“20 Must-Know Facts to Harness Neuroplasticity and Improve Brain Health”

As a brain tumor survivor, I am constantly on the lookout for ways to improve my brain health. I am also a sucker for lists on how to improve myself. So I found this list of “20 Must-Know Facts to Harness Neuroplasticity and Improve Brain Health” written by Alvaro Fernandez, CEO of SharpBrains, helpful, insightful and inspiring. Here’s a link: http://www.creativitypost.com/science/20_must_know_facts_to_harness_neuroplasticity_and_improve_brain_health

1. There is more than one “It” in “Use It or Lose It” -- our performance depends on a variety of brain functions and cognitive skills, not just one (be it "attention" or "memory" or any other).
2. Genes do not determine the fate of our brains. Thanks to lifelong neuroplasticity, our lifestyles are as important as our genes--if not more-- in how our brains grow and our minds evolve.
3. We need to pay more attention to Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) to verify whether any intervention causes an effect, and under what specific circumstances -- The media is doing quite a poor job, in our view, to educate the general public.
4. The largest recent RCT (the ongoing FINGER study) and a 2010 systematic review of all relevant RCTs provide useful guidance: First, they report a protective effect of social and cognitive engagement, physical exercise, and the Mediterranean diet. Second, the average benefits at the population level appear quite limited, so we need to have realistic expectations.
5. Physical exercise and increased fitness promote brain functioning through a variety of mechanisms, including increased brain volume, blood supply and growth hormone levels.
6. Cardiovascular exercise that gets the heart beating – from walking to skiing, tennis and basketball – seems to bring the greatest brain benefits; thirty to sixty minutes per day, three days a week, seems to be the best regimen.
7. Mental stimulation strengthens the connections between neurons (synapses), improving neuron survival and cognitive functioning. Mental stimulation also helps build cognitive reserve, helping the brain better cope with potential AD pathology.
8. Routine activities do not challenge the brain. Keeping up the challenge requires going to the next level of difficulty, or trying something new.
9. The only leisure activity that has been associated with reduced cognitive function is watching television.
10. Brain training can work, putting the "cells that fire together wire together" to good use, but available RCTs suggest some key conditions must be met to transfer to real-life benefits.
11. The brain needs a lot of energy: It extracts approximately 50% of the oxygen and 10% of the glucose from arterial blood.
12. The Mediterranean Diet, supplemented with olive oil and nuts, is associated with decreased risk of cognitive decline.
13. Moderate doses of caffeine increase alertness but there is no clear sustained lifetime health benefit (or harm).
14. Light-to-moderate alcohol consumption seems to lower the risk of dementia.
15. Taking "brain supplements" of any kind does not seem to boost cognitive function or reduce risks of cognitive decline or dementia, unless directed to address an identified deficiency.
16. The larger and the more complex a person’s social network is, the bigger the amygdala (which plays a major role in our behavior and motivation). There is no clear evidence to date on whether "online" relationships are fundamentally different from "offline" ones in this regard.
17. Chronic stress reduces and can even inhibit neurogenesis. Memory and general mental flexibility are impaired by chronic stress.
18. There is increasing evidence that meditation and biofeedback can successfully teach users to self-regulate physiological stress responses.
19. We will not have a Magic Pill or General Solution to solve all our cognitive challenges any time soon, so a holistic multi-pronged approach is recommended, centered around nutrition, stress management, and both physical and mental exercise.
20. Having said that, no size fits all, so it's critical to understand and address individual needs, priorities and starting points.

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SharpBrains Debunks the Top 10 brain and brain health myths

If your brain has been compromised or injured or you somehow you seem genetically prone to Alzheimer’s, you may be confused by all the information and mis-information surrounding brain health, brain training and cognitive improvements. I know I am.

Luckily, the whiz-bang scientists at SharpBrains have recently posted this helpful article that debunks brain training and health myths. You can read their original post here: http://sharpbrains.com/blog/2016/03/14/lets-debunk-these-ten-brain-myths/

Or you can read the following excerpt from that posting::

“Myth 1. Genes deter­mine the fate of our brains.

Fact: Life­long brain plasticity means that our lifestyles and behaviors play a significant role in how our brains (and therefore our minds) evolve physically and functionally as we get older.

Myth 2. We are what we eat.

Fact: We are what we do, think, and feel, much more than what we eat. (Even if, yes, nutrition plays a role)

Myth 3. Medication is the main hope for brain health and enhance­ment.

Fact: Non-invasive inter­ven­tions such as aerobic exercise and meditation can have comparable and more durable benefits, and free of side effects.

Myth 4. There’s nothing we can do to beat Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline.

Fact: While nothing has been proven to prevent the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease, there is abundant research showing we can delay the onset of symptoms for years.

Myth 5. There is only one “it” in “Use it or Lose it”.

Fact: The brain presents many neural circuits supporting a variety of important cognitive, emotional, and executive functions. Not just one. (Which is one of the reasons we should stop thinking about magic pills and silver bullets)

Myth 6. Intervention XYZ can help reverse your brain age 10, 20, or 30 years.

Fact: The concept of “brain age” is a fiction. Some brain functions tend to improve, and some to decline, as we get older. Nothing can be said to “reverse brain age” in a general sense.

Myth 7. There is a scientific consensus that brain training doesn’t work.

Fact: A group of scientists did issue such a statement, which was promptly contradicted by a larger group of scientists. Consensus…that is certainly not. Brain training, when it meets certain conditions, has been shown to transfer into real-world outcomes.

Myth 8. Brain training is primarily about video games.

Fact: Evidence-based brain training includes some forms of meditation, cognitive ther­apy, cognitive training, and bio/neurofeedback. Interactive media such as videogames can make those interventions more engaging and scalable, but it is important to distinguish the means from the end, as obviously not all videogames are the same.

Myth 9. Heart health equals brain health.

Fact: While heart health contributes significantly to brain health, and vice versa, the heart and the brain are separate organs, with their respective functions and relevant interventions. What we need is to pay much more systematic attention to brain health, so it can advance as much as cardiovascular health already has.

Myth 10. As long as my brain is working fine, why should I even pay attention to it?

Fact: For the same reasons you add gas to your car, and change the oil regularly– so that it works well, and for a long period of time.”

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Brain Training Evaluation Checklist

There seems to be a zillion brain training programs. Some famous one have commercials and are pretty well known for their online training, e.g. Lumosity. Some provide toys/games that you can buy and try in a store, e.g. Marbles, the Brain Store. Many are apps of all shapes and sizes.

So how do you know which program  to buy, use or believe?

Luckily, the smart folks at SharpBrains have this good advice for picking and choosing you can read their advice below or whack this URL into the browser of your choice: http://sharpbrains.com/resources/10-question-evaluation-checklist/

“Questions to Evaluate Brain Fitness Programs and a brief explanation of why each question is important:

1. Are there scientists, ideally neuropsychologists, and a scientific advisory board behind the program?

Neuropsychologists specialize in measuring and understanding human cognition and brain structure and function.

2. Are there published, peer-reviewed scientific papers in PubMed written by those scientists? How many?

PubMed is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes millions of citations science journals. If a scientist has not published a paper that appears in that data­base, he or she cannot make scientific claims.

3. What are the specific benefits claimed for using this program? What specific cognitive skill is the pro­gram training?

Some programs present the benefits in such a nebulous way that it is impossible to tell if they will have any results or not. “Brain training” itself is a limited benefit, because activities like gardening or learning a new language provide “brain training” too…you need to see something more specific, like what cognitive or emotional skill that program is aimed at enhancing.

4. Does the pro­gram tell me what cognitive or emotional skill I am exercising, and is there an independent assessment to measure my progress?

The ques­tion is whether the improvement experienced in the program will transfer into real life. For that to happen we need assessments that are distinct from the exercises themselves.

5. Is it a structured program with guidance on how many hours per week and days per week to use it?

Cognitive training, or brain training, is not a magic pill. You have to do the exercises in order to benefit, so you need clarity on the effort required.

6. Do the exercises vary and teach me something new?

The only way to exercise important parts of our brain is by tackling novel challenges.

7. Does the program challenge and motivate me, or does it feel like it would become easy once I learned it?

Good mental exercise requires increasing levels of difficulty.

8. Does the program fit my personal goals?

Each individual has different goals and needs when it comes to brain health. For exam­ple, some want to manage anxiety, others to improve short-term memory.

9. Does the program fit my lifestyle?

Some brain training programs have good short-term results but are very intense. Others may be better over time.

10. Am I ready and willing to do the program, or would it be too stressful?

Excess stress reduces, or may even inhibit, neurogenesis - the cre­ation of new neu­rons. So, it is important to make sure not to do things that stress us in unhealthy ways.”

They have lots of other great brain building info on their website - see http://sharpbrains.com/

2013 SharpBrains Virtual Summit

This is always an interesting event, and it seems to get bigger and more popular each year: http://sharpbrains.com/summit-2013/agenda/  It’s also ambitious. Here’s a few of the Summit’s session topics:

How can we harness the Human Brain Project to maximize its future health and well-being benefits?
Digital Health meets Brain Health.
How can organizations maximize the resilience and productivity of their human resources?
What is the future of personal brain health?

What I like about the Virtual Summit:
-It’s virtual. You can attend in your pajamas and watching your laptop screen.
-It’s got provocative subjects. That bit about harnessing the “Human Brain Project” makes me think that this is a bit like the human genome project.
-It’s got great speakers: http://sharpbrains.com/summit-2013/speakers/  At the same time, folks like Dharma Singh Khalsa, Pres¬i¬dent of the Alzheimer’s Research and Pre¬ven-tion Foundation are included which I like because I believe we need to think laterally and creatively about brain issues and solutions.

To be clear, this is an “industry” issue, and probably isn’t very consumer/patient-friendly. It’s also a bit pricey: at $545.00 I can’t afford to attend. If you do attend, please let me know if you liked it.
John

PS – If you don’t think brain training has gone mainstream, read this quote from Tom Warden of Allstate posted on the Summit’s site: “”… we see the opportunity that cognitive training provides as just the next evolution of things that we can advocate and get behind that ultimately make for a better driving experience, a safer driving experience for people. Not only for our insureds, but to help the roads be safer for everyone.”