Our first book is available in Amazon.com!

Background: In 2005 I read two books by my now co-author, Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg, that changed my career and life. Dr. Goldberg presented an exciting overview of emerging brain research debunking many old myths. Reflecting on what I was learning, I thought, "If all this is true, there is a revolution in the making that will impact education, healthcare, the way we learn and the way to take care for our brains. Someone will need to act as a translator, analyst and educator, to help individuals and society at large appreciate the implications of this research and start using this knowledge here and now."

After several meetings with Dr. Goldberg, who kindly responded to my initial unsolicited letter, we decided to partner and create SharpBrains with a mission to "to provide individuals, companies and institutions with independent, high-quality, research-based, information and guidance to navigate the growing cognitive health and brain fitness market."

Since then, we have launched one of the most popular brain websites, blogs and newsletters, two annual market reports that have become the standard in our field, a lifelong learning curriculum taught in multiple universities, and we are now pleased to bring to you our first book. We hope you enjoy it.

Book description: While most of us have heard the phrase “use it or lose it,” very few SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness. The Bookunderstand what “it” means, or how to properly “use it” in order to maintain brain function and fitness. The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness is an invaluable guide that helps readers navigate growing brain research and identify the lifestyle factors and products that contribute to brain fitness. By gathering insights from eighteen of the world’s top scientists and offering tools and detailed descriptions of over twenty products, this book is an essential guide to the field of brain fitness, neuroplasticity and cognitive health. An accessible and thought-provoking read, The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness educates lifelong learners and professionals in healthcare, education, business, etc., on emerging trends and forecasts of what the future will hold.

Praise for the book

"Finally, an insightful and complete overview of the science, products and trends to debunk old myths and help us all maintain our brains in top shape. A must-read for everyone with a brain – an instant classic.”
Gloria Cavanaugh, former President & CEO of the American Society on Aging and founding Board member of the National Alliance for Caregiving

"The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness offers a valuable and stimulating blueprint for anyone who wants to grow older sustainably --- that is, with sound mind and good humor. Fernandez and Goldberg are the pioneers we've been waiting for to help us do exactly that. Buying this book is the ultimate no-brainer."
Joel Makower, Executive Editor, GreenBiz.com, and author, Strategies for the Green Economy

"A masterful guide to the brain training revolution. Promises to stimulate a much needed conversation that will nudge society to build a new brain fitness culture on solid, research-based, foundations."
P. Murali Doraiswamy MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Duke University and Co-author of The Alzheimer's Action Plan

“Our curriculum and research circle will begin summer work by reading The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness, a much-needed new resource to help us better understand our brains and minds and how to nourish them through life."
Susan E. Hoffman, Director, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Berkeley

"All of us researching healthy brain function owe SharpBrains a debt of gratitude for promoting a science-based approach to brain health education and offering an unbiased view of the landscape. Now, with The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness, Alvaro Fernandez and Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg serve up plentiful food for thought to satisfy the growing number of adults who are hungry for a healthy mind."
Joshua R. Steinerman, M.D., Assistant Professor of Neurology and Director of the Neurodegenerative Disease Clinical Trials Program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center

"I am a neurosurgeon and have a great interest in the rapidly advancing field of neuroscience, especially the areas of neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. New developments happen so fast that it is difficult to keep up. This book by Alvaro Fernandez and Elkhonon Goldberg offers a spectacular introduction to the field, valuable both to the public at large and healthcare professionals."
Guy Otis Danielson III, MD, President of the NeuroCare Network Tyler, Texas

"Finally, a book that makes sense out of the confusing brain fitness movement! I believe brain fitness could very well be the next big thing. Baby boomers like me are getting older and we want to stay mentally sharp, maintain if not strengthen our cognitive skills, and above all avoid mental decline and Alzheimer's disease. Unfortunately, there's been many conflicting claims and confusing products that has made it difficult for me and thousands of others people to decide just what we should do. SharpBrains' guide is an honest, clearly written examination of brain fitness concepts, the underlying science, and the best products and services out there. It's a first-class, pioneering resource that summarizes all I need to know about how to stay sharp for many more years."
David Bunnell, founder of PC, PC World, Macworld and BioWorld

Continue reading about (and order!) The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness: 18 Interviews with Scientists, Practical Advice, and Product Reviews, to Keep Your Brain Sharp

Here you have the twice-a-month newsletter with our most popular blog posts. Please brainremember that you can subscribe to receive this Newsletter by email, simply by submitting your email at the top of this page.

News and Events

Brain Health Promotion by the American Society on Aging: You may be interested in the excellent agenda the American Society on Aging has put together for health professionals, from September 2-5th in San Francisco, devoting a full day to Brain Health. Alvaro will participate in 3 of the sessions, including giving a keynote on the Future of Brain Health.

Can Google Kill Neurons and Rewire Your Whole Brain?: The Atlantic Monthly published an article titled Is Google Making Us Stupid, which basically blamed Google for literally rewiring our brains into more stupid brains (not being able to pay attention, read deep books...). We are not very impressed by the superficial treatment given to this very important topic.

Mobile Brain Training, Scientific Learning, and More News: Overview of cognitive health and fitness news, including recent research on how physical exercise can help diagnosed Alzheimer's patients, the new Mac version of Posit Science's auditory processing training program, and more.

Market Analysis

Top 10 Brain Health Predictions: In an emerging market, like brain health and training, it is difficult to make precise projections. Here we point out a number of trends that executives, consumers, public policy makers, and the media should watch closely in the coming years. Your feedback is very welcome...we will give a complimentary copy of our market report to the person who provides the most insightful additional prediction by August 10th.

Cognitive Health Pioneers: Thank You! The quality and variety of our client list brings up the cross-sector demand for quality information in the emerging brain fitness/ cognitive health category. And it helps us prioritize efforts and coverage of market and research news and trends.

Research Analysis

Encephalon blog carnival: Brain & Mind Research: We hosted Encephalon´s 50th edition, where you will find a selection of superb blog posts on all things Brain and Mind. Examples? you may enjoy Facebook Ate My Psychiatrist or perhaps the Compulsive Collecting of Toy Bullets and Televisions.

Attention Deficits At Work: Dr. Pascale Michelon provides an in-depth overview of a recent study by Ron de Graaf and colleagues,  in which they found that an average of 3.5% of workers (in ten countries) meet the criteria for adult ADHD, In the US, the percentage increased to 4.5%. This has clear effects on productivity.

Education and Learning

Learning & the Brain: Resources for Educators: Educator Laurie Bartels reviews her favorite brain resources for teaching and learning: books, conferences, and websites.

Brain Teasers

Top 25 Brain and Mind Haikus. Yours?: Readers have contributed a good number of haikus on brain-related topics. You can follow the link to check out our Favorite 7, and many other fun ones...which ones do you like the most?

I have been travelling much over the last 2 weeks to speak at a number of conferences and universities. I promised I would be sharing some of the key highlights, but we have decided to do something better to do justice to the richness and complexity of the field we cover. We are going to launch an experiment: a Brain Fitness Webinar Series.

This inaugural Brain Fitness Webinar Series will consist of 3 free live sessions. The series covers the most fundamental advances in cognitive science and their implications for individuals, companies and organizations. And we are honored to have John Medina lead of the sessions!

Each event is independent, in topic and in registration process.

Webinar #1: In “The State of the Brain Fitness Software Market, 2008,” I will provideBrain Fitness Market Report an overview of the science, market, and vendor landscape of the emerging brain fitness software market, based on our recent market report on this growing category.
- Target audience: Executives, professionals, investors, reporters and bloggers interested in learning more about the brain fitness market.
- More information: Market Report.
- Date and time: Tuesday May 27th, 2pm EDT/ 11am PDT
Register: Here

 

Webinar #2: In “Brain Rules for Thinking Smarter,” John Medina, developmental Brain Rules-John Medinamolecular biologist and author of Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Striving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School will emphasize the importance of physical exercise, stress management…and avoiding multitasking altogether.
- Target audience: Anyone who wants to learn more about brain health and performance.
- More information: The Science of Thinking Smarter, by John Medina.
- Date and time: Tuesday June 3rd, 2pm EDT/ 11am PDT
Register: Here

 

Webinar #3: In “The Science and Practice of Brain Fitness,” I will Brain Fitness 101 eGuideprovide an overview of the Brain 101, latest research findings and implications for how to improve brain health and performance based on my classes and speaking engagements.
- Target audience: Anyone who wants to learn more about brain health and performance
- Date and time: Tuesday June 10th, 2pm EDT/ 11am PDT
Register: Here

 

I hope you find this series stimulating. Just pick the event that sounds more relevant to your interests! 

Brain exercise, brain exercisesI hope you are having a joyful holiday season, and wish you a Happy and Prosperous 2008. The Brain Fitness field has made a great deal of progress in 2007, and we are looking forward the New Year.

Here you are have the Monthly Digest of our Most Popular Blog Posts. You can consider it your monthly Brain Fitness/ Exercise Newsletter.

(Also, remember that you can subscribe to receive our blog RSS feed, or to our monthly newsletter at the top of this page if you want to receive this monthly Digest by email).

Let me first of all introduce you to our new "Author Speaks Series", where we will give leading scientists and experts a forum to present their new brain-related books. We are honored to kickstart the series with Larry McCleary, former acting Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Denver Children's Hospital. You can read Here his article on how to keep a brain-friendly lifestyle. This series will complement our ongoing Neuroscience Interview Series.

Brain Fitness in the News

Brain Fitness @ PBS: PBS featured a fantastic special program on neuroplasticity and brain fitness during the month of December. Before you ask: as of today, the DVD of the program is still not available in PBS online shop. We expect to see it there in 2-3 weeks. We will keep you informed.

The Huffington Post started featuring a column written by me: you may enjoy taking a look at Alvaro Fernandez - Living on The Huffington Post.

Jogging our Brains for Brain Vitality, Healthy Aging-and Intelligence!: a roundup of several great recent articles on memory, aging, IQ and cognitive abilities such as self-control.

Health & Wellness

Brain Training: No Magic Bullet, Yet Useful Tool. Interview with Elizabeth Zelinski: Dr. Zelinski, leading researcher of the IMPACT study, shares fascinating insights. For example: "...cognitive enhancement requires the engagement in a variety of activities, those activities must be novel, adaptive and challenging-which is why computer-based programs can be helpful. But even at a more basic level, what matters is being engaged with life, continually exposed to stimulating activities, always trying to get out of our comfort zones, doing our best at whatever we are doing. A major typical misconception is that there is only one general intelligence to care about. In reality, we have many different cognitive abilities, such as attention, memory, language, reasoning, and more, so it makes sense to have different programs designed to train and improve each of them."

How to Evaluate and Choose a Brain Fitness Program: To help you navigate the growing number of computer-based programs and games, we published this 10-Question Checklist, based on dozens of interviews with scientists, experts and consumers.

Travel and Engagement as Good Brain Exercise: As we've seen, novelty, variety and challenge are the key guidelines for "brain exercise" that help build new neural connections, force one to be mindful and pay attention, improve abilities such as pattern-recognition, and generally contribute to lifelong brain health. In this post we feature the brain building / mind expanding experience of a SharpBrains friend working in Namibia.

Alzheimer's Prevention and Diagnostic Tests: analysis of several recent articles on emerging research behind Alzheimer's diagnostic and prevention.

Corporate Wellness and Training

Cognitive Reserve and Intellectually Demanding Jobs: a recent study shows how "Intellectually demanding work was associated with greater benefit to cognitive performance in later life independent of related factors like education and intelligence."

Cognitive Health and Baby Boomers- 6 Points to Keep in Mind: based upon an excellent McKinsey report titled Serving Aging Baby Boomers, we discuss a variety a news articles, including interesting numbers, some bad news, and some good news.

Lifelong Learning Is Changing My Brain: Andreas, the neuroscience PhD student who spent last summer working with SharpBrains, writes some reflections on his experience and on how scientists and business professionals can learn from each other.

Brain Teasers

Traveler IQ Game: Check out this stimulating online game...

Events

Learning & The Brain Conference, February 5-7 2008, San Francisco: Sign up now for this great conference for educators who want to learn about the latest brain research findings and implications. I will be speaking at the conference giving an overview of innovative cognitive training programs. The organizers are offering a Special Discount for SharpBrains readers until January 25th 2008, so click here if interested.

If we don't talk beforehand...Happy New Year!

---------------------

You can also enjoy our previous editions of our Brain Fitness Newsletter:

- November Edition

- October Edition

- September Edition

- August Edition

- July Edition

...that understanding how our brains and minds work may contribute to all of them.

Here you have some of the best blog carnivals (collections of blog posts on specific topics) we have contributed to this week:

  • Grand Rounds: "brain exercise" is as important as nutrition, physical exercise and stress management.
  • Green Living: let's start the conversation about "sustainable brains".
  • Human Resources: isn't it obvious, yet often neglected, that "human capital" rests on brain development and learning how to learn?.
  • Brain Fitness Carnival: fully devoted to our topic.
  • Video Game Bloggers: "games" can be good vehicles for cognitive and emotional training, if properly developed and used.
  • Gene Genie: our genes are not destiny.

You can also check the Medicine 2.0 carnival that we hosted.

  

Welcome to the June 18, 2007 edition of brain fitness. We hope you will enjoy some of the great posts below! We are happy to see a broader interest in the topic since we launched the carnival in January-thanks to everyone involved.

 

Education and Professional Development

Brett Steenbarger presents a great 3-part series titled Trade Like a Scientist- The Scientific Mindset posted at TraderFeed.

Michael Krotchie presents Visualizing your way to success! posted at Tucson Real Estate News Straight From the Old Pueblo, saying, "Visualizing your way to success!"

Stephanie presents Two gifts for you on the 'net: One on NeuroLeadership and the other on storytelling posted at idealawg

Scott presents Top Five Things That Stress College Students Out posted at College and Finance.

 

Medicine

Shaheen Lakhan presents The Evidence for Neurologically Determined Anorexia Nervosa Behavioral Patterns posted at GNIF Brain Blogger.

CT Today presents Research Results: More Cognitive Therapy Studies than We can Keep Up With posted at Beck Institute's Blog

Christopher Depelteau presents Continue Reading »

Here is some recommended reading among the recent carnivals:

Enjoy!

(Blog carnivals are collections of blog articles around specific topics)

Jane hosts a great edition of the Brain Fitness blog carnival, titled Mind, Matter, Mind Over Matter with great articles on napping, exercise, multi-tasking, and more.

Two other carnivals we enjoyed much were: Tangled Bank and Entrepreneurs. Continue Reading »

A blog carnival is a collection of good blog posts around a specific topic, published usually every 2 or 4 weeks. This time many carnivals included some of our articles, so we have a longer than usual list. Take a look at the topics you may be interested in.

The first 5 carnivals did the most creative work, in our view, to display all the content: Continue Reading »

Quick reminder: next Brain Fitness Blog Carnival will be hosted by MC at Neurophilosopher on March 19th (incidentally, Alvaro's birthday).

Could you select 1-2 articles from your blog and email them to brainfitnesscarnival@sharpbrains.com or submit using the form at http://blogcarnival.com/bc/cprof_880.html by Friday?

For reference and enjoyment, you can check the 2 previous issues:

Brain Fitness Blog Carnival #2

Brain Fitness Blog Carnival #1