I was reading a government report on aging related statistics, and was intrigued to note that about 15% of men aged 65+ report memory loss compared with only 11% of women of the same age group and the gap widens significantly after the age of 85. So I ponder….why is it that women have a higher propensity to take preventative measures to engage in brain training at higher rate then men, with a view to staying sharp and deferring decline? So here’s a brain teaser - which is the cause and which is the effect? Interested in your thoughts…

AMERICANS may worry about heart disease, stroke and diabetes, but they downright dread Alzheimer’s disease, a recent survey found. For good reason. One in eight adults over 65 is affected by the disease.

Those who are spared know they may end up with the burden of caring for a parent or a spouse who is affected. Even though the number of older adults with dementias is rising rapidly, only a few drugs that have been approved to treat symptoms are on the market, and they slow down the disease but do not cure it. Researchers, however, are more optimistic than ever about the potential of the aging brain, because recent evidence has challenged long-held beliefs by demonstrating that the brain can grow new nerve cells and that Brain Training can be a big help. Read the informative New York Times article here…..

Here’s an article in the New York Times that suggests ways to improve our thinking. Learning new material, yoga, aerobic exercise and caffeine are all mentioned as ways to stay sharp and in tune. In addition, there’s a link to another article that explains what mental status tests are, how they are performed and what the results mean. Click here for more….

The scientific community continues to push ahead to identify the strong correlation between engaged in structured memory training and the ability to reason and to solve new problems independently (also referred to as Fluid Intelligence). The results of this important study were published on April 28th in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and are very noteworthy. An article in the New York Times describes the study, the results and the scientific conclusions.

Today we released a new version of the Happy Neuron system - 5 new games, a new personal coaching update with many custom options, easier interfaces on the games overall and a crisp new look. Check it out at here and, as always, give us your feedback by emailing us at feedback@happy-neuron.com.

I thought to share with you a recent interview with Founder Dr. Bernard Croisile, Neurologist, Neuropsychologist and Happy Neuron’s Chief Scientist, about age related brain decline and what can be done.

As we age, what issues do people most complain about?

When we age, certain cognitive difficulties are usually more annoying than really hindering. These difficulties are usually due to a greater sensitivity to interferences (noise, conversations with several persons), a lesser attention and greater amount of time to simultaneously analyze several pieces of informations (cooking and understanding a slightly technical conversation at the same time). Information processing is often more superficial, organizing and sorting data to be memorized occurs more slowly and producing mental images becomes more difficult. Hence, it can become more difficult to remember information and it takes more time to recall memories (names) or recent events (e.g. the reason why you actually went into a room).

Why should cognitive abilities be trained?

By training cognitive abilities, the difficulties we sometimes painfully experience in everyday life can be corrected. Studies have also shown that rich and varied cognitive stimulation can delay onsets of age related decline and Alzheimer’s Disease by a number years. Cognitive training consists of reinforcing brain plasticity which forms new connections between brain neurons, strengthens neural networks and, as scientists have recently discovered, regenerate new neural pathways.

How can cognitive functions be trained?

For a start, simple things such as having a rich social life, reading, doing crosswords or playing cards, cooking or gardening, already constitute natural and effective stimulation situations. Most important are variety, enthusiasm and motivation. However, one should be aware that cognitive functions cannot be trained like leg muscles. Even if playing bridge stimulates long-term memory for game rules and crosswords train word memory (spelling, definitions), playing cards will not help anyone find their keys or their car! It is therefore necessary to train all aspects of cognitive functions, especially those neglected by the routine of hobbies we are accustomed to. It should also added that training can only relevant when the lessons learned are applied to everyday life.

How often should one perform focused brain exercises?

We advise two to three training sessions a week, of about 45 minutes each, in order to maintain interest and alertness. Variety and frequency are most important.

When should one start worrying and see a doctor?

Memory difficulties occur at any age and under any circumstances: remembering a surname or a recipe, finding one’s glasses… These difficulties are just ordinary consequences of normal aging or of a fragile emotional state. Difficulties to concentrate are often due to anxiety, depression and stress. However, when aging, cultural knowledge and automatic movements (riding a bike, playing tennis, driving a car…) are not forgotten. Many of our actions are also often automatic, which explains the fact that one cannot always remember properly whether they have locked their door or not.

One should start worrying , as soon as these difficulties become a real handicap in daily life and occur repeatedly, such as people who cannot manage their schedule or budget any more, who always get lost and systematically forget what they have been told. In such a situation, one should seek medical advice to decide whether the person needs to see a neurologist or a geriatrician.

Thank you Dr. Croisile.

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Game Description
Learn to recognize bird species by their song. You’ll need to discriminate between images of different species of birds and also between different types of songs. At times, these differences may be subtle, which makes this task especially challenging.

Cognitive Function Trained
This is a cross-modal task mainly involving the right tempo-parietal regions of the brain. The purpose of this game is to draw upon our working memories of visual and auditory characteristics of each bird, to practice visual-spatial scanning of the images on the screen, and to practice concentration for this type of material. In some cases, deductive reasoning is needed in order to choose the right match, eliminating the choices that have already been made and those that are most obviously wrong.

Benefit to Daily Life
In an increasingly noisy world, the ability to detect meaningful sounds in the midst of general background noise becomes very important. Our ability to distinguish such sounds can become less precise as we age. This game helps train the characteristics necessary to stay sharp in this area.

Young brains are plastic. This means that they can change and reorganize to adapt to deficits. Is it the case for older brains as well? Recent research suggests that the answer is yes!

Dilks, from John Hopkins University, and his colleagues, studied the brain of a stroke patient (B.L.). Behavioral and brain imaging evidence showed that reorganization had occurred in B.L.’s visual cortex following his stroke. This study, published in September 2007, was the first to show plasticity in this part of the adult brain.

Evidence for plasticity in the adult brain is great news for brain fitness! Healthy and fit brains may be more plastic, and thus more resistant to deficits caused by age and age-related diseases.
So… keep exercising your brain!

Read the original article here

Just recently, we announced our partnership Prevention Magazine. Prevention is the number one healthy lifestyle magazine brand and the 10th largest magazine in the nation, with nearly 11 million readers a month. We are delighted to have such a strong endorsement for our scientifically designed games and coach. Prevention readers and online users alike can look forward to great things to evolve from the partnership. Check out the press release here….

Canadian researcher published earlier this year a study showing that people who regularly used two languages showed signs of dementia 4 years later than people who used only one language!

It looks like bilingual brains are more resistant to the effects of cognitive decline. Previous studies by the same researchers had established that bilingual people were better at paying attention and ignoring distractions. Ellen Bialystok, the lead researcher on these studies, believes that this is because bilingual people always have to decide which language to use and suppress the other. This would provide practice in focusing attention, sorting through conflicting information and ignoring distraction.

Bilingualism may delay dementia in the same way that mental activity is thought to, that is by contributing to building cognitive brain reserve. However, we don’t know yet whether the same effects would appear if you start learning a language at 50.

Read the original journal article: Neuropsychologia, Volume 45, Feb 2007, pp.459-464