Brain training going mainstream: new center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Cre­at­ing a gym for the mind (The Boston Globe):

“Although scoffed at for years, such “train­ing” — which tra­di­tion­al­ly has meant spe­cial­ized com­put­er games but now includes a more com­pre­hen­sive, whole-body approach — is gain­ing cur­ren­cy as a viable treat­ment for brain con­di­tions and a hedge against nor­mal aging.

A grow­ing body of evi­dence sug­gests that a “trained” brain will be bet­ter equipped to work around dam­age caused by dis­ease, injury, deficits, or aging — just as a phys­i­cal­ly fit per­son can bet­ter avoid and bounce back from injury.”

“If you’d asked me eight to nine years ago if I believe in cog­ni­tive train­ing, I’d have said ‘pfft.’ But the research is quite con­vinc­ing,” said Bon­nie Wong, a clin­i­cal neu­ropsy­chol­o­gist at Beth Israel Dea­coness Med­ical Cen­ter, where Hope is get­ting her care.”

–> To Learn More about this grow­ing trend, and what works and what does­n’t, check out The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness: How to Opti­mize Brain Health and Per­for­mance at Any Age (April 2013)