improve-cognitive-function

Akili Interactive Labs raises $30.5 million to develop FDA-approved brain training videogame for ADHD

by

evo_akili.

Videogame Mak­er Seeks to Treat ADHD (The Wall Street Journal):

“Doc­tors don’t usu­al­ly pre­scribe videogame play. But one com­pa­ny, which has just raised $30.5 mil­lion from ven­ture-cap­i­tal investors, hopes to change that.

Boston-based Akili Inter­ac­tive Labs Inc. is devel­op­ing a videogame it believes could replace pills as a treat­ment for atten­tion-deficit hyper­ac­tiv­i­ty dis­or­der. [Read more…] about Akili Inter­ac­tive Labs rais­es $30.5 mil­lion to devel­op FDA-approved brain train­ing videogame for ADHD

Study: To improve memory and thinking skills, try the Mediterranean diet with added olive oil and nuts

by

Mediterranean-Diet

.

Mediter­ranean diet may help coun­ter­act age-relat­ed declines in mem­o­ry and think­ing skills (Har­vard Health Blog):

“A new study in this week’s JAMA Inter­nal Med­i­cine sug­gests that eat­ing a Mediter­ranean-style diet enhanced with extra-vir­gin olive oil or nuts is good for your mind as well as your heart. [Read more…] about Study: To improve mem­o­ry and think­ing skills, try the Mediter­ranean diet with added olive oil and nuts

Next: Tools to detect and treat “chemo brain” symptoms common in around 35% of breast cancer survivors

by

fog brainUCLA study reveals treat­ment for women with breast can­cer suf­fer­ing cog­ni­tive dif­fi­cul­ties (Health­Canal):

“UCLA researchers have devel­oped a pro­gram that could improve the day-to-day lives of women with breast can­cer by address­ing post-treat­ment cog­ni­tive dif­fi­cul­ties, some­times known as “chemo brain,” which can affect up to 35 per­cent of women after their treat­ments [Read more…] about Next: Tools to detect and treat “chemo brain” symp­toms com­mon in around 35% of breast can­cer survivors

Brain Training to Enhance Performance, both post-Traumatic Brain Injury and for the workplace

by

A cou­ple of very inter­est­ing recent announce­ments show (in a mil­i­tary con­text) how well-tar­get­ed brain train­ing can com­ple­ment and aug­ment exist­ing approach­es, both to help “nor­mal” and “clin­i­cal” pop­u­la­tions, in ways that silo-based, rear-mir­ror think­ing often miss­es: [Read more…] about Brain Train­ing to Enhance Per­for­mance, both post-Trau­mat­ic Brain Injury and for the workplace

A User’s Guide to Lifelong Brain Health: BrainFit for Life

by

As the Brain Fit­ness indus­try con­tin­ues to gain momen­tum, and peo­ple explore all the incred­i­ble brain-train­ing tools being devel­oped, we hope that enthu­si­asts don’t take their eye off the impor­tance of the phys­i­cal health of the brain and all the sys­tems it com­mu­ni­cates with. The brain is unique in that it hous­es our cog­ni­tive and emo­tion­al capac­i­ties in the form of the mind. It is a ‘cog­ni­tive’ organ that hungers for stim­u­la­tion from new expe­ri­ences and chal­lenges. Many brain fit­ness pro­grams strive to sat­is­fy this need. Yet the brain is also a phys­i­cal organ that plays by many of the same rules as the heart, lungs, liv­er and kid­neys. To stay healthy and per­form opti­mal­ly it requires qual­i­ty nutri­tion, phys­i­cal activ­i­ty and opti­mal sleep. The brain, espe­cial­ly, relies on a healthy vas­cu­lar sys­tem to effi­cient­ly deliv­er oxy­gen and key nutri­ents and remove waste. In fact, the brain uses approx­i­mate­ly 20% of the oxy­gen we breathe to sat­is­fy its high-ener­gy demands. Giv­en that the brain only weighs about 2% of the body, we can con­sid­er it an ener­gy hog and we must cater to its needs very carefully.

Nutri­ents play key roles in brain func­tion. Sev­er­al have shown effi­ca­cy in clin­i­cal tri­als treat­ing cas­es of mood dis­or­ders, cog­ni­tive decline and of course ben­e­fit­ing the phys­i­cal health of the brain. Nutri­ents are both the raw mate­ri­als employed in cre­at­ing new neur­al con­nec­tions and [Read more…] about A User’s Guide to Life­long Brain Health: Brain­Fit for Life