How to Get Your Brain NeuroFit

Annie Fenn, MD

ARPF Scientific Advisory Council member Annie Fenn, MD, chef and founder of Brain Health Kitchen, and Stacy Fisher of Fisher Fitness organized a virtual brain health retreat that focuses on combining mindful movement and brain resiliency.

Your ARPF is honored to have been included in their “Neurofit” class which challenged participants’ balance while strengthening core and hips. Balance and strength are two key aspects of aging well. Exercise alone can reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s by 50 percent which goes hand in hand with improved cardiovascular health. By throwing in a mental aspect, such as holding a plank while playing word games, Neurofit truly became a mind-body workout.

Dr. Fenn explained, “Stacy and I have been working out together for 15 years. We became very interested in brain health because we both have a family history of Alzheimer’s disease. Back in 2015 when I launched my website and cooking school, Stacy also started incorporating this research with her clients. Neurofit is a way of working out that combines protecting brain health and physical health.”

During the session, Stacy talked about how exercise keeps your synapses firing. Getting your heart rate up and even doing High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is good for your hippocampus and overall brain resiliency. Having a resilient brain means protecting it against many stress-induced changes, particularly in regard to the size, activity, and connectivity of the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex.

Your ARPF is heartened to see this vital information making waves with more people coming together for better brain health. Dr. Fenn added, “We expected about 100 people to attend, but as of right now we have 350 participants and our community is growing!”