We have just announced an upcoming webinar to provide a market update:  Top 10 Cognitive Fitness Events of 2008 – A Market Update.

When: Thursday December 11th, from 12:00 to 1:00 pm Pacific Time. The same webinar will be repeated on Thursday December 18th, from 9:00 to 10:00 pm Pacific Time.

The Top 10 Cognitive Fitness Events that will be discussed include:

1) February: Dakim secures a $10.6m investment from Galen Partners. Jack LaLanne becomes spokesperson.
2) April: The Government of Ontario, Canada, invests $10m in Baycrest to develop and commercialize cognitive fitness technologies.
3) April: University of Michigan researchers reveal in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences how computerized working memory training can generalize and improve fluid intelligence in healthy adults.
4) May: Humana unveils Games for Health initiatives, not renewing its agreement with Posit Science.
5) June: The US Army launches a new policy requiring cognitive screenings of all soldiers before deployment (in order to Read the rest of this entry »

As the Brain Fitness industry continues to gain momentum, and people explore all the incredible brain-training tools being developed, we hope that enthusiasts don’t take their eye off the importance of the physical health of the brain and all the systems it communicates with. The brain is unique in that it houses our cognitive and emotional capacities in the form of the mind. It is a ‘cognitive’ organ that hungers for stimulation from new experiences and challenges. Many brain fitness programs strive to satisfy this need. Yet the brain is also a physical organ that plays by many of the same rules as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. To stay healthy and perform optimally it requires quality nutrition, physical activity and optimal sleep. The brain, especially, relies on a healthy vascular system to efficiently deliver oxygen and key nutrients and remove waste. In fact, the brain uses approximately 20% of the oxygen we breathe to satisfy its high-energy demands. Given that the brain only weighs about 2% of the body, we can consider it an energy hog and we must cater to its needs very carefully.

Nutrients play key roles in brain function. Several have shown efficacy in clinical trials treating cases of mood disorders, cognitive decline and of course benefiting the physical health of the brain. Nutrients are both the raw materials employed in creating new neural connections and Read the rest of this entry »

As you have probably noticed, a growing number of Expert Contributors are writing in our blog, so that we can collectively discuss the latest research and trends on cognitive and brain health, and the implications of brain research in general for our everyday lives. 

If you haven’t done so already, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter (above) and our RSS feed (on the right).

Below you have the profiles of some of our Contributors and links to their best articles with us so far. Enjoy!

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Given the current political climate, we are pleased to host this thought-provoking article by 2 of our Expert Contributors. Dear Mr or Mrs Next President: how can you help our minds take better care of our brains?

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Ask Not What The Health System Can Do For You…

– By Simon J. Evans, PhD and Paul R. Burghardt, PhD.

With the presidential debates gearing up again we are sure to hear more about health care. But we propose a slightly different question. In addition to asking how we can get more people healthcare coverage, we should also ask why so many people are sick in the first place.

The words of John Kennedy might today be, “Ask not what the health care system can do for you. Ask what you can do to reduce the health care burden”. But before delving into what we can do, let’s take a look at some realities that our next president could face in their first ‘State of the Union’ address.

Read the rest of this entry »

What a busy week, last one. We will be writing during the week about some of the SharpBrains events that occured. 

The May/June Issue of Stanford Magazine has a nice section titled Just One Question, where a number of Stanford alumni answer the question “What do people in your profession know that you wish everyone knew?”

Some of our favorite answers:

• Zoe Lofgren, ’70, represents California’s 16th district in Congress. “When all is said and done, the American people decide the kind of American government they get. It’s largely a myth that elected officials disregard the viewpoints of their constituents. That only happens when voters forgo the opportunity to express their point of view or when an elected official (knowingly or not) is preparing to leave his or her elected office. A dozen unscripted, individual letters on a subject are enough to galvanize a member of Congress representing 670,000 people.”
• Doug Osheroff, the J.G. Jackson and C.J. Wood Professor of Physics, won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1996. “I wish that more people had an understanding and appreciation of how science is done. That is, how scientists are able to expand the boundaries of our knowledge and at the same time develop new techniques and technologies that really do benefit mankind.”
• Spencer Sherman, MA ’69, PhD ’71, is a clinical psychologist in Santa Barbara, Calif. “Psychotherapists know that it’s okay to be not okay. That everyone suffers sometimes. That suffering is not unending, unendurable or without value. That confusion and despair have meaning, and that out of them wisdom and compassion emerge. That help exists and that it is sage to ask for it. That strength can be built and happiness learned. That trials and mistakes are necessary parts of that learning. That there is no life free from pain. That it is the pain that drives the growth. That flowers thank the soil from which they rise.”
• (we are biased here) Alvaro Fernandez, MBA ’01, MA ’02, is CEO and co-founder of SharpBrains, Inc. “Many cognitive neuroscientists wish that more people knew how flexible our brains are throughout our whole lives and what a big difference we can make to ensure a healthy, fit, brain and mind. We can exercise our brains—not just our biceps.”

You can check more answers to Just One Question.