SharpBrains

Here you have the January edition of our monthly newsletter covering cognitive health and brain fitness topics. Please remember that you can subscribe to receive this Newsletter by email, simply by submitting your email at the top of this page.

Bird's Eye View

Brain fitness heads towards its tipping point: How do you know when something is moving towards a Gladwellian tipping point? When health insurance companies and public policy makers launch significant initiatives. Dr. Gerard Finnemore provides a market overview, based on SharpBrains' client webinar held last December.

Ten Reflections on Cognitive Health and Assessments: Here are 10 highlights from several stimulating January events:  Symposium on Adaptive Technology for the Aging (by Arizona State University), Health Bloggers' Summit (by Consumer Reports), Traumatic Brain Injury (by Veteran Affairs in Palo Alto), and a new Alzheimer's/ Dementia Expert Panel organized by the city of San Francisco.

News and Events

Nintendo Brain Age vs. Crossword Puzzles: we need much public education in order to help consumers separate reality from hope from hype. Nintendo is not helping, neither is media reporting.

Collection of recent news: including training for senior fitness trainers, reports on the importance of purpose,  on older driver safety, and more.

Upcoming events: I will be speaking soon at the New York Academy of Medicine, the American Society on Aging/ NCOA conference, and the Silvering Workforce Summit at the University of North Carolina. Let me know if you are attending any.

Education and Learning

Learning about Learning: an Interview with Joshua Waitzkin: Scott Barry Kaufman interviews "child prodigy" Joshua Waitzkin on The Art of Learning. Many fascinating insights, including "I think losing my first National Chess Championship was the greatest thing that ever happened to me, because it helped me avoid many of the psychological traps...(associated with being called a "child prodigy")".

Resources to help students build emotional intelligence: Daniel Goleman introduces educators and parents to a new book that "adds an important tool to the emotional intelligence kit: mindfulness, a moment-by-moment awareness of one's internal state and external environment."

Resources

Top 10 Cognitive Health and Brain Fitness Books: Here you have The 10 Most Popular Brain Fitness & Cognitive Health Books, based on book purchases by SharpBrains' readers during 2008.

10-Question Program Evaluation Checklist: To help consumers and professionals navigate through the growing number of programs making "brain fitness" or "brain training" claims, we published last year this Evaluation Checklist. Now we are making the Checklist available as a Bookmark given recent requests by universities and conference organizers.

Brain Teaser

Brain Teaser to Exercise your Memory and Reasoning Skills: Dr. Pascale Michelon offers a stimulating teaser that not only helps exercise our brain but also educates us on how and why the same activity may exercise different brains differently - depending on where we are from.

Here are some upcoming events I will participate in - feel free to leave a comment below or contact us if you will be attending too and want to say Hello. I really enjoy meeting SharpBrains readers!

>> January 22nd, Consumer Reports' Blogger Health Summit, NYC.

>> March 5th, New York Academy of Medicine, NYC. I will present Brain Fitness Software - Consumers Guide to distinguishing hope from hype, at the Comprehensive Approach to Dementia Symposium sponsored by Montefiore Medical Center and with credit designated by Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Will blog when their website lists the agenda and allows registration.

>> March 15-19th, ASA/ NCOA annual conference in Las Vegas. I will be presenting two sessions. Registration is open now at 2009 Aging in America Conference, but there is limited information on the sessions. Will blog when there are detailed abstracts available.

- The State of the Brain Fitness Market, 16-Mar-09, 08:00 PM - 09:30 AM

- Brain Fitness in Senior Housing: 18-Mar-09, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

The Calgary Harald and other Canadian papers bring a good article:

'Brain gyms' a new industry

I'd only add that the revenue figures suggest we are really talking about a highly-dynamic and growing "baby-market", which one day (hopefully, soon enough for all of us to benefit) will mature to become a real "industry".  We see very positive signs, but there is still a lot of (mentally stimulating) work to do.

Here you have SharpBrains' 30 most popular articles, ranked by the number of people who have read each article in 2008.

Please note that, since the first article already includes most of our most popular brain teasers, we have excluded teasers from the rest of the ranking. (If those 50 are not enough for you, you can also try these brain teasers).

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Continue Reading »

Over the next weeks we are going to be sharing the Executive Summary of our market report The State of the Brain Fitness Software Market 2008 with members and clients of several partner organizations (the British Columbia Seniors Living Association, where I will be speaking this Thursday, Neurotech Reports, where I will speak on October 24th, and the Health 2.0 conference, where we are sponsoring a panel on gaming for health), so it is only fair that we first share it with our own readers.

Executive Summary

A spate of recent global 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 an aging population, increasing prevalence of Alzheimer’s rates, and soaring health care costs in the US that place more emphasis than ever on prevention and lifestyle changes.

US brain fitness market: significant and growing

We estimate the size of the US brain fitness market was $225m in 2007 – more than double what it was in 2005. Whereas K12 school systems were the largest buyers in 2005, consumers were responsible for most of the growth from 2005 to 2007. We estimate that the consumer segment grew from a few million in 2005 to $80m in 2007, and foresee significant market growth driven not only by consumers but also by healthcare and insurance providers.

Market dynamics

As we speak to diverse audiences about this emerging field around the country we are frequently asked the following questions:

- Why are we talking about the brain fitness field at all?

Over the past decade, teams backed by neuroscientists around the world Continue Reading »

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. Continue Reading »

The August issue of Venture Capital Journal brings a very good piece on the emerging brain fitness software  (also called "neurosoftware") category: 

-- Mind Games (subscription required)

-- Dakim, Lumos Labs, Posit Science and other “brain fitness” startups are starting to gain mind share — and capital — from venture firms.

The reporter and I spoke as Lumos Labs received its $3m round, and we discussed other fundable start-ups, featuring CogniFit. Which, as mentioned over the weekend, just raised $5m.

If case you are a new SharpBrains reader, perhaps visiting us after reading this VCJ article, let me provide a quick overview of the category and our Market Report (which is annual, not quarterly as the article states):

A) Report Highlights

We estimate the size of the US brain fitness software market at $225M in 2007, up from $100m in 2005 (50% CAGR), analyzing the size and trends of four customer segments: consumers, healthcare & insurance providers, K12 school systems, and fortune 1000 companies, military, and sports teams. Two segments fueled the market growth from 2005 to 2007: consumers (grew from $5m to $80m, 300% CAGR) and healthcare & insurance providers (grew from $36m to $65m, 35% CAGR).

Ten Specific Highlights from The State of the Brain Fitness Software Market 2008 report include:

1) 2007 was a seminal year for the US Brain Fitness software market, which reached $225 million in revenues – up from an estimated $100 million in 2005.

2) Over 20 companies are offering tools to assess and train cognitive skills to four customer segments: consumers; healthcare and insurance providers; K12 school systems; and Fortune 1000 companies, the military, and sports teams.

Continue Reading »

Some recent brain training and health news:

1) A Promising Debut for Computerized Therapies

2) Fitness protects brain in Alzheimer's patients

3) Brain Fitness Program Classic comes to Mac

4) Posit Science gains ownership of Scientific Learning (NSDQ: SCIL)´s BrainConnection.

5) Brain training on your mobile 

6) You must remember this: how the mind works

Here you have the links and my commentary for these news: Continue Reading »

Busy as we have been, we only recently compiled the list of organizations who have purchased our Brain Fitness Market Report so far. We were impressed by the quality and variety represented, and the cross-sector demand for quality information in the emerging brain fitness/ cognitive health category. Seeing the list helps us prioritize efforts and coverage of market and research news and trends.

Below you have a selection of main categories, and a few selected clients:

· Research centers and universities: Harvard Medical School, US Army Research Lab, MaRS Discovery District, Oregon Center for Applied Science, University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan.

· Older adults organizations and communities: AARP, Sunrise Senior Living, Belmont Village Senior Living.

· Healthcare Providers: Sutter Health, Memorial Hospital Health System, NeuroCare Network, Mindmedi Clinic. Continue Reading »

A few recent accolades for our just released Market Report:

"An in-depth and credible market research report that provides an objective view for investors and executives looking for gaming and health opportunities in the growing "brain training" space. This report is a must-read to understand the state of the market, the players, and key trends."
-- Daniel Goldman, founder of Total Entertainment Network and former executive at Posit Science Corporation.

"This report is a must have for those in the brain health industry. Finally, an easy to use objective resource organizing the flurry of global brain health activities. The State of the Brain Fitness Software Market report not only tells the story of cognitive training and brain fitness, but provides a broad range of data allowing one to more swiftly navigate the current terrain and future landscape."
-- Debra Raybold, Director, Brain Health Center, Memorial Hospital Health System, South Bend, Indiana.

"This report is comprehensive to say the least. It provides an essential service for long term care organizations who want to provide mind-enhancing programs and services. There is a Continue Reading »