On physical activity, neuroplasticity, depression, screen time, neuromodulation and more

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing this time eight sci­en­tif­ic reports and indus­try resources plus a few fun brain teasers. #1. Study finds ulti­mate hack to pro­tect teen brains from harm­ful screen time: Exer­cise (and good role-mod­­el­ing): “Girls who spent less than an hour on screens and boys who spent less than…

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Studies find growing evidence linking weight, physical activity, neuroplasticity and depression

Being over­weight can cause depres­sion — and exer­cise is an anti­dote, dual stud­ies con­firm (Run­ner’s World): A large-scale study from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Exeter has found ‘robust evi­dence’ that being over­weight hikes up your risk of devel­op­ing depres­sion – but as fresh evi­dence con­firms, log­ging your morn­ing miles is one of the most effec­tive ways to…

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Higher body mass index (BMI) linked to lower blood supply to the brain in large neuroimaging study

Body weight has sur­pris­ing, alarm­ing impact on brain func­tion (Sci­ence Dai­ly): As a per­son­’s weight goes up, all regions of the brain go down in activ­i­ty and blood flow, accord­ing to a new brain imag­ing study in the Jour­nal of Alzheimer’s Dis­ease … sci­en­tists ana­lyzed over 35,000 func­tion­al neu­roimag­ing scans using sin­­gle-pho­­ton emis­sion com­put­er­ized tomog­ra­phy (SPECT) from…

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Update: 35% of worldwide dementia cases could be prevented by modifying these 9 modifiable risk factors

Time for Sharp­Brains’ July e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing fas­ci­nat­ing sci­en­tif­ic find­ings, emerg­ing brain health prac­tices and insights…and some fun teasers. New research Let’s start with the key take-aways from a new and very insight­ful evi­dence review which found nine mod­i­fi­able risk fac­tors for demen­tia — account­ing for 35% of all cas­es: — Edu­ca­tion by age 15 (dur­ing ear­ly life) —…

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Report: 35% of worldwide dementia cases could be prevented by modifying these 9 modifiable risk factors

The Lancet Com­mis­sion: One Third of Demen­tia May Be Pre­ventable (Lancet report release): “Today’s find­ings are extreme­ly hope­ful,” said Maria Car­ril­lo, PhD, chief sci­ence offi­cer at the Alzheimer’s Asso­ci­a­tion. “At an indi­vid­ual lev­el, many peo­ple have the poten­tial to reduce their risk of cog­ni­tive decline, and per­haps demen­tia, through sim­ple, health­ful behav­ior changes. At a…

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