Tracking Health and Wellness Applications of Brain Science

Brain-Fitness

Large study finds that placebo works as well as vitamin D supplements to prevent depression and improve mood

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Large Study Con­firms Vit­a­min D Does Not Reduce Risk of Depres­sion in Adults (Mass Gen­er­al press release):

Vit­a­min D sup­ple­men­ta­tion does not pro­tect against depres­sion in mid­dle-age or old­er adult­hood accord­ing results from one of the largest ever stud­ies of its kind … “There was no sig­nif­i­cant ben­e­fit from the sup­ple­ment for this pur­pose. It did not pre­vent depres­sion or improve mood,” says Olivia I. Okereke, MD, MS, of the Mass­a­chu­setts Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal (MGH) Psy­chi­a­try Department.

[Read more…] about Large study finds that place­bo works as well as vit­a­min D sup­ple­ments to pre­vent depres­sion and improve mood

Repetitive negative thinking may increase (or perhaps be caused by) cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s pathology

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Dementia: negative thinking linked with more rapid cognitive decline, study indicates

Demen­tia affects an esti­mat­ed 54 mil­lion peo­ple world­wide. There no cure, but reports indi­cate that approx­i­mate­ly a third of demen­tia cas­es may be pre­ventable, which is why many researchers have begun to focus on iden­ti­fy­ing risk fac­tors. This would allow for bet­ter per­son­alised inter­ven­tions that may be able to reduce risk, delay, or even pre­vent the onset of dementia.

Cur­rent research shows that genet­ics, high blood pres­sure, and smok­ing are all risk fac­tors for devel­op­ing demen­tia. But a lot of peo­ple don’t realise that there is also a rela­tion­ship between men­tal ill-health and high­er demen­tia risk too. Stud­ies have shown that depres­sion, anx­i­ety, and post trau­mat­ic stress dis­or­der are all linked to a high­er risk of devel­op­ing demen­tia in old­er age. Our recent study builds on this research by exam­in­ing whether a style of think­ing that is com­mon to these men­tal health con­di­tions is asso­ci­at­ed with indi­ca­tors of Alzheimer’s dis­ease, the most com­mon type of dementia.

Peo­ple expe­ri­enc­ing men­tal ill health fre­quent­ly engage in a style of think­ing called “Repet­i­tive Neg­a­tive Think­ing”. This style of think­ing involves the ten­den­cy to have neg­a­tive thoughts about the future (wor­ry) or about the past (rumi­na­tion), and these thoughts can feel uncontrollable.

In 2015, I devel­oped a hypoth­e­sis called [Read more…] about Repet­i­tive neg­a­tive think­ing may increase (or per­haps be caused by) cog­ni­tive decline and Alzheimer’s pathology

Play sports (smartly) for a quieter brain and better auditory processing

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Ath­letes Have Qui­eter Brains, New Research Shows (Sci News):

“No one would argue against the fact that sports lead to bet­ter phys­i­cal­ly fit­ness, but we don’t always think of brain fit­ness and sports,” said Pro­fes­sor Nina Kraus, direc­tor of the Audi­to­ry Neu­ro­science Lab­o­ra­to­ry at North­west­ern University.

“We’re say­ing that play­ing sports can tune the brain to bet­ter under­stand one’s sen­so­ry envi­ron­ment.” [Read more…] about Play sports (smart­ly) for a qui­eter brain and bet­ter audi­to­ry processing

Attention, readers in India: Amazon.in includes The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness in Kindle Weekly Deal

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We are proud that Ama­zon India has select­ed The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness: How to Opti­mize Brain Health and Per­for­mance at Any Age as part of its Kin­dle Week­ly Deal run­ning from Octo­ber 13th to the 17th — when many best­selling eBooks will be dis­count­ed to just 49 rupees.

– To ben­e­fit from the pro­mo­tion, click HERE.

– Read­ers in oth­er coun­tries can pur­chase the book at reg­u­lar prices by click­ing HERE. The book is also avail­able in Span­ish, Japan­ese, Pol­ish and Por­tuguese. [Read more…] about Atten­tion, read­ers in India: Amazon.in includes The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness in Kin­dle Week­ly Deal

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Applied Neuroscience and Neurotechnology

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After a very busy month, it’s time now for Sharp­Brains e‑newsletter to sum­ma­rize the lat­est ini­tia­tives, tools and ideas for life­long brain health and men­tal fit­ness — and to share a few puz­zles and illu­sions to tease your brain.

A grow­ing num­ber of class­rooms in Chi­na are equipped with arti­fi­cial-intel­li­gence cam­eras and brain-wave track­ers. Video: Crys­tal Tai for The Wall Street Journal.

New neuro-infused education and healthcare initiatives:

New neurotech and digital health tools:

New thinking on brain and mental health:

Finally, a few fun brain teasers for adults and kids alike 🙂

 

Have a great month of October,

 

The Sharp­Brains Team