contract with age.
    Contraction of the front and side parts—as cells die off—was seen in some people in their thirties, but it was still not found in some sixty and seventy-year olds.
    Matsuzawa concluded from his tests that there is a simple way to prevent the contraction—using the head.
    The findings show that contraction of the brain begins sooner in people in the country than in the towns. Those with least possibility, says Matsuzawa, are lawyers, followed by university professors and doctors. White collar workers doing the same work day after day in government offices are, however, as possible to have contracting brains as the farm worker, bus drivers and shop assistant.