Edutainment meets brain development…for good and for bad

___ “In 1954, Walt Dis­ney was the first to envi­sion a new form of enter­tain­ment that meld­ed tra­di­tion­al fun and education—a form that he dubbed “edu­tain­ment.” By the lat­ter part of the 20th cen­tu­ry, this form had mor­phed into edu­ca­tion­al toys and games, a mul­ti-bil­lion-dol­lar indus­try that is pro­ject­ed to cap­ture a full 36 percent…

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Update: Only 5% of US children ages 8–11 follow guidelines recommended for brain development

___ Dear read­er, Time for Sharp­Brains month­ly e‑newsletter, dis­cussing the lat­est inno­va­tions for brain health and men­tal health, and open­ing in this occa­sion with an impor­tant wake-up call. New research: Only 5% of US chil­dren ages 8–11 fol­low screen time, sleep and exer­cise guide­lines rec­om­mend­ed for brain devel­op­ment Neu­ro­feed­back or med­ica­tion to treat ADHD? New study reinforces…

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Study: Only 5% of US children ages 8–11 follow screen time, sleep and exercise guidelines recommended for brain development

___ Lim­it­ing chil­dren’s screen time linked to bet­ter cog­ni­tion, study says (CNN): “Lim­it­ing kids’ recre­ation­al screen time to less than two hours a day, along with suf­fi­cient sleep and phys­i­cal activ­i­ty, is asso­ci­at­ed with improved cog­ni­tion, accord­ing to a study pub­lished in The Lancet Child & Ado­les­cent Health. The study includ­ed about 4,500 US children…

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Large study to study impact on early brain development of financial assistance to low-income mothers

___ Does grow­ing up poor harm brain devel­op­ment? (The Econ­o­mist): “Plen­ty of evi­dence sug­gests that grow­ing up poor, liv­ing through these kinds of scrapes, has a detri­men­tal impact on child devel­op­ment. Chil­dren from rich fam­i­lies tend to have bet­ter lan­guage and mem­o­ry skills than those from poor fam­i­lies. More afflu­ent chil­dren usu­al­ly per­form bet­ter in…

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Reminder (and Discount code): BrainFutures 2017 to take place September 6–7th in Washington, DC

— Brain­Fu­tures 2017 is a one-and-a-half-day con­fer­ence fea­tur­ing renowned lead­ers shar­ing research-to-prac­tice inno­va­tion to opti­mize brain health and trans­form men­tal health care. Keynote speak­ers include Dr. Nor­man Doidge, Dr. Alvaro Pas­cual-Leone, Dr. John Ratey, Dr. Adam Gaz­za­ley, Alvaro Fer­nan­dez, and more. The con­fer­ence is cer­ti­fied to offer CEU and CME cred­its. Where: Gay­lord Nation­al Resort…

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Let’s upgrade education with lifelong brain development in mind

Upgrade edu­ca­tion with life­long brain devel­op­ment in mind from Sharp­Brains This pre­sen­ta­tion took place at the 2016 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit (Decem­ber 6–8th, 2016). –> Learn more about the upcom­ing 2017 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit: Brain Enhance­ment in the Dig­i­tal Age (Decem­ber 5–7th, 2017). 

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