New book encourages readers to embrace uncertainty in order to improve decision-making, mental health, and more

Life is uncer­tain. We nev­er know what will hap­pen, and many things are unknow­able. This can make us feel stressed or wor­ried, since the unknown is asso­ci­at­ed with dan­ger. But as jour­nal­ist Mag­gie Jack­son argues in her new book, Uncer­tain: The Wis­dom and Won­der of Being Unsure, there are many ben­e­fits to allow­ing our­selves to…

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Study finds positive self-reported aspects of the ADHD experience among young women, especially related to hyperactivity and hyperfocus

As is true for chil­dren and ado­les­cents, many adults expe­ri­ence sub­stan­tial chal­lenges relat­ed to hav­ing ADHD. These chal­lenges often include rela­tion­ship prob­lems, edu­ca­tion­al and work chal­lenges, dif­fi­cul­ty adher­ing to long-term plans and goals, and time and mon­ey man­age­ment dif­fi­cul­ties. Giv­en these well-doc­u­­men­t­ed dif­fi­cul­ties, it is not sur­pris­ing that ADHD treat­ment with adults has large­ly adopted…

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Questions grow about the validity and usefulness of direct-to-consumer blood tests for Alzheimer’s Disease

For the first time, peo­ple wor­ried about their risk of Alzheimer’s dis­ease can go online, order a blood test, and receive results in the pri­va­cy of their homes. This might seem appeal­ing on the sur­face, but the devel­op­ment has Alzheimer’s researchers and clin­i­cians up in arms. The Quest Diag­nos­tics blood test, AD-Detect, mea­sures ele­vat­ed lev­els of amyloid-beta…

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Time for a universal “exercise prescription” for kids and adults to boost cognition and mental health?

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing this time a range of brain research find­ings, tools and con­tro­ver­sies plus some brain teasers to chal­lenge your (and our) work­ing mem­o­ry. #1. Major evi­dence review sup­ports an “exer­cise pre­scrip­tion” for most adults to boost men­tal health “High­er inten­si­ty phys­i­cal activ­i­ty was asso­ci­at­ed with greater improvements”…

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

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…

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Study finds sharp decrease (nearly one-third) in the prevalence of dementia among those 65+ in the United States

Demen­tia plum­mets by near­ly one-third among U.S. seniors, RAND says (UPI): The preva­lence of demen­tia in the Unit­ed States is declin­ing among peo­ple over age 65, falling dra­mat­i­cal­ly from 2000 to 2016, a RAND Corp. study says. Nation­wide, the age-adjust­ed preva­lence of demen­tia fell to 8.5% of peo­ple over age 65 in 2016, down by nearly…

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