The Alliance for Aging Research is encouraging Americans to boost their brain health.

“There is a lot we can do to keep our brains healthy and potentially prevent or lessen the cognitive decline that often comes with aging,” Daniel Perry, executive director of the nonprofit Alliance for Aging Research”

You can see the full article here

Here is another report that links exercise and the brain.

“Physical activity may be beneficial to cognition during early and middle periods of the human lifespan and may continue to protect against age-related loss of cognitive function during older adulthood”.

You can see this story in full here 

Here is a great new study that supports what we are doing at Happy Neuron.

Certain mental exercises can offset some of the expected decline in older adults’ thinking skills and show promise for maintaining cognitive abilities needed to do everyday tasks such as shopping, making meals and handling finances, according to a new study.

You can read the complete article here

There is an article on Happyneuron.com over at KillerAPP.com.

“You can’t just practice the mental skills you’re good at, according to Happy Neuron. You need to practice a broad range of skills — memory, attention, language, executive functions (logic, problem solving, etc.) and spatial and visual skills. The site offers games in each category so that you can develop a balanced workout.”

Read the full piece here

Associated Press writer looks at brain work-outs on the web. Special attention is made to our www.happyneuron.com site and the article acknowledges the richness of our site compared to other online brain work-outs. It also states that mental calisthenics are good for you.

In other words, rigorous mental activity appears to be good for brain health, and, as a result, doctors are starting to reccomend mental calisthenics. But as with heart-disease or cancer prevention methods, nothing is foolproof.

You can read more here 

Following the success of Nintendo’s Brain Age, mobile publisher Digital Chocolate is releasing Brain Juice–a series of ‘casual games’ for your brain.

Juice your brain with three fun, brain-stimulating modes! Boost your brain with mind blowing Mini Games that give your brain a well-deserved workout! Timed Mini Games include Quick Math, Path Memorization, Color Counting and more! Track your daily progress and challenge up to three friends at the same time in the ultimate battle of the minds! (more)

Some reviews suggest however, that the games may not completely reach their goal.

Not only does boredom set in after the first couple of days, the exercises come down to your dexterity with your phone’s keypad as much as they do to the power of your brain.

A practice game mode enables you to try your hand at any of the challenges you’ve unlocked so far, but with the results not counting toward your brain wattage, it adds little interest. The multiplayer mode wears thin just as quickly. There’s just no incentive to keep going.

Still, the casual game category will be one to watch–both online and on mobile in the coming years–as it often finds success with audiences who don’t enjoy the traditional ‘gamer’ style console and handheld games.

[More on Digital Chocolate and the casual game market via Australian IT magazine.]