[Swprograms] Fw: [roadgeek] Study: Obscure Hobbies Cause Changes in Brain

["Richard Cuff" <rdcuff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Found this from one of my other hobby e-groups:  roadgeeking...

Rich Cuff

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Raymond C Martin Jr" <famartin1@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <roadgeek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2004 9:30 AM
Subject: Re: [roadgeek] Study: Obscure Hobbies Cause Changes in Brain


Since there's no link...  this wouldn't happen to be an April Fools, now
would it? ;-)

--- xploreusa <xploreusa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Very interesting, but ominous, news article. Let's be careful out
> there!
>
>
>
> Science - Reuters
> Thu Apr 01, 1:10 PM ET
>
>
> Study: Obscure Hobbies Cause Changes in Brain
>
> Dangerous 'gray matter' alters brain structure in transportation fans
>
>
>
> LONDON (Reuters) - Individuals who partake in a small number of
> obscure hobbies are worrying a group of scientists from around the
> world. Having a fascination with planes, trains, and automobiles may
> seem like harmless entertainment, but scientists said Thursday that
> excessive pondering of the minutiae of these hobbies can cause
> potentially harmful changes in areas of the adult brain.
>
> Affecting mostly males from North America, Western Europe, and
> Australia, the hobbies include planespotting, railfanning, and
> roadgeeking. A possible link, scientists surmise, may be that all
> three transportation-related hobbies include viewing and documenting
> random numbers. The seemingly benign numbers range from airplane
> fuselage and train engine serial numbers, to highway route and exit
> numbers.
>
> Scientists report that taking part in the hobbies increases the
> amount of gray matter in areas of the brain that process and store
> visual information, proving what was not thought possible -- that
> new stimuli can alter the brain's structure.
>
> A comparison of brain-imaging scans between non-participants and
> long-time hobbyists, revealed a substantial, and alarming, increase
> in gray matter in certain areas of the brains.
>
> "Our results challenge our view of the human central nervous system.
> Human brains probably must be viewed as dynamic, changing with
> development and normal learning," said Arne May, of the University
> of Regensburg in Germany, who headed the research team.
>
> Gray matter refers to parts of the brain and spinal cord that are
> comprised of the tightly packed nuclei of nerve cells. In the brain
> it is mainly found in the outer layers of the cerebrum which is
> responsible for advanced mental functions.
>
> In a report in the science journal Nature, May and his colleagues
> said brain scans done six months after the hobbyists abandoned their
> pastimes, on the advice of neurospecialists, showed the increase in
> gray matter had been reduced.
>
> Outside his doctor's office, American transportation enthusiast
> Jeffrey Sloan, of Berwyn, Illinois, reminisces about the many days
> and nights spent observing all manners of transportation.
>
> "I live in the mecca of transportation. Everyday I would either
> watch planes at O'Hare (International Airport), chase after the many
> freight and passenger trains, or cruise the roadways. My family and
> friends just didn't get the fascination with it, the obsession, but
> it was like an elixir for me."
>
> Later Sloan is careful to avert his eyes from a passing freight
> train, as he sits in his vehicle near one of his former prime
> viewing spots. He has since taken up needlepoint and backgammon, but
> he still likes to come out here and feel the rumble, hear the horn,
> and smell the diesel of the trains.
>
> "I want to look at the trains and all the numbers, but the doctor
> says I can't," Sloan says as tears well up in his eyes, "I want to
> live and be here for my grandkids. I want to be sane, not a
> vegetable, I don't want that gray matter to muddle up my brain. It's
> terrible, I can't believe this has happened to me."
>
> He turns on a scanner to listen to some airplane traffic in the busy
> skies, and laments the fact that he can't drive at night any
> longer. "The doctors warned me that the reflectorized road signs are
> very dangerous to someone with my condition."
>
> Scientists are working at improving their knowledge of this newly
> discovered disease, but they warn that no cure is on the distant
> horizon. "I believe the challenge we face is...to be able to adapt
> and modulate this knowledge into disease management," May added in
> an email interview.
>
>
>
>
> `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
> John M. Sullivan
> Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, Earth
>
>


=====
Raymond C. Martin, Jr.
Associate Meteorologist, AccuWeather Inc. - http://www.accuweather.com/
New Jersey Expressways and Tollways - http://www.njfreeways.com/
Ray's Winter Storm Archive - http://www.njfreeways.com/weather/

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