Financial capacity has emerged as a key activity of daily living in understanding functional impairment and decline in patients with MCI and dementia. A new research study conducted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Alzheimer’s Disease Center has linked the decline in this activity as a possible indicator of impending Alzheimer’s disease. Read about it here.

Diabetes slows down memory loss in people with Alzheimer’s disease! Researchers conducted a 4-year study on 608 subjects with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease, out of which 63 people also had diabetes. Their memory and thinking skills were tested regularly. Those with diabetes turned out to have a slower rate of memory decline than those who “only” suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. The reason for this is not completely clear yet. It could, however, be the result of the cardiovascular medication elderly diabetics are taking, which studies have shown to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease as well as the rate of cognitive decline. Read more about it here.

You can teach an old dog new tricks, say UCLA scientists who found that middle-aged and older adults with little Internet experience were able to trigger key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning after just one week of surfing the Web.

The findings, presented Oct. 19 at the 2009 meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, suggest that Internet training can stimulate neural activation patterns and could potentially enhance brain function and cognition in older adults. It further reinforces the notion that new neural networks respond to  new and novel activities for people of any age. Read about the study findings here

Early in October a team of researchers from the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council of the University of Oxford in England, U.K. , published the results of a new study discussing how juggling and similar activities increase brain connections.

In brain scans of 48 subjects made after an extensive 6-week practice period, the researchers observed changes in regions of the brain’s white matter that are linked with reaching, grasping, and peripheral vision, independently from the acquired level of juggling skill.

These results suggest that it is not how well a person learns to do something that matters, but rather that the time spent practising and training is the key to improving the brain function. So, when engaging in such an activity as brain training, it is essential to do it over a period of time to realise the positive changes and benefits.   You can read more about the findings here.

Chemo brain is a common term used by cancer survivors to describe thinking and memory problems that can occur after cancer treatment. Chemo brain can also be called chemo fog, cognitive changes or cognitive dysfunction.

If you or someone you know has been dealing with Chemo Fog, you might refer them to a recently published book by Dan Silverman, MD, Ph.D. of UCLA and journalist, Idelle Davidson called Your Brain after Chemo. The book addresses several strategies for dealing with chemo fog.  One approach is to look at how fear, stress and depression may factor into, and potentially intensify, memory loss and other cognitive challenges.

Dealing with cancer can be one of the most difficult experiences of a person’s life — in fact the American Psychiatric Association lists the diagnosis of a life threatening illness as one criteria for identifying post-traumatic stress disorder.

So in Your Brain After Chemo, several exercises are introduced to first deal with identifying issues of fear, stress and more.  Your Brain After Chemo also offers advise for stimulating your mind and organizing your life in a  nine-step program.

HAPPYneuron’s Dr. Bernard Croisile and Scientific Brain Training’s Dr. Michel Noir have published their latest brain exercise book through education book publisher McGraw-Hill.  It is sure to get your mental wheels churning while you enjoy hours of fun. Develop a six-pack brain with more than 301 games, puzzles, and exercises that provide the ultimate mind-blowing workout and keep your brain sharp and alert.

Bench press your brain into shape…
» Stretch and warm up your concentration
» Perform brain curls for increased attention span and sharper focus
» Bulk up on memory power
» Increase your mental reps and ward off brain decline.

Click here to get your copy of Beef Up Your Brain now!

See all 5 Brain Exercise books from Drs. Croisile and Noir.

A new study suggests that the ability to perceive relationships between objects (visual spatial skills) may decline up to 3 years before a person is formally diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.  Read more in this Health Day article

Unbelievable for some, but true:  Apparent smarts makes men more attractive in women’s eyes!

Scientists from Elon University  conducted a study on female  students, asking them to choose the most desirable males from videos showing them accomplishing athletic and cognitive tasks. It turned out that the women picked those men who appeared the most intelligent!  It makes for very interesting reading here…

Is it true? What do you think?

Nobel Prize winner for physics Charles Kao Kuen said he finds communication hard because of Alzheimer’s disease. In an interview with KTSF 26, a Chinese-language TV station serving Northern California, Kao, 75, said he sometimes finds it difficult to talk…… more

Common mental conditions like depression affect our cognitive abilities, most notably working memory and attention, and can contribute to the difficulty of coping and being effective in our every day jobs and life. Depressed individuals must engage more brainpower to achieve the same results as someone without depression. This places heavy demands on the brain’s resources and may result in progressive brain exhaustion. This can lead to noticeable cognitive deficits.
This year the theme of the World Mental Health Day on October 10th is “Mental Health in Primary Care Medicine: Enhancing Treatment and Promoting Mental Health“. Through emphasizing the benefits of enhancing mental health in primary care medical settings, notable changes can be made in the early recognition and treatment of common conditions like depression. We applaud the work of the World Federation of Mental Health in promoting the importance of early detection and treatment. The economic and social costs of not doing so are enormous.

The World Federation for Mental Health started World Mental Health Day in 1992 with the aim to promote public awareness of mental health and illness. To find out more about World Mental Health Day, click here…