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

By SharpBrains | August 31, 2023 |

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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Mapping ‘psychedelic trips’ in the brain to better direct their therapeutic effects

By The Conversation | April 4, 2022

For the past sev­er­al decades, psy­che­delics have been wide­ly stig­ma­tized as dan­ger­ous ille­gal drugs. But a recent surge of aca­d­e­m­ic research into their use to treat psy­chi­atric con­di­tions is spurring a recent shift in pub­lic opin­ion. Psy­che­delics are psy­chotrop­ic drugs: sub­stances that affect your men­tal state. Oth­er types of psy­chotrop­ics include anti­de­pres­sants and anti-anx­i­e­ty medications.…

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Report calls for wide classroom-based adoption of ten brain fitness programs designed to improve foundational executive functions

By SharpBrains | September 27, 2019

__________ Nation­al Non­prof­it Releas­es Report Call­ing for Brain Fit­ness Inter­ven­tions in All U.S. Schools (press release): “Brain­Fu­tures released a report today that makes a clear case for inte­grat­ing proven brain fit­ness pro­grams into all U.S. class­rooms. Over a decade of research has shown that evi­­dence-based pro­grams can improve stu­dents’ exec­u­tive func­tion skills and proso­cial behaviors,…

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Update: Trained older brains can outperform untrained younger ones at demanding cognitive tasks

By SharpBrains | August 29, 2019

_______________ Time for Sharp­Brains e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing the lat­est research, tools and think­ing for life­long brain health and men­tal well-being — and a cou­ple fun brain teasers :-) New brain research: Can trained old­er brains out­per­form untrained younger ones at demand­ing cog­ni­tive tasks? Quick answer: YES Sep­tem­ber 17th @ UC Berke­ley: Dis­rupt­ing neu­rode­gen­er­a­tive dis­eases New neu­rotech and…

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Test your cognitive flexibility with this fun brain teaser

By SharpBrains | August 20, 2019

Ready to test your cog­ni­tive flex­i­bil­i­ty and con­cen­tra­tion pow­ers? Try this clas­sic brain teas­er, fun for kids and adults alike. Quick! Say aloud what col­or you see in every word. Don’t read the word — say the col­or :-) Tougher than expect­ed, right? This brain teas­er is actu­al­ly called the Stroop Test and is often used in…

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Study: One-week brain training can increase cognitive flexibility and reduce OCD symptoms

By SharpBrains | October 30, 2018

___ OCD symp­toms could be reduced with ‘brain-train­ing’ app, study says (UPI): “Peo­ple with obses­sive com­pul­sive dis­or­der could man­age their symp­toms, includ­ing exces­sive hand­wash­ing and con­t­a­m­i­na­tion fears, by using a “brain train­ing” app, accord­ing to its devel­op­ers. Researchers from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cam­bridge in Britain, who tested

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