Lifestyle Matters: Let’s optimize cognition, health and life in 2024

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing fas­ci­nat­ing research find­ings on lifestyle, pro­tec­tive brain struc­tures, Inter­net access, men­tal health, brain imag­ing, and more. #1. Lifestyle mat­ters: What we can do in 2024 to opti­mize cog­ni­tion and life, delay­ing cog­ni­tive prob­lems even demen­tia “Actor Chris Hemsworth…watched his grand­fa­ther live with Alzheimer’s and is mak­ing lifestyle…

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From “Eminence-based” to Evidence-based cognitive & mental healthcare: Time for quality and accountability

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing time­ly brain & men­tal health news, two excel­lent new books and a few fun brain teasers. #1. From “Emi­­nence-based” to Evi­­dence-based men­tal health­care: Time to focus on qual­i­ty and account­abil­i­ty “The real chal­lenge is not find­ing a ther­a­pist, it’s find­ing a ther­a­pist who knows how to provide…

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Separating brain-healthy wheat from chaff is becoming more urgent by the day

A) New video game com­pa­ny aims to devel­op ther­a­peu­tic games (The Verge): Video game-based tools can help with con­di­tions like depres­sion and ADHD, research shows. Deep­Well Dig­i­tal Ther­a­peu­tics plans to build on those stud­ies. “There was an amaz­ing amount of sci­ence that had already been done,” Dou­glas says. “We start­ed to rec­og­nize exact­ly how ther­a­peu­tic these games already were.”

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Canadian study finds causal link between time playing videogames at age 12 and ADHD symptoms at age 13

Recent stud­ies have linked screen time — includ­ing video game play — to con­cern­ing out­comes in chil­dren, includ­ing low self-esteem, low life sat­is­fac­tion, and depres­sive symp­toms. Screen time has also been found to be cor­re­lat­ed with symp­toms of ADHD in chil­dren and ado­les­cents, even when ear­li­er atten­tion dif­fi­cul­ties are tak­en into account. These find­ings suggest…

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Digital therapeutics pioneer Akili Interactive plans to go public in mid-2022 at a $1B valuation

Pal­i­hapi­tiya-Led SPAC to Merge With Akili in $1 Bil­lion Deal (Bloomberg): Akili Inter­ac­tive, a start­up that has devel­oped a video game to help treat atten­­tion-deficit dis­or­ders in kids, has agreed to go pub­lic through a merg­er with one of Chamath Palihapitiya’s blank-check com­pa­nies. The deal, which con­firms a Bloomberg News report, val­ues the com­bined entity…

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Welcome to the Ultimate Neuroscience Lab: Your Smartphone

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing this time six sci­en­tif­ic reports and indus­try resources plus a fun illu­sion. #1. Top 10 Men­tal Health Inno­va­tions to Watch: Spe­cial SciAm/ WEF report Hop­ing you enjoy the great series over at Sci­en­tif­ic Amer­i­can and espe­cial­ly #7, titled Wel­come to the Ulti­mate Neu­ro­science Lab: Your Smartphone,…

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