By: Alvaro Fernandez
Next Tuesday, November 3rd: I’ll be presenting the SharpBrains Guide to a business/ entrepreneurial audience at the San Francisco Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (you can register online).
Description: While most of us have heard the phrase “use it or lose it,” very few understand what “it” means, or how to properly “use it” in order to improve brain function and fitness. This talk will provide an overview of the most recent research, guidelines and resources to “Use It and Improve It”, summarizing the main findings and topics from the new book The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness. We will debunk 10 common brain fitness myths; discuss how the brain works and the 4 pillars of brain maintenance; explain the difference between mental exercise and mental activity and identify practical ways to integrate this research into our work and lives for maximum brain health and performance.
To order book: Here. (has been among Amazon.com’s Top 10 Preventive Medicine books basically since publication!)
Over the last few weeks I have given a couple of 
AARP-sponsored talks, both in English and in Spanish (this was my first Spanish presentation on a topic I mostly discuss in English, so I did get some extra brain points by trying to translate “neuroplasticity” and “hippocampus” on the fly), and had a great couple of meetings with AARP staff to explore collaborations. AARP can obviously play a major role in how rationally this whole category of “brain fitness” evolves.
Here you have a couple of my favorite recent media interviews:
4-minute Video interview on the Gilbert Guide:
Book Reveals Secrets Once Only Known to Scientists
30-minute radio interview on WMBR (MIT campus radio station):
Paradigm Shifts: Brain Fitness (mine is the second interview, starts around the middle)
Finally, a growing number of bloggers are reviewing the book. This is what they say:
You can order The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness here.
By: Alvaro Fernandez
Good article in the New York Times today:
An Epidemic of Crashes Among the Aging? Unlikely, Study Says
- “The (Insurance Institute for Highway Driving) insurance institute is conducting further research to determine why the risks appear to be going down for older drivers. It may be that today’s older drivers are simply in better physical and mental shape than their counterparts a decade ago, so they are not only less likely to make a driving mistake, but also less frail and better able to survive injuries.”
There is no doubt that, as a group, older persons of any given age are in better physical and mental shape today than their counterparts years ago. For context, worldwide life expectancy has increased more than 20 years in less than 6o years – so you can imagine how a person in his or her early 70s today is in better shape than someone in his or her mid-60s a few decades back.
Still, as the number of people over the age of 60 starts to grow exponentially given the influx of baby boomers, society at large will probably benefit from starting to think through 1) what are the types of programs, whether introduced and managed by the AARP, DMV or car insurance companies, that can help older adults drive safely for as long as they want and need, 2) what are the mechanisms to prevent having drivers in our roads who don’t possess the minimum perceptual and cognitive abilities required to drive “safely” (and what “safely” really means).
And, yes, we should probably have a similar conversation regarding teenage driving.
For related reading, you may enjoy these 2 articles:
- Allstate: Can we improve Driver Safety using Posit Science InSight?
- Improving Driving Skills and Brain Functioning- Interview with ACTIVE’s Jerri Edwards
By: Alvaro Fernandez
We recently prepared a Directory of Web Sites as part of our  Resources section. You will find some gems here, in a variety of areas:
>> The Dana Foundation offers several excellent online resources:
- Brainy Kids Online offers children, teens, parents and teachers links to games, labs, education resources and lesson plans.
- BrainWeb: general information about the brain and current brain research, as well as links to validated sites related to more than 25 brain disorders.
- Brain Resources for Seniors provides older adults and their caretakers with links to sites related to brain health, education and general information.
Read the rest of this entry »
By: Alvaro Fernandez
Quick link to an excellent and inspiring article in the Wall Street Journal: 12 People Who Are Changing Your Retirement
(open access during a week)
Read the rest of this entry »
By: Alvaro Fernandez
A spate of recent news coverage on brain fitness and “brain training” reflects a growing interest in natural, non-drug-based interventions to keep our brains sharp as we age. This interest is very timely, given the aging population, increasing Alzheimer’s rates, and soaring health care costs that place more emphasis than ever on prevention and changing lifestyle.
This past Tuesday, the MIT Club of Northern California, the American Society on Aging, and SmartSilvers sponsored an event on The Emerging Brain Fitness Software Market: Building Better Brains to explore the realities and myths of this growing field. The panel was moderated by Zack Lynch, Executive Director of the Neurotechnology Industry Organization, and composed of a venture capitalist and 3 CEOs of program developers in the field. Before the panel, I had the chance to present an overview of the state of the Brain Fitness Software Market based on our upcoming report to be released on March 4th.
Why are we talking about this field at all? Well, for one, an increasing number of companies are achieving significant commercial success in packaging “brain exercise”. An example is the line of Nintendo games, such as Brain Age and Brain Training, that have shipped over 15 million units worldwide despite limited scientific support, since 2005. What is less visible is that a number of companies and scientists are Read the rest of this entry »
By: Alvaro Fernandez
Today we are fortunate to interview Dr. Jerri Edwards, an Associate Professor at University of South Florida’s School of Aging Studies and Co-Investigator of the influencial ACTIVE study. Dr. Edwards was trained by Dr. Karlene K. Ball, and her research is aimed toward discovering how cognitive abilities can be maintained and even enhanced with advancing age.
Main focus of research
Alvaro Fernandez: Please explain to our readers your main research areas
Jerri Edwards: I am particularly interested in how cognitive interventions may help older adults to avoid or at least delay functional difficulties and thereby maintain their independence longer. Much of my work has focused on the functional ability of driving including assessing driving fitness among older adults and remediation of cognitive decline that results in driving difficulties.
Some research questions that interest me include, how can we maintain healthier lives longer? How can training improve cognitive abilities, both to improve those abilities and also to slow-down, or delay, cognitive decline? The specific cognitive ability that I have studied the most is processing speed, which is one of the cognitive skills that decline early on as we age.
ACTIVE results
Can you explain what cognitive processing speed is, and why it is relevant to our daily lives?
Processing speed is mental quickness. Just like a computer with a 486 processor can do a lot of the same things as a computer with a Pentium 4 processor, but it takes much longer, our minds tend to slow down with age as compared to when we were younger. We can do the same tasks, but it takes more time. Quick speed of processing is important for Read the rest of this entry »
By: Alvaro Fernandez
This is an event you may be interested in, if you are based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The MIT Club of Northern California, American Society on Aging, The Business Forum on Aging and SmartSilvers presents:
The Emerging Brain Fitness Market:Â Building Better Brains (Contact information and Registration Here)
Date: 02/12/2008 Tuesday
Time: 6:00pm
Venue: Wilson Sonsini
Location: 950 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto
Cost: $20 online, $25 walk-in
Contact information and Registration Here.
Here is the buzz … Scientific, technological and demographic trends have converged to create an exciting new market in brain fitness, where software and online applications can assess and train cognitive abilities. That equates to a sharper mind and better memory retention contributing to healthier aging. There is currently a $400m worldwide market with high growth ahead predicted.
Join us in lively and informative discussions as Alvaro Fernandez; CEO of SharpBrains.com summarizes the science, key market segments, players and trends, based on the first Brain Fitness Software Market Report, presented in this event. He will discuss the implications with several neuro-technology, gaming experts and investors.”  Moderated by Zack Lynch, the speaker and panel will discuss: Read the rest of this entry »
By: Caroline Latham
Here is question 21 from Brain Fitness 101: Answers to Your Top 25 Questions.
Question:
I am busy executive with a challenging job. How is brain fitness relevant to me?
Key Points:
- Reduce your stress to improve concentration and learning readiness and reduce distractions.
- Increase your mental stimulation to help maintain a healthy, flexible brain.
Answer:
Executives, or anyone involved in complex and rapidly evolving environments, need to make pressured decisions based on sound logic, instead of emotional impulses. It is not easy to deal with the frustration, for example, when Read the rest of this entry »
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