exercise

Update: Humankind’s evolving quest to enhance the brain and the mind

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Time for the first Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter in the new decade, fea­tur­ing a range of inspir­ing and (most­ly) promis­ing news about humankind’s evolv­ing quest to enhance the brain and the mind, and a few fun brain teasers 🙂

New thinking:

New research:

New tools:

A few quick brain teasers to workout your prefrontal cortex:

 

Have a great February,

 

The Sharp­Brains Team

 

Five profound ways physical exercise shapes your brain and mind

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We’ve all heard that exer­cise is good for us—how it strength­ens our hearts and lungs, and helps us pre­vent dis­eases like dia­betes. That’s why so many of us like to make New Year’s res­o­lu­tions to move more, know­ing it will make us health­i­er and live longer.

But many peo­ple don’t know about the oth­er impor­tant ben­e­fits of exercise—how it can help us find hap­pi­ness, hope, con­nec­tion, and courage.

Around the world, peo­ple who are phys­i­cal­ly active are hap­pi­er and more sat­is­fied with their lives. They have a stronger sense of pur­pose and expe­ri­ence more grat­i­tude, love, and hope. They feel more con­nect­ed to their com­mu­ni­ties, and are less like­ly to suf­fer from lone­li­ness or become depressed.

These ben­e­fits are seen through­out the lifes­pan, includ­ing [Read more…] about Five pro­found ways phys­i­cal exer­cise shapes your brain and mind

Study: Strenuous physical exercise may lead to cognitive –not just physical– fatigue

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Too Much Exer­cise Can Tire Our Brains Out, Too (Dis­cov­er Mag­a­zine D‑brief):

“For years, the Nation­al Insti­tute of Sports, Exer­cise and Per­for­mance (INSEP) in France had been study­ing an unusu­al phe­nom­e­non. If an athlete’s work­out reg­i­ments were ramped up, it didn’t always lead to a bet­ter per­for­mance — even if that ath­lete felt like they were work­ing hard­er than before.

The orga­ni­za­tion called this phe­nom­e­non over­reach­ing, and knew what the phys­i­cal symp­toms were. But the orga­ni­za­tion want­ed to know if any symp­toms of fatigue were appear­ing in the brain, too. New research says yes. [Read more…] about Study: Stren­u­ous phys­i­cal exer­cise may lead to cog­ni­tive –not just phys­i­cal– fatigue

Trend: Consumers spend significantly more on digital brain health and neurotechnology apps

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Peo­ple spent $1.9 bil­lion last year on apps to keep their brains sharp as they age — here’s what actu­al­ly works (Mar­ket­Watch):

“With an aging pop­u­la­tion wor­ried about cog­ni­tive decline and demen­tia, such train­ing pro­grams have seen a burst in pop­u­lar­i­ty in recent years. Con­sumers spent an esti­mat­ed $1.9 bil­lion on dig­i­tal brain health and neu­rotech­nol­o­gy apps in 2018, a four­fold increase from $475 mil­lion in 2012, accord­ing to glob­al data from Sharp­Brains, an inde­pen­dent mar­ket-research firm.

But despite the ris­ing inter­est in cog­ni­tive train­ing, evi­dence of its ben­e­fits is still a mixed bag, experts say. [Read more…] about Trend: Con­sumers spend sig­nif­i­cant­ly more on dig­i­tal brain health and neu­rotech­nol­o­gy apps

3 ways to manage smartphone use and improve quality of life

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As psy­chol­o­gist Chris Willard often says, our phones can be our great­est ene­my or great­est friend. While they can save us time and ener­gy, edu­cate and enter­tain us, and keep us safe in emer­gen­cies, they can also dis­tract us from the things we need in life to stay hap­py and healthy. [Read more…] about 3 ways to man­age smart­phone use and improve qual­i­ty of life

Lifestyle and neurotechnology over genetics

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Dear col­league,

It’s remark­able how quick­ly things are chang­ing, final­ly, in brain health and men­tal health — see for exam­ple what’s new with Inter­ax­on, Akili, Neu­raMetrix, Apple, Calm, Halo Neu­ro­science, Mind­strong Health, Novar­tis, Pear Ther­a­peu­tics, and life­long neu­ro­ge­n­e­sis, all in the last 6 months!

Please enjoy the May edi­tion of Sharp­Brains eNewslet­ter below, and con­sid­er join­ing the Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit this Decem­ber to dis­cuss the lat­est and help shape the next 🙂

New research:

New tools:

New thinking:

 

Have a great month of June,

 

The Sharp­Brains Team