Tracking Health and Wellness Applications of Brain Science

memory-loss

Could technology help cure depression among older adults? (Short answer: Yes)

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Why tech­nol­o­gy — not med­ica­tion — is the future of treat­ing old­er adults with depres­sion (McK­night’s Long-term Care News):

“The go-to treat­ment for many cas­es of depres­sion is medication.

Unfor­tu­nate­ly, this treat­ment option can cause as many issues as the prob­lem it is try­ing to solve. Anti­de­pres­sants can put res­i­dents at greater risk of falls, neg­a­tive health com­pli­ca­tions and oth­er poor con­di­tions. Some stud­ies indi­cate that anti­de­pres­sants may not be effec­tive for most old­er Amer­i­cans. [Read more…] about Could tech­nol­o­gy help cure depres­sion among old­er adults? (Short answer: Yes)

Despite the growing evidence against supplements making brain/ memory improvement claims, sales keep growing

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Why you shouldn’t both­er with mem­o­ry or brain health sup­ple­ments (Con­sumer Reports):

“The signs of mem­o­ry loss can be bewil­der­ing and scary: mis­placed keys, a for­got­ten street name, that task you sud­den­ly can’t remem­ber. It’s no won­der that, accord­ing to the Nutri­tion Busi­ness Jour­nal, sales of sup­ple­ments tout­ed as mem­o­ry boost­ers near­ly dou­bled between 2006 and 2015.

But accord­ing to a review of stud­ies pub­lished in Decem­ber, there’s vir­tu­al­ly no good evi­dence that such prod­ucts can pre­vent or delay mem­o­ry laps­es, mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment or demen­tia in old­er adults [Read more…] about Despite the grow­ing evi­dence against sup­ple­ments mak­ing brain/ mem­o­ry improve­ment claims, sales keep growing

Coder, entrepreneur and teenager Emma Yang launches $50k Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for app to help improve Alzheimer’s patients’ daily lives

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A 14-Year-Old Made An App To Help Alzheimer’s Patients Rec­og­nize Their Loved Ones (Fast Company):

“When Emma Yang was 7 or 8 years old, her grand­moth­er became increas­ing­ly for­get­ful. Over the next few years, those mem­o­ry prob­lems, caused by ear­ly Alzheimer’s dis­ease, wors­ened. Yang, who learned to code at an ear­ly age, decid­ed to cre­ate an app to help [Read more…] about Coder, entre­pre­neur and teenag­er Emma Yang launch­es $50k Indiegogo crowd­fund­ing cam­paign for app to help improve Alzheimer’s patients’ dai­ly lives

10 ways in which Yoga Meditation helps nourish Body, Brain and Mind

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holdingbrain—

An easy, low cost, nat­ur­al prac­tice can help us boost our brain pow­er, be health­i­er and more spir­i­tu­al­ly attuned as we age, and improve our qual­i­ty of life and hap­pi­ness. It could also reduce some of the stag­ger­ing health care costs seen today.

Curi­ous about what that prac­tice is? [Read more…] about 10 ways in which Yoga Med­i­ta­tion helps nour­ish Body, Brain and Mind

ACTIVE study: Well-targeted brain training might significantly reduce dementia risk

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BrainTraining_PositScience
–An exam­ple of a speed-of-pro­cess­ing task. Cour­tesy of Posit Science

Play on! In a first, brain train­ing cuts risk of demen­tia 10 years lat­er (STAT News):

“For the first time ever, researchers have man­aged to reduce people’s risk for demen­tia — not through a med­i­cine, spe­cial diet, or exer­cise, but by hav­ing healthy old­er adults play a com­put­er-based brain-train­ing game. [Read more…] about ACTIVE study: Well-tar­get­ed brain train­ing might sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce demen­tia risk