Update: A Fresh Look at Enhancing Brain & Mental Health Across the Lifespan

Time for Sharp­Brains’ May 2013 e‑newsletter, which fea­tures a vari­ety of arti­cles offer­ing a more opti­mistic and evi­dence-based approach to brain and men­tal health than cur­rent practices.

First of all, let us high­light that Sci­en­tif­ic Amer­i­can just pub­lished an excel­lent review of our new book. The author sums it up by say­ing that “…I wish I had read this awe­some guide when I was much younger…I find the emerg­ing field of neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty immense­ly excit­ing, and guides like this one are both hope­ful and rea­son­able.” As a read­er points out, the word “awe­some” does not appear often in sci­ence-ori­ent­ed publications…so we are espe­cial­ly proud to see the book mer­it such treatment.

New think­ing:

• Founder of Sharp­Brains talks about brain health
• Six tips to build resilience and pre­vent brain-dam­ag­ing stress
• Time to revamp psy­chi­a­try and men­tal health in light of mod­ern neuroscience?
• A new type of cog­ni­tive sci­ence think tank
• Why invest­ment in brain research is an intel­li­gent investment

New sci­ence:

• White House BRAIN Ini­tia­tive is a nice start, but too small and unfocused
• Demen­tia costs more than heart dis­ease, and can­cer. And it will balloon.
• Chal­leng­ing med­ical dog­ma: Men­tal exer­cise vs drugs, sup­ple­ments and phys­i­cal exer­cise to pre­vent cog­ni­tive decline
• What is the com­bined effect of phys­i­cal and men­tal training?
• Mon­i­tor­ing stress-relat­ed use of antipsy­chot­ic drugs in the military

New tools:

• Does brain train­ing work? Yes, if it meets these 5 conditions
• Cog­ni­tive enhance­ment in the future: elec­tric brain stim­u­la­tion plus cog­ni­tive training?
• The future of intu­itive tech­nol­o­gy and neu­rocog­ni­tive care
• Train your brain with tar­get­ed videogames, not with cross­word puzzles
• Great Kirkus Review of The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness (“A stim­u­lat­ing, chal­leng­ing resource, full of sol­id infor­ma­tion and prac­ti­cal tips for improv­ing brain health.”)

That’s it for now. Have a stim­u­lat­ing June!