Table Tennis is held regularly on Thursdays from 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm at TMCCA, 42, Southport Avenue, Eagle Heights. Whether a beginner or a seasoned player, you are welcome to join in and enjoy an afternoon of social table tennis and a cuppa for a gold coin donation. A little heads up for the newcomers, often, some of us get fairly competitive…

Table Tennis enhances brain growth and improves emotional well-being, as revealed by a primetime BBC1 programme - ‘How to stay young’ which examined ways to keep our brains healthy. 

Scientific tests of players’ brain scans (conducted at the beginning and end of the 10-week testing period, twice a week for 1 hour) revealed that playing table tennis was particularly good for keeping the brain active and healthy and slowing down ageing diseases such as Alzheimer's. These tests analysed how the player’s brain had changed physically, how their mental and memory functions had improved and how their emotional well-being was enhanced. The tests were supervised by Dr Matthew Kempton at King’s College, London, who said, “Table tennis is a very interesting activity to look at because we know it’s fast-moving; there’s a competitive angle and there’s hand-eye co-ordination in there as well. We think that might lead to changes in blood flow to the brain and changes in cognition...”

Results established that table tennis players had improved scores on the cognitive tests conducted at the end of 10 weeks, according to Dr Kempton. The brain scans revealed that the test group had more neurons in the hippocampus, associated with better memory and ability to learn. Table tennis players showed an increase in the thickness of their cortex – the part of the brain associated with complex thinking and the one which shrinks most as we age. Dr Kempton stated that this was due to connections between brain cells increasing – a result of learning a new skill.

Table tennis participants also had fewer negative emotions and stated that they felt better for having taken part in exercise in a social group.”

Author: Paul Simpson

TMCCA looks forward to seeing you on Thursday 29th September at 12:30 pm for and thereafter every Thursday.

Patricia Arora
TMCCA