What Summit Speakers and Participants Say About Brain Check-ups, Cognitive Wellness, and More

On Sep­tem­ber 19–20th, 2013, over 30+ speak­ers at the fron­tier of Brain, Health and Inno­va­tion will engage with over 200 pro­fes­sion­als in North Amer­i­ca and abroad. You can check out the quite amaz­ing Speak­er Bios and Sum­mit Agen­da. Also, as part of Sharp­Brains’ new inter­view series, here’s what sev­er­al Sum­mit Speak­ers and Par­tic­i­pants have to say about the oppor­tu­ni­ties and chal­lenges at hand:

Cori Lath­an: It’s time for an annu­al brain check-up, a “brain thermometer”

Q: Where do you see clear “low-hang­ing fruit” to enhance behav­ioral and brain health based on neu­ro­science and innovation?
A: An annu­al brain check-up or “brain ther­mome­ter” that tracks cog­ni­tive health the way we cur­rently track many oth­er health indi­ca­tions like weight and blood pressure.

Robert Bilder: We are embark­ing on the next stage of human evolution

Q: Please tell us about your inter­est in applied brain sci­ence. What areas are you most inter­ested in? What moti­vated you to pur­sue work in your field? 
A: I’m a clin­i­cal neu­ropsy­chol­o­gist inter­ested in under­stand­ing how we can deploy new neu­ro­science knowl­edge to change our brains. I believe we are embark­ing on the next stage of human evolution!

Dhar­ma Singh Khal­sa: Why are yoga and med­i­ta­tion often over­looked for healthy brain aging?

Q: What are 1–2 key things you’d like every per­son to under­stand regard­ing his/ her own brain and mind, that you think is com­monly mis­rep­re­sented or not addressed in the pop­u­lar media? 
A: …Yoga and Med­i­ta­tion are under­ap­pre­ci­ated as a way to keep your brain sharp with age. They belong in the con­ver­sa­tion with diet, exer­cise and so on. It has been revealed that med­i­ta­tion not only has mul­ti­ple pos­i­tive effects on your brain and help reverse mem­ory loss but is also the fastest and deep­est way to cre­ate psy­cho­log­i­cal and spir­i­tual well-being, a crit­i­cally impor­tant fea­ture of healthy brain aging. It’s easy and more peo­ple must seek it out.

Stephanie Korszen: Let’s improve men­tal self-aware­ness, start­ing with the role of fatigue

Q: Where do you see clear “low-hang­ing fruit” to enhance behav­ioral and brain health based on neu­ro­science and innovation?
A: I’d say that the “low-hang­ing fruit” is more self-aware­ness regard­ing per­sonal brain health and men­tal acu­ity.  I see future poten­tial for more objec­tive mea­sures and use­ful, unob­tru­sive neurofeedback.

Sher­rie All: A neu­ropsy­chol­o­gist shap­ing the future of cog­ni­tive wellness

Q: What would you like the 2013 Sharp­Brains Vir­tual Sum­mit to accomplish?
A: Con­tinue to inspire and help con­nect like-mind­ed peo­ple with one anoth­er in a fun and time-effi­cient way to help advance the field of brain fit­ness and cog­ni­tive wellness.

John Todor: To reach brain poten­tial, we need less indi­vid­ual “improv”

Q: Please tell us about your inter­est in applied brain sci­ence. What areas are you most inter­ested in? What moti­vated you to pur­sue work in your field?
A: …my expe­ri­ence with mid­dle-aged and old­er exec­u­tives indi­cate that new dis­cov­er­ies are not enough. We need to devel­op effec­tive method­olo­gies for wide­spread adop­tion of pos­i­tive lifestyles. We are now in a state of “improv” most­ly at an indi­vid­ual lev­el. This is a huge prob­lem in a world with an aging pop­u­la­tion and fast-chang­ing dynam­ics where well-being depends on enhanced adap­tive potential.

 

—These con­ver­sa­tions are part of a new inter­view series with Speak­ers and Par­tic­i­pants in the upcom­ing 2013 Sharp­Brains Vir­tual Sum­mit (Sep­tem­ber 19–20th).  Please join us! You can reg­is­ter with a 20% dis­count using pro­mo­tional code: sharp2020