Is it necessary to train under the supervision of a doctor or other specialist?

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Ques­tion:
Is it nec­es­sary to train under the super­vi­sion of a doc­tor or oth­er specialist?

Key Points:

• Recre­ation­al activ­i­ties have always been done for fun either social­ly or independently.
• Most com­put­er-based soft­ware pro­grams are intend­ed for you to use on your own com­put­er when it suits you. Think exer­cise and fit­ness, not medicine.
• A few pro­grams used for peo­ple with med­ical con­di­tions may be super­vised or reviewed by the treat­ing neu­ropsy­chol­o­gist, physi­cian, or oth­er health­care personnel.

Answer:

In most cas­es, no. Brain fit­ness is about a healthy lifestyle, not a med­ical inter­ven­tion. Fit­ness is about healthy indi­vid­u­als and the pre­ven­tion of poten­tial prob­lems. If a per­son has a seri­ous con­di­tion, he or she should always con­sult a physician.

The field of brain fit­ness evolved from neu­ropsy­chol­o­gy, which is usu­al­ly prac­ticed in hos­pi­tals or doc­tors’ offices with high­ly trained spe­cial­ists admin­is­ter­ing and inter­pret­ing com­plex tests. But most of the soft­ware pro­grams today are designed to be user-friend­ly and used in the com­fort and pri­va­cy of your own home with­out any out­side supervision.

Many pro­grams have a built in coach or teacher to help explain what you are doing in each exer­cise, why you are doing it, and how you are doing. Oth­ers may have a coach or advi­sor that you can call for sup­port. Sharp­Brains pro­vides access to forums mod­er­at­ed by our Head Coach and oth­er coach­es. These coach­es are avail­able to answer your ques­tions in a time­ly manner.