Passage Five
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 aging
unnecessarily soon. Professor Taiju Matsuzawa wanted to find out
why otherwise healthy farmers in northern Japan appeared to be losing their
ability to think and reason at a relatively early age, and how the process of
aging could be slowed down. With a team of colleagues at Tokyo National
University, he set about measuring brain volumes of a thousand people of
different ages and varying occupations. Computer technology
enabled the researchers to obtain precise measurements of the volumes of the
front and side sections of the brain, which relate to intellect and emotion, and
determine the human character. The rear section of the brain, which controls
functions like eating and breathing, does not contract with age, and one can
continue living without intellectual or emotional faculties.
Contraction of front and side parts -- as cells die off -- was observed in
some subjects in their thirties, but it was still not evident in some sixty-and
seventy-year-olds. Matsuzawa concluded from his tests that there
is a simple remedy to the contraction normally associated with age -- using the
head. The findings show in general terms that contraction of the brain begins
sooner in people in the country than in the towns. Those least at risk, says
Matsuzawa , are lawyers, followed by university professors and doctors. White
collar workers doing routine work in government offices are, however, as likely
to have shrinking brains as the farm worker, bus driver and shop
assistant. Matsuzawa’s findings show that thinking can prevent
the brain from shrinking. Blood must circulate properly in the head to supply
the fresh oxygen the brain cells need. "The best way to maintain good blood
circulation is through using the brain." he says. "Think hard and engage in
conversation. Don’t rely on pocket calculators."
What’s the meaning of the word "subject" in
paragraph 5