SharpBrains

Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg and I, co-authors of The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness, will cover the main highlights from our new book and address the questions submitted by readers.
When: Tuesday July 21st, 10am Pacific Time; 1pm Eastern Time.

How to Register: Click HERE for more information and to Register.
Title: The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness:
18 Interviews with Scientists, Practical Advice, and Product Reviews, to Keep Your Brain Sharp

Book description: While most of us have heard the phrase “use it or lose it,” very few understand what “it” means, or how to properly “use it” in order to maintain brain function and fitness. The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness is an invaluable guide that helps readers navigate growing brain research and identify the lifestyle factors and products that contribute to brain fitness. By gathering insights from eighteen of the world’s top scientists and offering tools and detailed descriptions of over twenty products, this book is an essential guide to the field of brain fitness, neuroplasticity and cognitive health.

An accessible and thought-provoking read, The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness educates lifelong learners and professionals in healthcare, education, business, etc., on emerging trends and forecasts of what the future will hold.

To order book via Amazon.com:

- Print book ($24.95): click Here
- Kindle version ($9.99): click Here

Our first book is available in Amazon.com!

After several meetings with Dr. Goldberg, who kindly responded to my initial unsolicited letter, we decided to partner and create SharpBrains with a mission to "to provide individuals, companies and institutions with independent, high-quality, research-based, information and guidance to navigate the growing cognitive health and brain fitness market."

Since then, we have launched one of the most popular brain websites, blogs and newsletters, two annual market reports that have become the standard in our field, a lifelong learning curriculum taught in multiple universities, and we are now pleased to bring to you our first book. We hope you enjoy it.

Book description: While most of us have heard the phrase “use it or lose it,” very few understand what “it” means, or how to properly “use it” in order to maintain brain function and fitness. The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness is an invaluable guide that helps readers navigate growing brain research and identify the lifestyle factors and products that contribute to brain fitness. By gathering insights from eighteen of the world’s top scientists and offering tools and detailed descriptions of over twenty products, this book is an essential guide to the field of brain fitness, neuroplasticity and cognitive health. An accessible and thought-provoking read, The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness educates lifelong learners and professionals in healthcare, education, business, etc., on emerging trends and forecasts of what the future will hold.

Praise for the book

"Finally, an insightful and complete overview of the science, products and trends to debunk old myths and help us all maintain our brains in top shape. A must-read for everyone with a brain – an instant classic.”
—Gloria Cavanaugh, former President & CEO of the American Society on Aging and founding Board member of the National Alliance for Caregiving

"The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness offers a valuable and stimulating blueprint for anyone who wants to grow older sustainably --- that is, with sound mind and good humor. Fernandez and Goldberg are the pioneers we've been waiting for to help us do exactly that. Buying this book is the ultimate no-brainer."
—Joel Makower, Executive Editor, GreenBiz.com, and author, Strategies for the Green Economy

"A masterful guide to the brain training revolution. Promises to stimulate a much needed conversation that will nudge society to build a new brain fitness culture on solid, research-based, foundations."
—P. Murali Doraiswamy MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Duke University and Co-author of The Alzheimer's Action Plan

“Our curriculum and research circle will begin summer work by reading The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness, a much-needed new resource to help us better understand our brains and minds and how to nourish them through life."
—Susan E. Hoffman, Director, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Berkeley

"All of us researching healthy brain function owe SharpBrains a debt of gratitude for promoting a science-based approach to brain health education and offering an unbiased view of the landscape. Now, with The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness, Alvaro Fernandez and Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg serve up plentiful food for thought to satisfy the growing number of adults who are hungry for a healthy mind."
—Joshua R. Steinerman, M.D., Assistant Professor of Neurology and Director of the Neurodegenerative Disease Clinical Trials Program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center

"I am a neurosurgeon and have a great interest in the rapidly advancing field of neuroscience, especially the areas of neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. New developments happen so fast that it is difficult to keep up. This book by Alvaro Fernandez and Elkhonon Goldberg offers a spectacular introduction to the field, valuable both to the public at large and healthcare professionals."
—Guy Otis Danielson III, MD, President of the NeuroCare Network Tyler, Texas

"Finally, a book that makes sense out of the confusing brain fitness movement! I believe brain fitness could very well be the next big thing. Baby boomers like me are getting older and we want to stay mentally sharp, maintain if not strengthen our cognitive skills, and above all avoid mental decline and Alzheimer's disease. Unfortunately, there's been many conflicting claims and confusing products that has made it difficult for me and thousands of others people to decide just what we should do. SharpBrains' guide is an honest, clearly written examination of brain fitness concepts, the underlying science, and the best products and services out there. It's a first-class, pioneering resource that summarizes all I need to know about how to stay sharp for many more years."
—David Bunnell, founder of PC, PC World, Macworld and BioWorld

Continue reading about (and order!) The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness: 18 Interviews with Scientists, Practical Advice, and Product Reviews, to Keep Your Brain Sharp

A couple of recent research findings are making the media rounds, bringing much needed attention to the high Alzheimer's rates among Latinos and to preventive approaches based on the Cognitive Reserve - such as, what jobs we choose:

More Alzheimer's risk for Hispanics, studies find (International Herald Tribune):

- Studies suggest that many Hispanics may have more risk factors for developing dementia than other groups, and a significant number appear to be getting Alzheimer's earlier. And surveys indicate that Latinos, less likely to see doctors because of financial and language barriers, more often mistake dementia symptoms for normal aging, delaying diagnosis.

- "This is the tip of the iceberg of a huge public health challenge," said Yanira Cruz, president of the National Hispanic Council on Aging. "We really need to Continue Reading »

James Zull is a professor of Biology. He is also Director Emeritus of the University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. These roles most assuredly coalesced in his 2002 book, The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning.

This is a book for both teachers and parents (because parents are also teachers!) Written with the earnestness of first-person experience and reflection, and a lifetime of expertise in biology, Zull makes a well-rounded case for his ideas. He offers those ideas for your perusal, providing much supporting evidence, but he doesn’t try to ram them into your psyche. Rather, he practices what he preaches by engaging you with stories, informing you with fact, and encouraging your thinking by the way he posits his ideas.

I have read a number of books that translate current brain research into practice while providing practical suggestions for teachers to implement. This is the first book I have read that provides a biological, and clearly rational, overview of learning and the brain. Zull provokes you into thinking Continue Reading »

Computer game boosts maths scores (BBC):

- "It also found improvements in pupils' concentration and behaviour."

- "The study involved more than 600 pupils in 32 schools across Scotland using the Brain Training from Dr Kawashima game on the Nintendo DS every day."

- "Researchers found that while all groups had improved their scores, the group using the game had improved by a further 50%."

- "Less able children were found to be more likely to improve than the highest attainers and almost all pupils had an increased perception of their own ability."

Comment:  fascinating results supporting the potential role for "Serious Games" in education. Now, please take the results with a grain of salt, since the study doesn't seem to have been published yet in any top-tier peer-reviewed journal.. The information publicly available seems to simply consist of a press release by Learning and Teaching Scotland. We hope to see an in-depth report to answer many open questions on the study. In any case, welcome news!

Here you have the latest editions of two excellent blog carnivals. Pay a visit if you are interested in meeting some great education and health bloggers.

- Carnival of Education #190, by Steve Spangler.

- Grand Rounds: this time, hosted by KevinMD and Kim on behalf of Dr. Val.

Enjoy!

Great article in the New York Times titled Training Young Brains to Behave. A couple of quotes:

- "But just as biology shapes behavior, so behavior can accelerate biology. And a small group of educational and cognitive scientists now say that mental exercises of a certain kind can teach children to become more self-possessed at earlier ages, reducing stress levels at home and improving their experience in school. Researchers can test this ability, which they call executive function, and they say it is more strongly associated with school success than I.Q."

- “We know that the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until the 20s, and some people will ask, Continue Reading »

Schools are beginning to offer an increasing number of courses in social and emotional intelligence, teaching students how to better understand their own emotions and the emotions of others.

It sounds warm and fuzzy, but it's a trend backed up by hard data. Today, new studies reveal that teaching kids to be emotionally and socially competent boosts their academic achievement. More precisely, when schools offer students programs in social and emotional learning, their achievement scores gain around 11 percentage points.

That's what I heard at a forum held last December by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). (Disclosure: I'm a co-founder of CASEL.) Roger Weissberg, the organization's director, gave a preview of a massive study run by researchers at Loyola University and the University of Illinois, which analyzed evaluations of more than 233,000 students across the country.

Social-emotional learning, they discovered, helps students Continue Reading »

We are hosting here at SharpBrains the next editions of several great blog carnivals. If you blog about these topics, please submit your best recent posts using our Contact Us form:

- August 27th: Carnival of Education.

- September 9th: Carnival of Biogerontology.

- September 17th: Carnival of HR.

Enjoy the  weekend!

Education, Aging...two seemingly unrelated topics, but with more biology in common than may meet the eye...

You may enjoy the most recent editions of two great blog carnivals: 

- Carnival of Education, hosted by Joanne Jacobs.

- Hourglass: a carnival of biogerontology, hosted by Chris at Ouroboros. Chris recently launched this blog carnival to provide a home for "bloggers who are writing about biogerontology, lifespan extension technologies, and aging in general."

Anne writes my favorite post at Existence is Wonderful, linking education/ learning/ nurture with aging.

She first explains that

"Many people use the word "aging" as a shorthand not just for the mere process of getting older (which is not only inevitable for everything in existence, but something to celebrate --- "getting older", after all, means "experiencing more life"!), but for the physical degeneration that occurs as metabolic, immune, and mechanical side effects take hold as a person ages. Personally I find this dual use of the word "aging" terribly confusing".

And then adds

"We don’t necessarily know what hard limits are on longevity until we optimize care. I saw a dramatic turnaround in my fish when I learned how to properly configure the tank setup, and I hope to see the day when human medicine makes a similar leap in effectiveness"