Hiroshi Komiyama, President of the University of Tokyo and Chairperson of the Global Agenda Council on the Challenges of Gerontology I am a member of, just provided council members with a brief update of his participation in the recent World Economic Forum.

Part of the proceedings are public – you may enjoy reading this panel write-up of the session Healthcare under Stress:

- “Japan has the world’s oldest population. Health and longevity create wealth and, thus, “health begets wealth”. It is documented that nations that develop a five-year life expectancy advantage also create a larger GDP. A healthy childhood and adulthood contribute to a more productive old age. New markets and industries are arising – “silver industries” such as financial services, health, housing and hospitality geared to senior citizens. Longevity needs to be linked to health – including cognitive health – and lifestyle choices play a major role in health.”

- “The public health focus is shifting from infections to cardiovascular diseases. Complex new models are necessary to develop better responses and improved health – with the primary emphasis on “really good primary healthcare” and prevention – to lower costs. Prevention increases the healthy years of a person’s life. The challenge is creating the incentive for prevention: how can people be encouraged to make healthy choices? Mobilized populations can drive the change. Finland has an 80% lower incidence of heart disease than 30 years ago due to such incentives.”

Full write-up: Healthcare under Stress

Related articles:

- The Future of the Aging Society: Burden or Human Capital?

- Update: Global Consortium for Neurocognitive Fitness Innovation

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure to give a talk to one hundred or so staff members at New York Public Library. As you would expect, it was a very stimulating group, and one of the participants, Brigid Cahalan, just wrote a fun blog post on her impressions from the event:

Brain Fitness at New York Public Library:

- “After attending a recent staff training session offered by the library’s Office of Staff Development, I decided to return to a habit of my childhood–eating sardines.”
- key pillars for brain health …are… “1) A balanced diet; 2) Cardiovascular physical exercise; 3) Stress management; and 4) Brain exercise: Novelty, Variety, Challenge (as long as it doesn’t stress us out).”

Read full article: here.

Comment: A very interesting trend of observe – the growing role of public libraries in providing quality brain health information and even, why not, becoming community-based brain fitness destinations. After all, is it not mental stimulation of all sorts, incorporating Novelty, Variety, and Challenge, what they truly offer?

We just received this quote of how a major health system is using our Brain Fitness Market Report:

“At Sutter Health Partners we recognize the importance of brain health and how much the health of the brain and the body are interdependent.  The market report helped us further target our coaching efforts to integrate brain fitness and upgrade our entire coaching platform.  It is easy to read and gives you the industry perspective in a thorough yet concise manner.  I highly recommend it!”

– Margaret Sabin, CEO of Sutter Health Partners and VP, New Product Development, at Sutter Health.

You may wonder, “what is the link between  wellness coaching and brain fitness”?

In practice, good health and wellness coaches provide excellent brain health advice, given that the areas they focus on (nutrition, physical exercise, stress management) do play an important role in maintaining our brains in top shape.

Additionally, pioneers  such as Sutter Health Partners are adding a Brain “lens” to their work. How?

First, by better understanding and explaining the brain benefits of what they already do, in order to provide additional motivation to stick with healthy behaviors. For example, most people will be able to recite multiple benefits of moderate cardiovascular exercise. But how many know  that it can also contribute to neurogenesis -the creation of new neurons – in adult brains?

Second, by starting to offer brain fitness guidelines to clients who want too go beyond crossword puzzles and sudoku.

I had a great training session with a number of Sutter Health coaches last week – let me summarize some of the main points we covered. Read the rest of this entry »