• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Tracking Health and Wellness Applications of Brain Science

Spanish
sb-logo-with-brain
  • Resources
    • Monthly eNewsletter
    • Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle
    • The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness
    • How to evaluate brain training claims
    • Resources at a Glance
  • Brain Teasers
    • Top 25 Brain Teasers & Games for Teens and Adults
    • Brain Teasers for each Cognitive Ability
    • More Mind Teasers & Games for Adults of any Age
  • Virtual Summits
    • 2019 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • Speaker Roster
    • Brainnovations Pitch Contest
    • 2017 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2016 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2015 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
    • 2014 SharpBrains Virtual Summit
  • Report: Pervasive Neurotechnology
  • Report: Digital Brain Health
  • About
    • Mission & Team
    • Endorsements
    • Public Speaking
    • In the News
    • Contact Us

cognition

Hopes and Questions raised by Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi (lecanemab)

August 17, 2023 by Judith Graham @ Kaiser Health News Leave a Comment

The FDA has approved Leqem­bi, the first dis­ease-mod­i­fy­ing treat­ment for ear­ly-stage Alzheimer’s and a pre­cur­sor con­di­tion, mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment. Medicare has said it will pay for the ther­a­py. Med­ical cen­ters across the coun­try are scram­bling to final­ize poli­cies and pro­ce­dures for pro­vid­ing the med­ica­tion to patients, pos­si­bly by summer’s end or ear­ly autumn.

It’s a fraught moment, with hope run­ning high for fam­i­lies and oth­er promis­ing ther­a­pies such as donanemab on the hori­zon. Still, med­ical providers are cau­tious. “This is an impor­tant first step in devel­op­ing treat­ments for com­plex neu­rode­gen­er­a­tive dis­eases, but it’s just a first step,” said Ronald Petersen, direc­tor of the Mayo Clinic’s Alzheimer’s Dis­ease Research Cen­ter in Rochester, Min­neso­ta. [Read more…] about Hopes and Ques­tions raised by Alzheimer’s drug Leqem­bi (lecanemab)

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Red­dit
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pock­et

Filed Under: Brain/ Mental Health Tagged With: cognition, early-stage Alzheimer’s, Eisai, FDA, lecanemab, Leqembi, Medicare, mild-cognitive-impairment

Reading for pleasure during childhood may lead to higher brain/ cognitive development and mental well-being during adolescence

July 19, 2023 by The Conversation Leave a Comment

Ear­ly child­hood is a crit­i­cal peri­od for brain devel­op­ment, which is impor­tant for boost­ing cog­ni­tion and men­tal well­be­ing. Good brain health at this age is direct­ly linked to bet­ter men­tal heath, cog­ni­tion and edu­ca­tion­al attain­ment in ado­les­cence and adult­hood. It can also pro­vide resilience in times of stress.

But, sad­ly, brain devel­op­ment can be ham­pered by pover­ty. Stud­ies have shown that ear­ly child­hood pover­ty is a risk fac­tor for low­er edu­ca­tion­al attain­ment. It is also asso­ci­at­ed with dif­fer­ences in brain struc­ture, poor­er cog­ni­tion, behav­iour­al prob­lems and men­tal health symp­toms. [Read more…] about Read­ing for plea­sure dur­ing child­hood may lead to high­er brain/ cog­ni­tive devel­op­ment and men­tal well-being dur­ing adolescence

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Red­dit
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pock­et

Filed Under: Brain/ Mental Health, Education & Lifelong Learning Tagged With: ABCD, adolescence, adulthood, boost cognition, brain-development, Brain-Plasticity, brain-structure, cognition, cognitive, cognitive-skills, cortex, educational attainment, Executive-Functions, good brain health, grey-matter, healthy brain development, language, memory, mental wellbeing, Neurodevelopmental, neurodevelopmental period, planning, poverty, self-control, Social-Intelligence, Working-memory

Alto Neuroscience raises $60M (equity + credit) to help fix the “trial and error” approach to psychiatric medication

January 31, 2023 by SharpBrains

Alto Neu­ro­science bags $25M for four Phase II drugs (End­points News):

Anoth­er $25 mil­lion is flow­ing the way of a Cal­i­for­nia biotech attempt­ing to fix the “tri­al and error” sys­tem in neu­ro­science drug R&D.

Alto Neu­ro­science picked up the cap­i­tal from Alpha Wave Ven­tures via an exten­sion to its Series B, bring­ing total equi­ty raised to $100 mil­lion since the startup’s 2019 found­ing. [Read more…] about Alto Neu­ro­science rais­es $60M (equi­ty + cred­it) to help fix the “tri­al and error” approach to psy­chi­atric medication

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Red­dit
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pock­et

Filed Under: Brain/ Mental Health Tagged With: Alpha Wave Ventures, Alto Neuroscience, behavioral task measurements, cognition, depression meds, EEG activity, emotion, Genetics, K2 HealthVentures, neuroscience, sleep

Ballroom dancing can reduce aging-related brain atrophy in the hippocampus (and, more than treadmill walking!)

January 11, 2023 by The Conversation

Social ball­room danc­ing can improve cog­ni­tive func­tions and reduce brain atro­phy in old­er adults who are at increased risk for Alzheimer’s dis­ease and oth­er forms of demen­tia. That’s the key find­ing of my team’s recent­ly pub­lished study in the Jour­nal of Aging and Phys­i­cal Activity.

In our study, we enrolled 25 adults over 65 years of age in either six months of twice-week­ly ball­room danc­ing class­es or six months of twice-week­ly tread­mill walk­ing class­es. None of them were engaged in for­mal danc­ing or oth­er exer­cise pro­grams. [Read more…] about Ball­room danc­ing can reduce aging-relat­ed brain atro­phy in the hip­pocam­pus (and, more than tread­mill walking!)

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Red­dit
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pock­et

Filed Under: Brain/ Mental Health Tagged With: Alzheimer’s Disease, brain health, Brain-atrophy, cognition, cognitive-function, dancing, dementia, executive functioning, hippocampus, older-adults, processing-speed, social ballroom

Taking your brain vitals: Stories from a techno-optimist inventing the future of human performance

October 11, 2022 by Dr. Cori Lathan

Dr. Cori Lath­an, author of Invent­ing the Future: Sto­ries from a Techno-Optimist

For as long as I can remem­ber, my father loved act­ing. Into his six­ties and ear­ly sev­en­ties, he was quite active in the the­ater. He played Tartuffe in Molière’s Tartuffe, Nick Bot­tom in Shakespeare’s A Mid­sum­mer Night’s Dream, and the Old Man in Steve Martin’s Picas­so at the Lapin Agile. When he won the role of Scrooge in a local pro­duc­tion of Dickens’s A Christ­mas Car­ol, I was so excit­ed for him that I bought tick­ets way before open­ing night. But he was hav­ing trou­ble remem­ber­ing his lines. Even­tu­al­ly, the direc­tor had to let him go.

To find out what was going on, my mom and dad went to his pri­ma­ry care physi­cian, who referred him to a neu­rol­o­gist. After wait­ing a month for that appoint­ment, the neu­rol­o­gist told Dad to see a neu­ropsy­chol­o­gist, who was booked anoth­er three months out. When that appoint­ment arrived, the neu­ropsy­chol­o­gist gave him a vari­ety of cog­ni­tive tests, includ­ing writ­ten, ver­bal, and com­put­er based. After anoth­er month, the neu­rol­o­gist called us back in and told my father, “You have mild cog­ni­tive impairment.”

“No shit, Sher­lock,” I thought. “That’s why we went to see his doc­tor six months ago.” The neu­rol­o­gist then dis­cussed my father’s oth­er health issues with us, which includ­ed car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­ease, sleep apnea, type 2 dia­betes, and by that point, depres­sion. I then had an inspi­ra­tion. “Dad, when was the last time you used your CPAP machine?” He admit­ted sheep­ish­ly, “I don’t use it. I don’t like it.” [Read more…] about Tak­ing your brain vitals: Sto­ries from a tech­no-opti­mist invent­ing the future of human performance

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Red­dit
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pock­et

Filed Under: Brain/ Mental Health, Technology & Innovation Tagged With: AnthroTronix, brain health, cognition, cognitive changes, Cognitive-tests, concussions, Dana, dementia-diagnosis, detect cognitive changes, mild-cognitive-impairment, neurologist, neuropsychologist, physician, theater, vital sign

Study: Building cognitive reserve helps delay memory and thinking decline regardless of genetic or childhood markers

August 8, 2022 by SharpBrains

Source: UAB researcher David Vance

Build­ing cog­ni­tive reserve could pro­tect against mem­o­ry and think­ing decline, even with low child­hood cog­ni­tion scores (Alzheimer’s Research UK):

New research sug­gests that peo­ple who devel­op high ‘cog­ni­tive reserve’ by the time they reach 69 years old may reduce their like­li­hood of mem­o­ry and think­ing decline, even with low child­hood cog­ni­tive abil­i­ties. The study was pub­lished today in Neu­rol­o­gy, the med­ical jour­nal of the Amer­i­can Acad­e­my of Neu­rol­o­gy. [Read more…] about Study: Build­ing cog­ni­tive reserve helps delay mem­o­ry and think­ing decline regard­less of genet­ic or child­hood markers

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Red­dit
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pock­et

Filed Under: Brain/ Mental Health, Education & Lifelong Learning Tagged With: APOE genotype, building cognitive reserve, childhood cognition, cognition, cognitive-abilities, cognitive-reserve, dementia, e4 allele, Education & Lifelong Learning, healthy-living, memory-decline, mental-stimulation, neurology, resilience, thinking decline

Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Top Articles on Brain Health and Neuroplasticity

  1. Can you grow your hippocampus? Yes. Here’s how, and why it matters
  2. How learning changes your brain
  3. To harness neuroplasticity, start with enthusiasm
  4. Three ways to protect your mental health during –and after– COVID-19
  5. Why you turn down the radio when you're lost
  6. Solving the Brain Fitness Puzzle Is the Key to Self-Empowered Aging
  7. Ten neu­rotech­nolo­gies about to trans­form brain enhance­ment & health
  8. Five reasons the future of brain enhancement is digital, pervasive and (hopefully) bright
  9. What Educators and Parents Should Know About Neuroplasticity and Dance
  10. The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Brains
  11. Six tips to build resilience and prevent brain-damaging stress
  12. Can brain training work? Yes, if it meets these 5 conditions
  13. What are cognitive abilities and how to boost them?
  14. Eight Tips To Remember What You Read
  15. Twenty Must-Know Facts to Harness Neuroplasticity and Improve Brain Health

Top 10 Brain Teasers and Illusions

  1. You think you know the colors? Try the Stroop Test
  2. Check out this brief attention experiment
  3. Test your stress level
  4. Guess: Are there more brain connections or leaves in the Amazon?
  5. Quick brain teasers to flex two key men­tal mus­cles
  6. Count the Fs in this sentence
  7. Can you iden­tify Apple’s logo?
  8. Ten classic optical illu­sions to trick your mind
  9. What do you see?
  10. Fun Mental Rotation challenge
  • Check our Top 25 Brain Teasers, Games and Illusions

Join 12,437 readers exploring, at no cost, the latest in neuroplasticity and brain health.

By subscribing you agree to receive our free, monthly eNewsletter. We don't rent or sell emails collected, and you may unsubscribe at any time.

IMPORTANT: Please check your inbox or spam folder in a couple minutes and confirm your subscription.

Get In Touch!

Contact Us

660 4th Street, Suite 205,
San Francisco, CA 94107 USA

About Us

SharpBrains is an independent market research firm tracking health and performance applications of brain science. We prepare general and tailored market reports, publish consumer guides, produce an annual global and virtual conference, and provide strategic advisory services.

© 2023 SharpBrains. All Rights Reserved - Privacy Policy