Update: To improve sleep, combine general sleep hygiene with mindful and cognitive techniques

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Had a good night’s sleep? 

We hope you did, so you can ful­ly enjoy all the fas­ci­nat­ing arti­cles and brain teasers in the new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ eNewslet­ter…includ­ing excel­lent advice on how to com­bine gen­er­al sleep hygiene with mind­ful and cog­ni­tive tech­niques, and a book giveaway. 

Hap­py reading!

New thinking:

• For a good night’s rest, com­bine gen­er­al sleep hygiene with mind­ful and cog­ni­tive techniques
• Book review: Grit is a tool in the tool­box, not the sil­ver bullet
• To boost atten­tion and oth­er cog­ni­tive skills, learn AND con­tin­u­al­ly prac­tice a sec­ond language
• Scal­able, med­ica­tion-free relief of cog­ni­tive symp­toms relat­ed to Mul­ti­ple Scle­ro­sis (MS)

New research:

• How to prop­er­ly “Use it or Lose it”: Kun­dali­ni Yoga vs. Cross­word Puzzles
• Sta­tus quo is not enough: Com­mon tests for Mild Cog­ni­tive Impair­ment lack both sen­si­tiv­i­ty and specificity
• Dis­cour­ag­ing new find­ings about pedi­atric care for chil­dren with ADHD: Often, best-prac­tice guide­lines are not followed
• Busy sched­ules linked to bet­ter mem­o­ry and cog­ni­tion among mid­dle-aged and old­er adults

New tools:

• FDA clears use of online cognitive/ behav­ioral assess­ment to inform ADHD diagnosis
• Large mul­ti-cen­ter study to test videogame-like dig­i­tal ther­a­py as (poten­tial­ly) FDA-cleared ADHD treatment
• Brain train­ing fran­chisor Learn­ingRx set­tles FTC com­plaint about its mar­ket­ing claims
• Sur­vey finds sig­nif­i­cant promise for home-based, data-rich cog­ni­tive ther­a­py among stroke survivors

Books and other educational resources:

• Goodreads give­away: 20 copies of The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fitness
• Book dis­count to hon­or Men­tal Health Aware­ness Month/ Ofer­ta de libro en hon­or del Mes de la Salud Mental
• Lec­ture Record­ing: 25 Must-Know Facts to Har­ness Neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty & Tech­nol­o­gy For Bet­ter Brain Health
• Online Course: How to Nav­i­gate Con­ven­tion­al and Com­ple­men­tary ADHD Treat­ments for Healthy Brain Development

Finally, some fun Brain teasers:

• The Her­mann grid opti­cal illu­sion, explained
• Hard brain teas­er to chal­lenge your pat­tern recognition

Have a great month of June!

The Sharp­Brains Team