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June is Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month, so let me share these 20 Must-Know Facts to Harness Neuroplasticity & Improve Brain Health that come from the hundreds of scientific and medical studies we analyzed  Read the rest of this entry »

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Mental rotation refers to moving things around in your mind. It is one of the main visuospatial skills we all have…in different degrees, yes.

Here’s an exam­ple. Please pic­ture in your mind an arrow point­ing to the right. Now, turn this arrow so it points to the left. Done? You have just per­formed a men­tal rota­tion. Read the rest of this entry »

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Here you have a few fun mental exercises to train your attention and working memory (the capacity to hold multiple pieces of information in the mind, and to use them real-time). Given them a try today and over the weekend…they are not as easy as they may sound!

1. Say the days of the week backwards, then in alphabetical order. If you speak another language, try doing the same in that language.
2. Say the months of the year in alphabetical order. Then, for extra cognitive challenge, try doing so backwards, in reverse alphabetical order.
3. Find the sum of your date of birth, mm/dd/yyyy. Want more quick brain teasers? Do the same with friends’ and relatives’ date of birth.
4. Quick, name two objects for every letter in your complete name. Work up to five objects, trying to use different items each time.
5. Wherever you are, look around and within two minutes, try to find 5 green things that will fit in your pocket, and 5 red objects that are too big to fit.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Time for Sharp­Brains’ July 2014 e-newsletter, fea­tur­ing a wealth of thought-provoking insights, sci­ence reports…and this fun brain teaser to deter­mine your stress level.

New thinking:

• Why “disorders of the brain” deserve at least equal attention as cardiovascular diseases and cancer
• Preliminary Agenda of the 2014 SharpBrains Virtual Summit (October 28-30th)
• Debunking Myers-Briggs personality test
• How to remember what you read

New tools:

• Upgrading Education and Health in light of Neuroscience: The Frontier of Gaming?
• Study: Neurofeedback treatment for ADHD in only 12 sessions?
• News: Launch of Brain Start-up Challenge on August 1st
• Brain Resource raising $7m to expand corporate brain wellness offerings

New science:

• Under what conditions can mindfulness courses help health care workers manage stress and burnout?
• Alzheimer’s disease can be delayed through lifestyle: New, large study joins growing chorus
• One more reason to improve education and cardiovascular health in developing countries
• How big data can augment brain health clinical research

Finally, you may also want to try this teaser to test your cognitive biases.

Enjoy, and have a great month of August!

The SharpBrains Team

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Hard Evidence We Can Slow Alzheimer’s By Exercising The Body And The Mind (Forbes):

“Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most feared diagnoses among patients…once the disease has been diagnosed, there is nothing modern medicine can do to stop it.

But it can be slowed, and a new study presented Read the rest of this entry »