Update: Why MDMA-assisted psychotherapy may become an FDA-approved treatment for PTSD within 2 years

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, shar­ing impor­tant brain/ men­tal health news plus a few fun opti­cal illu­sions to tease and appre­ci­ate our unique human minds. #1. Why MDMA-assist­ed psy­chother­a­py may become an FDA-approved treat­ment for PTSD with­in 2 years “We are a phar­ma­cist and physi­cian team who inves­ti­gate the ben­e­fits and harms asso­ci­at­ed with…

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Complex occupations help protect our brains from aging-related cognitive decline

Cog­ni­tive aging: Work helps our brain (AAAS): A recent study shows that work plays an active role in keep­ing our brains healthy. “We have demon­strat­ed the role of work­ing activ­i­ty on cog­ni­tive per­for­mance”. Pro­fes­sor Raf­fael­la Rumiati says … “Many stud­ies have been focused on the fac­tors influ­enc­ing our brain aging and dif­fer­ences in cog­ni­tive decline…

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Study finds ADHD is associated with dementia

Multi­gen­er­a­tional Study Finds Links Between ADHD, Demen­tia Risk (Health Day): Atten­­tion-deficit/hy­per­ac­­tiv­i­­ty dis­or­der (ADHD) appears to be some­how linked to risk of demen­tia and Alzheimer’s dis­ease, a new multi­gen­er­a­tional study has found. Par­ents and grand­par­ents of peo­ple with ADHD have a high­er risk of Alzheimer’s and demen­tia than peo­ple with no ADHD in their fam­i­ly, Swedish researchers…

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Update on the aducanumab (Aduhelm) saga, retirement, financial advice, cognitive health, excessive worrying, neurotech, and more

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, pro­vid­ing this time a sum­ma­ry of the saga around the FDA approval of adu­canum­ab (Aduhelm) as a sup­posed treat­ment for Alzheimer’s Dis­ease, plus a range of time­ly research find­ings and resources for life­long brain health. First, below are some key reads to nav­i­gate “prob­a­bly the worst drug approval…

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Study in China finds that retirement may accelerate cognitive decline, even for those with stable income

Peo­ple who retire ear­ly suf­fer from accel­er­at­ed cog­ni­tive decline and may even encounter ear­ly onset of demen­tia, accord­ing to a new eco­nom­ic study (Note: opens PDF) I con­duct­ed with my doc­tor­al stu­dent Alan Adel­man. To estab­lish that find­ing, we exam­ined the effects of a rur­al pen­sion pro­gram Chi­na intro­duced in 2009 that pro­vid­ed peo­ple who…

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