We had a very fun ses­sion titled Teach­ing Brain Fit­ness in Your Com­mu­nity at an Amer­i­can Soci­ety on Aging (ASA) con­fer­ence for health pro­fes­sion­als a cou­ple of weeks ago. Full house, with over 60 atten­dants and very good par­tic­i­pa­tion, show­ing great inter­est in the topic. I can’t wait to see the evaluations.

These are some of the resources I promised as a follow-up, which can be use­ful to every­one inter­ested in our field:

Good gen­eral arti­cles in the busi­ness and gen­eral media:

Change or Die

Want a sharp mind for your golden years? Start now

You’re Wiser Now

On how new neu­rons are born and grow in the adult brain:

Salk Sci­en­tists Demon­strate For The First Time That Newly Born Brain Cells Are Func­tional In The Adult Brain

Old Brains, New Tricks

On the sur­pris­ing plas­tic­ity and devel­op­ment poten­tial through­out life:

Brain Plas­tic­ity, Lan­guage Pro­cess­ing and Reading

Jug­gling Jug­gles the Brain

Suc­cess­ful Aging of the Healthy Brain

Other impor­tant aspects:

Stress and the Brain

Exer­cise and the Brain

Humor, Laugh­ter and The Brain

On the impor­tance and impact of men­tal stim­u­la­tion and training:

Brain Work-outs

Train­ing Improves Cog­ni­tive Abil­i­ties of Older Adults

On the role of men­tal stim­u­la­tion in pro­tect­ing the brain:

Men­tal stim­u­la­tion staves off dementia

Mind-Building Hob­bies Pre­vent Alzheimer’s

On Train­ing the Brain to help peo­ple with ADD/ADHD:

Train­ing the Brain: Cog­ni­tive ther­apy as an alter­na­tive to ADHD drugs

On the impor­tance of build­ing a Brain Reserve:

Level of Job Dif­fi­culty Linked to Alzheimer’s

Selected Sci­en­tific Abstracts:

Ball K, Berch DB, Helmers KF, et al. Effects of cog­ni­tive train­ing inter­ven­tions with older adults: a ran­dom­ized con­trolled trial. JAMA. 2002;288:2271–81.

Kling­berg T, Fer­nell E, Ole­sen PJ, et al. Com­put­er­ized train­ing of work­ing mem­ory in chil­dren with ADHD–a ran­dom­ized, con­trolled trial. J Am Acad Child Ado­lesc Psy­chi­a­try. 2005;44:177–86.

Mah­ncke HW, Con­nor BB, Appel­man J, et al. Mem­ory enhance­ment in healthy older adults using a brain plasticity-based train­ing pro­gram: a ran­dom­ized, con­trolled study. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2006;103:12523–8.

Scarmeas N, Stern Y. Cog­ni­tive reserve and lifestyle. J Clin Exp Neu­ropsy­chol. 2003;25:625–33.

Tar­raga L, Boada M, Modi­nos G, et al. A ran­domised pilot study to assess the effi­cacy of an inter­ac­tive, mul­ti­me­dia tool of cog­ni­tive stim­u­la­tion in Alzheimer’s dis­ease. J Neu­rol Neu­ro­surg Psy­chi­a­try. 2006;77:1116–21.

Willis SL, Tennst­edt SL, Mar­siske M, et al. Long-term effects of cog­ni­tive train­ing on every­day func­tional out­comes in older adults. JAMA. 2006;296:2805–14.

Great pop­u­lar sci­ence books by our Co-Founder and Chief Sci­en­tific Advisor

The Exec­u­tive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the Civ­i­lized Mind — by Elkhonon Goldberg

The Wis­dom Para­dox: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older — by Elkhonon Goldberg

With a health/medical angle

Brain Longevity: The Break­through Med­ical Pro­gram that Improves Your Mind and Mem­ory — by Dharma Singh Khalsa

The Mem­ory Pre­scrip­tion: Dr. Gary Small’s 14-Day Plan to Keep Your Brain and Body Young — by Gary Small

Fas­ci­nat­ing, user-friendly sci­en­tific books

A User’s Guide to the Brain: Per­cep­tion, Atten­tion, and the Four The­aters of the Brain — by John J. Ratey

Best of the Brain from Sci­en­tific Amer­i­can — a selec­tion of essays

In Search of Mem­ory: The Emer­gence of a New Sci­ence of Mind — by Eric Kandel

Magic Trees of the Mind — by Mar­ian Diamond

Map­ping the Mind — by Rita Carter

Phan­toms in the Brain: Prob­ing the Mys­ter­ies of the Human Mind — by V. S. Ramachandran

Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Sci­ence Reveals Our Extra­or­di­nary Poten­tial to Trans­form Our­selves — by Sharon Begley

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: An Updated Guide To Stress, Stress Related Dis­eases, and Cop­ing — by Robert M. Sapolsky

Good com­bi­na­tion of infor­ma­tion and activities

Build­ing Men­tal Mus­cle: Con­di­tion­ing Exer­cises for the Six Intel­li­gence Zones — by David Gamon and Allen D. Bragdon

Be Socia­ble, Share!

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