I am leaving for two scientific meeting early tomorrow morning (spread over 2 weeks). I am giving a talk in Toronto, and will do my best to swallow as much information as possible at the annual society for neuroscience meeting where 32,000 neuroscientists gather for 5 jam-packed crazy days to pick and choose among 15,000…
Category: brain fitness
brain fitness, brain hack, brain health
Is surfing the net better for your brain than reading?
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Is web surfing good for your brain health? Many of you reading this might be happy to hear the results of this new study as reported at esciencenews. The researchers at UCLA (in press at American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry) compared reading and surfing the internet in 25 subjects between 55 and 76 years old.…
brain fitness, exercise, neuroeconomics
How saving money is different, but also similar, to your exercise investment
by Ward • • 0 Comments
You might be scratching your head over my title but hopefully it will make sense at the end. We all now the importance of exercise for both our body and mental health. You can’t go a week or so without hearing about the latest research that provides evidence for what we all know at a…
brain fitness, brain health, enriched environment, exercise
How a road trip is good for your brain health
by Ward • • 2 Comments
Taking a road trip, or most other forms of travel for that matter, is good for your brain health because you are constantly exposed to novelty (assuming you don’t keep on taking the same trip). And we know from previous research (see this post on enriched environment) that novelty increases brain health by promoting neurogenesis.…
brain fitness, brain hack, neuroeconomics
Rise of obesity and rise of consumer debt – a link?
by Ward • • 6 Comments
Through my various scattered readings I thought I had found a link between obesity and going into debt due to neuro-chemical changes in the brain. Two new reports prompted me to re-ponder the link at the population level between the rise of obesity and the rise of consumer debt. CDC (center of disease control and…
brain fitness, brain health, enriched environment, exercise
Combining exercise and an enriched environment: walking book club
by Ward • • 3 Comments
In previous posts (here, here, here, here) I have explained how the two simplest things you can do for better brain and body health is live in an enriched environment (new learning, novelty, etc), and exercise. But we all are limited by time. That is why I was quite excited by a post by Alvaro…
brain fitness
New neurons: video
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Here is a short video of an example of new neurons in adult mammals found on youtube. And you will find here an article on a new technique that allowed scientist to visualize new neurons in humans – impressive. What are you going to do today to promote neurogenesis and brain health?
brain fitness, brain health, exercise
New neurons for better brain health: neurogenesis
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Image via Wikipedia Now you might ask what good does all this exercise and enriched environment (novelty) really do for my brain health and fitness? One thing that these two brain hacks increases is the birth of new neurons. Yes, new neurons. The old dogma back when I started my undergraduate degree was that in…
brain fitness, brain hack, exercise
Baby steps up stairs for better brain health
by Ward • • 0 Comments
What are some of the baby steps we can all take to increase our brain health? I have told you that simple exercise and exposing yourself to new things (enriched environment) will improve your brain health in numerous ways. However, too many of us balk at implanting either of these because we do not think…
brain fitness, Uncategorized
A new environment: introduction to hormesis for brain health
by Ward • • 0 Comments
After driving many miles through America and paying high gas prices I arrived at my new location. An entire new environment for me. A hotter, drier climate is the opposite of my previous location. Additionally, now I live at roughly a mile (1610 meters) above sea level, which is fairly high when you compare it…