• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Tracking Health and Wellness Applications of Brain Science

Spanish
sb-logo-with-brain
  • Resources
    • Monthly eNewsletter
    • Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle
    • The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness
    • How to evaluate brain training claims
    • Resources at a Glance
  • Brain Teasers
    • Top 25 Brain Teasers & Games for Teens and Adults
    • Brain Teasers for each Cognitive Ability
    • More Mind Teasers & Games for Adults of any Age
  • Virtual Summits
    • 2019 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • Speaker Roster
    • Brainnovations Pitch Contest
    • 2017 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2016 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2015 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2014 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
  • Report: Pervasive Neurotechnology
  • Report: Digital Brain Health
  • About
    • Mission & Team
    • Endorsements
    • Public Speaking
    • In the News
    • Contact Us

Yes, It is Smart to Learn New Tricks

August 12, 2008 by Alvaro Fernandez

Good arti­cle in the Wash­ing­ton Post today: 

Is It Real­ly Smart to Teach Old Brains New Tricks?

The reporter presents a good overview of what is happening, but framed around a high­ly arti­fi­cial choice for con­sumers: either you a) do phys­i­cal exer­cise, or b) take part in social inter­ac­tions, or c) engage in men­tal exercise.

What about switch­ing off those TVs and hav­ing time for all a, b, c, and more? Research does not sup­port a “gen­er­al solu­tion” to cog­ni­tive health but a mul­ti-pronged one, fea­tur­ing a good nutri­tion, stress man­age­ment, and both phys­i­cal and men­tal exer­cise. Each indi­vid­ual presents dif­fer­ent con­texts and pri­or­i­ties: for exam­ple, while research has shown how doing zero week­ly aer­o­bic exer­cise can trans­late into low­er cog­ni­tive func­tion­ing, it does not sup­port that, should you already engage in 2 or 3 week­ly 30-minute ses­sions of car­dio exer­cise, includ­ing walks, sports, gym…doing more phys­i­cal exer­cise would be the absolute, only, pri­or­i­ty for cog­ni­tive health.

In 2007, Amer­i­cans paid over $14 bil­lion in health club mem­ber­ship fees alone (IHRSA, 2007). The $225 mil­lion we esti­mate for brain fit­ness soft­ware rep­re­sents the birth of a small but promis­ing field. The ben­e­fits of well-direct­ed men­tal exer­cise (in the form of soft­ware, or med­i­ta­tion, of cog­ni­tive ther­a­py) are becom­ing increas­ing­ly well-doc­u­ment­ed, but they have to be bet­ter under­stood: noth­ing can be said to help pre­vent Alzheimer’s Dis­ease, but a grow­ing num­ber of tools will be able to help main­tain impor­tant cog­ni­tive func­tions, from speed of pro­cess­ing to work­ing mem­o­ry and beyond. 

Con­sumers will need help to nav­i­gate this grow­ing field and make informed deci­sions. They will need to under­stand how our brains work, what cog­ni­tive skills are and why they mat­ter, how dif­fer­ent lifestyle fac­tors play a role in our life­long cog­ni­tive per­for­mance, and how to ana­lyze the val­ue and the lim­i­ta­tions of a grow­ing array of options.

 

I had the for­tune to inter­view neu­ro­sci­en­tist Yaakov Stern ‑one of the lead­ing Cog­ni­tive Reserve researchers- last year to try to trans­late recent research find­ings into prac­ti­cal impli­ca­tions. One of my ques­tions was, “OK, so our goal is to build that Reserve of neu­rons, synaps­es, and skills. How can we do that? What defines “men­tal­ly stim­u­lat­ing activ­i­ties” or good “brain exercise”?”

Dr. Yaakov Stern: “In sum­ma­ry, we could say that “stim­u­la­tion” con­sists of engag­ing in activ­i­ties. In our research almost all activ­i­ties are seen to con­tribute to reserve. Some have chal­leng­ing lev­els of cog­ni­tive com­plex­i­ty, and some have inter­per­son­al or phys­i­cal demands. In ani­mal stud­ies, expo­sure to an enriched envi­ron­ment or increased phys­i­cal activ­i­ty result in increased neu­ro­ge­n­e­sis (the cre­ation of new neu­rons). You can get that stim­u­la­tion through edu­ca­tion and/ or your occu­pa­tion. There is clear research show­ing how those two ele­ments reduce the risk. Now, what is very excit­ing is that, no mat­ter one’s age, edu­ca­tion and occu­pa­tion, our lev­el of par­tic­i­pa­tion in leisure activ­i­ties has a sig­nif­i­cant and cumu­la­tive effect. A key mes­sage here is that dif­fer­ent activ­i­ties have inde­pen­dent, syn­er­gis­tic, con­tri­bu­tions, which means the more things you do and the ear­li­er you start, the bet­ter. But you are nev­er stuck: bet­ter late than never.”

The more, the bet­ter. Switch off that TV, make time for friends, and phys­i­cal and men­tal exercise.

Many baby boomers, intu­itive­ly per­haps, seem to be doing pre­cise­ly that.

Relat­ed in-depth inter­views with researchers:

- Build Your Cog­ni­tive Reserve-Yaakov Stern

- Art Kramer on Why We Need Walk­ing Book Clubs

- Can Intel­li­gence Be Trained? Mar­tin Buschkuehl shows how

- Improv­ing Dri­ving Skills and Brain Func­tion­ing- Inter­view with ACTIVE’s Jer­ri Edwards

 

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pock­et

Filed Under: Brain/ Mental Health, Technology & Innovation Tagged With: baby-boomers, brain-exercise, cognitive-health, cognitive-reserve, mental-exercise, new-tricks, old-brains, Physical-Exercise, prevent-Alzheimers-Disease, smart, smart-aging, smart-brains, smartbrains, social-interactions, speed-of-processing, Working-memory, Yaakov-Stern

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. GaryD says

    November 4, 2008 at 6:27

    Alvaro, it makes me *think* about what it was like pri­or to T.V. , Ipods, cell phones, etc? Peo­ple actu­al­ly engaged with each oth­er social­ly.. or they worked, or stud­ied, or pon­dered, or debat­ed with each oth­er, or just plain talked and dis­cussed issues and life in social set­tings.. When I read from authors of the past, or hear a pub­lic speak­er of old, they spoke dif­fer­ent­ly.. Not just dif­fer­ent words, but more pro­found­ly, more intel­li­gent­ly.. Kin­da makes you won­der, with all of todays tech­nol­o­gy, are our brains any health­i­er? In some ways, are we too dumb­ed down by too much enter­tain­ment, being men­tal­ly spoon fed in a dazed state rather than men­tal­ly chal­lenged and forced to think? Turn­ing off the T.V. and spend­ing time in social (fam­i­ly or oth­er) engag­ing activ­i­ties, or exer­cis­ing (both phys­i­cal and men­tal), or med­i­tat­ing, etc. is an excel­lent thing to con­sid­er doing — for our men­tal health. Thanks for your post!

Primary Sidebar

Top Articles on Brain Health and Neuroplasticity

  1. Can you grow your hippocampus? Yes. Here’s how, and why it matters
  2. How learning changes your brain
  3. To harness neuroplasticity, start with enthusiasm
  4. Three ways to protect your mental health during –and after– COVID-19
  5. Why you turn down the radio when you're lost
  6. Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle Is the Key to Self-Empowered Aging
  7. Ten neu­rotech­nolo­gies about to trans­form brain enhance­ment & health
  8. Five reasons the future of brain enhancement is digital, pervasive and (hopefully) bright
  9. What Educators and Parents Should Know About Neuroplasticity and Dance
  10. The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Brains
  11. Six tips to build resilience and prevent brain-damaging stress
  12. Can brain training work? Yes, if it meets these 5 conditions
  13. What are cognitive abilities and how to boost them?
  14. Eight Tips To Remember What You Read
  15. Twenty Must-Know Facts to Harness Neuroplasticity and Improve Brain Health

Top 10 Brain Teasers and Illusions

  1. You think you know the colors? Try the Stroop Test
  2. Check out this brief attention experiment
  3. Test your stress level
  4. Guess: Are there more brain connections or leaves in the Amazon?
  5. Quick brain teasers to flex two key men­tal mus­cles
  6. Count the Fs in this sentence
  7. Can you iden­tify Apple’s logo?
  8. Ten classic optical illu­sions to trick your mind
  9. What do you see?
  10. Fun Mental Rotation challenge
  • Check our Top 25 Brain Teasers, Games and Illusions

Join 12,620 readers exploring, at no cost, the latest in neuroplasticity and brain health.

By subscribing you agree to receive our free, monthly eNewsletter. We don't rent or sell emails collected, and you may unsubscribe at any time.

IMPORTANT: Please check your inbox or spam folder in a couple minutes and confirm your subscription.

Get In Touch!

Contact Us

660 4th Street, Suite 205,
San Francisco, CA 94107 USA

About Us

SharpBrains is an independent market research firm tracking health and performance applications of brain science. We prepare general and tailored market reports, publish consumer guides, produce an annual global and virtual conference, and provide strategic advisory services.

© 2022 SharpBrains. All Rights Reserved - Privacy Policy