Oregon triathlon team member Mike Fisher clicks his heels together as he crosses the finish line at the Jog Your Brain 5k at Alton Baker Park on Sunday, March 18, 2012. Fisher, along with about 75 other students, faculty and community members participated in the event put on by the University’s Brain Development Lab as part of the revamped Brain Awareness Week. (Jeff Matarrese/Oregon Daily Emerald)
The University’s Brain Development Lab@@http://bdl.uoregon.edu/@@ concluded its Brain Awareness Week@@http://www.dana.org/brainweek/@@ on Sunday with a 5K run through Alton Baker Park.@@http://www.eugene-or.gov/portal/server.pt?space=CommunityPage&control=SetCommunity&CommunityID=678&PageID=1567@@
More than 75 runners showed up for the afternoon event, called “Jog Your Brain.” @@http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200605/jog-your-brain@@A wide array of people participated, including University students and community members.
This is the Brain Development Lab’s first year bringing Brain Awareness Week back to Eugene after about a decade-long hiatus. Brain Awareness Week is celebrated internationally every March.
The race was organized to celebrate the end of the week and to provide awareness to how cardiovascular exercise can help brain activity.
Becca Hammonds and Mandy Hampton Wray, research associates at the Brain Development Lab, organized the week’s festivities.@@http://bdl.uoregon.edu/mainindex.php?page=contact@@
“We really want to promote information and awareness about the brain and ways to keep it healthy and active,” Hampton Wray said. “Exercise is a really great way to keep your brain healthy. It’s good for learning and memory.”
Surrounding the race registration area were posters called “Brain Facts,” with information about how aerobic activity enhances brain development.
“Essentially, we want people to just be aware of how many things can affect brain health,” said research associate at the Brain Development Lab Eric Pakulak.@@http://bdl.uoregon.edu/mainindex.php?page=contact@@
Before the race, participants were invited to learn more about the brain with researchers from the lab. The researchers gave out the lab’s DVD, “Changing Brains.”
Recently, the lab has been working on studying the effects of low socioeconomic status on brain activity in children.
In the last eight years, researchers from the lab have been working with children from the Head Start preschool program@@http://www.ohsa.net/@@ to increase attention rates, which ultimately affect the child’s growth, such as linguistics and emotional development
The Brain Development Lab hopes to continue organizing Brain Awareness Week in Eugene.
“We’ve learned a lot this year about things that we’ve loved and things that we want to change, so we are really excited to plan a bigger and better Brain Awareness Week next year,” Hammonds said.
