Posts Tagged ‘Prevent-Alzheimers’
Exercise your brain in the Cognitive Age
In the past two days, The New York Times has published two excellent articles on brain and cognitive fitness. Despite appearing in separate sections (technology and editorial), the two have more in common than immediately meets the eye. Both raise key questions that politicians, health policy makers, business leaders, educators and consumers should pay attention to. 1) First, Exercise Your Brain, or Else You’ll … Uh …, by Katie…
Read MoreCognitive Development and Brain Research: Articles, Books, Papers (ASA)
We had a very fun session titled Teaching Brain Fitness in Your Community at an American Society on Aging (ASA) conference for health professionals a couple of weeks ago. Full house, with over 60 attendants and very good participation, showing great interest in the topic. I can’t wait to see the evaluations. These are some…
Read MoreStress and Short Term Memory
We all know chronic stress is bad for our heart, our weight, and our mood, but how about our memory?Interestingly, acute stress can help you focus and remember things more vividly.Chronic stress, on the other hand, reduces your ability to focus and can specifically damage cells in the hippocampus, a brain structure critical to encoding short term memory.When is stress chronic? When you feel out of control of your life. You may feel irritable or anxious. While every individual varies in their response the type and quantity of stress, there are some things you can do to feel more in control of your environment. This sense of empowerment can lower your stress, and as a result, help your memory.
Read MoreAre yoga and meditation good for my brain?
Here is question 16 of 25 from Brain Fitness 101: Answers to Your Top 25 Questions.Question:Are yoga and meditation good for my brain?Key Points: Yoga, meditation, and visualization are all excellent ways to learn to manage your stress levels.Reducing stress, and the stress hormones, in your system is critical to your brain and overall fitness.Answer:Yes.… the zebra releases the stress hormones through life-preserving action, while we usually just keep muddling along, getting more anxious by the moment.Prolonged exposure to the adrenal steroid hormones like cortisol, released during the stress response, can damage the brain and block the formation of new neurons in the hippocampus, which is the key player in encoding new memories in your brain.
Read MoreNeurogenesis and How Learning Saves Your Neurons
Jon Barron’s blog highlighted this recent press release from The Society for Neuroscience. For decades, it was believed that the adult brain did not produce new neurons after birth. But that notion has been dispelled by research in the last ten years. It became clear by the mid- to late-1990’s that the brain does, in…
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