Harnessing mindfulness and virtual reality simulations to maximize sports performance

Ath­letes at the very high­est lev­el of their sport face the chal­lenge of per­form­ing con­sis­tent­ly under pres­sure amid many poten­tial dis­trac­tions, includ­ing per­for­mance anx­i­ety, crowd behav­iour, their own and oth­ers’ expec­ta­tions, and the respons­es of their oppo­nents. The per­for­mance of play­ers in the 2023 Aus­tralian Open, for exam­ple, demon­strat­ed the psy­cho­log­i­cal fac­tors need­ed to succeed…

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Three evidence-based ways to develop a resilient mind

___ Life throws chaos at us on a reg­u­lar basis—whether it’s our finances, our rela­tion­ships, or our health. In the work world, around 50 per­cent of peo­ple are burned out in indus­tries like health care, bank­ing, and non­prof­its, and employ­ers spend $300 bil­lion per year on work­­place-relat­ed stress. In response, we just keep on pushing…

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Update: A brain-friendly lifestyle is the best approach to delay cognitive decline and dementia

_____ Time to wrap-up anoth­er stim­u­lat­ing month with Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing this time a range of promis­ing news for every­one with a (human) brain :-) New tech for brain health: Neu­ro­engi­neer­ing meets neu­roethics to address treat­­ment-resis­­tant depres­sion Study: Hear­ing aids may help old­er adults delay demen­tia, depres­sion, anx­i­ety, and falls Four guide­lines for smart use of smartphones…

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Study finds a key ingredient in mindfulness training: Acceptance (not acquiescence)

Life can be stress­ful. Whether it’s the stress that comes with hav­ing too much work to do in too lit­tle time, ful­fill­ing care­giv­ing oblig­a­tions, or deal­ing with a major ill­ness or set­back, some­times it can be hard to cope. In response to stress, many peo­ple today are turn­ing to med­i­ta­tion or mind­ful­ness apps (myself includ­ed). But…

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Growing research aims at helping cancer patients in distress access most-likely-to-help self-care options, from Mindfulness training to Web-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

___ Mind­ful­ness in can­cer treat­ment: time to stop and think (The Con­ver­sa­tion): “Breathe deeply and focus on the moment: mind­ful­ness now appears every­where as a tech­nique to improve well-being, includ­ing in health care. Mind­ful­ness train­ing is often sug­gest­ed for can­cer patients to reduce high lev­els of anx­i­ety and dis­tress asso­ci­at­ed with diag­no­sis, treat­ment and anticipation…

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5 Must-Read Articles, and an Online Course, to Help Children with ADHD

—– Giv­en the ongo­ing changes and con­tro­ver­sies sur­round­ing ADHD diag­no­sis and treat­ment, let us high­light 5 key arti­cles writ­ten by Duke Uni­ver­si­ty’s Dr. David Rabin­er to sum­ma­rize recent sci­en­tif­ic find­ings and their impli­ca­tions, plus a very rel­e­vant online course to help par­ents and pro­fes­sion­als help chil­dren with ADHD. 1. Study finds large gaps between research and practice…

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