brain-age

Don’t worry, be happy: How excessive worrying may influence the rate of neurodegeneration

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Wor­ry­ing and the Aging Brain (Dana Foundation):

Over the past decade, sci­en­tists and clin­i­cians have not­ed a sig­nif­i­cant asso­ci­a­tion between com­mon men­tal health con­di­tions and accel­er­at­ed brain aging—the changes to brain struc­ture, phys­i­ol­o­gy, and func­tion that are thought to lead to lat­er cog­ni­tive decline. Both depres­sion and anx­i­ety dis­or­ders, for exam­ple, are strong­ly cor­re­lat­ed with the devel­op­ment of demen­tias includ­ing Alzheimer’s dis­ease lat­er in life, yet it has been unclear why. Neu­ro­sci­en­tists and geron­tol­o­gists around the globe have dili­gent­ly worked to inves­ti­gate which par­tic­u­lar symp­toms might con­tribute to age-relat­ed cog­ni­tive decline. [Read more…] about Don’t wor­ry, be hap­py: How exces­sive wor­ry­ing may influ­ence the rate of neurodegeneration

Nintendo to release new version of Brain Age brain training game

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Image of the new Brain Age for the Nin­ten­do Switch to be released in Decem­ber in Japan

Nin­ten­do res­ur­rects Brain Age on Switch (Ven­ture­Beat):

“Nin­ten­do is going to bring back one of its biggest fran­chis­es on the hybrid Switch handheld/home con­sole. No, it’s not F‑Zero or Style Savvy. The com­pa­ny revealed in an announce­ment today that Brain Train­ing is com­ing to the Switch in Japan on Decem­ber 27. [Read more…] about Nin­ten­do to release new ver­sion of Brain Age brain train­ing game

Study debunks 4 common myths about brain training and lifelong cognitive enhancement

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If the media is your main source of infor­ma­tion about brain train­ing and cog­ni­tive enhance­ment, you will prob­a­bly believe the following:

1) All brain train­ing is the same…

2) …and it sim­ply does­n’t work.

3) Com­mer­cial brain train­ing pro­grams, espe­cial­ly, don’t work.

4) How could they work? Genet­ics is des­tiny, aging is a pre­de­ter­mined process…so by age 60 or 70 or 80, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

If you tracked and ana­lyzed the sci­en­tif­ic lit­er­a­ture around cog­ni­tive train­ing, cog­ni­tive ther­a­pies, biofeed­back, med­i­ta­tion, brain reserve and neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty in gen­er­al, you’d know those 4 beliefs are wrong. They are myths that pre­vent a more nuanced con­ver­sa­tion about brain-enhanc­ing lifestyles and about the emerg­ing brain train­ing and neu­rotech­nol­o­gy toolkit.

Good news is, a just-pub­lished study should help debunk those myths–especially with regards to com­put­er­ized cog­ni­tive training–and pro­vide a bet­ter [Read more…] about Study debunks 4 com­mon myths about brain train­ing and life­long cog­ni­tive enhancement

Debunking 10 Brain Fitness and Brain Health Myths during Brain Awareness Week

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brain fitness mythsIn hon­or of Brain Aware­ness Week, let’s debunk ten myths about brain fit­ness and brain health that remain sur­pris­ing­ly popular.

Top 10 brain fit­ness and brain health myths, debunked:

Myth 1. Genes deter­mine the fate of our brains.
Fact: Life­long brain plas­tic­ity means that our lifestyles and behav­iors play a sig­nif­i­cant role in how our brains (and there­fore our minds) phys­i­cally evolve.

Myth 2. We are what we eat. [Read more…] about Debunk­ing 10 Brain Fit­ness and Brain Health Myths dur­ing Brain Aware­ness Week

New Self-Paced Brain Fitness Course Answers 40 Common Questions about Brain Health and Brain Training

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We are pleased to offer the first self-paced course designed to equip life­long learn­ers with the under­stand­ing and infor­ma­tion required to apply neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty and cog­ni­tive reserve find­ings and tools to enhance their own brain health and functionality.

Detailed infor­ma­tion is avail­able at How to Be Your Own Brain Fit­ness Coach. Reg­is­tered par­tic­i­pants can imme­di­ately log into the course and gain access to four record­ed lectures–each last­ing two hours– and to online mate­ri­als and dis­cus­sions. Reg­is­tra­tion fees are $95, and stu­dents have six months to com­plete course.

TOP 40 QUESTIONS ON BRAIN HEALTH, BRAIN FITNESS AND BRAIN TRAINING TO BE ADDRESSED BY THE COURSE: [Read more…] about New Self-Paced Brain Fit­ness Course Answers 40 Com­mon Ques­tions about Brain Health and Brain Training

Top 40 Brain Fitness & Training Questions/ Course Registration Ends this Sunday

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Let us share below a list of 40 com­mon brain fit­ness, brain health, brain train­ing ques­tions that we will make sure to address dur­ing the upcom­ing online course, How to Be Your Own Brain Fit­ness Coach in 2012 (starts March 7th). The ques­tions are sequenced by their approx­i­mate order of appear­ance in the syl­labus. We look for­ward to an engag­ing, inter­ac­tive and valu­able expe­ri­ence! ***Please remem­ber that course reg­is­tra­tion ends on Sun­day, March 4th.***

Top 40 Brain Fit­ness & Train­ing Questions

  1. How can one define brain fitness
  2. What is link between stress, focus and memory
  3. Does “brain age” even exist
  4. How to enhance over­all men­tal pro­duc­tiv­i­ty, vs just IQ
  5. Is there some “ceil­ing” to my improve­ment or can I always try more things
  6. How brain func­tions evolve with age. What improves, what declines, what should I be pay­ing atten­tion to [Read more…] about Top 40 Brain Fit­ness & Train­ing Questions/ Course Reg­is­tra­tion Ends this Sunday