Getting and Keeping Our Cognitive Functioning

mars · Post by **mars** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:48 am

Hi All

Just came across this -

http://www.sharpbrains.com/

It has a lot of information in it, most of us should find something of interest

cheers

Mars

Edit - A review of the latest sharpbrains posting -

In function, and even pathology, the brain is an incredible thing.

Modern medicine continues to make new discoveries about how the human brain works and how best to preserve knowledge and memory. Indeed, one of the fastest growing areas of neuroscience is in the field of "cognitive fitness."

To help navigate the field, consider a visit to SharpBrains. Founded by Alvaro Fernandez and Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg, SharpBrains, the company, is a market research and advisory services firm covering the growing cognitive-fitness market. SharpBrains, the Website, offers educational blogs and tools to help keep the brain in good working order.

The site offers brain teasers, interviews with prominent neuroscientists, and a glossary of cognitive terms, among other resources.
SharpBrains hosts Grand Rounds
on October 20, 2009.

Brain fitness is expected to become increasingly important as the world faces an aging population and a predicted rise in cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer's. There is good evidence that cognitive exercises and activities help stave off dementias and memory loss.

As published in the SharpBrains blog entry "Education AND Lifelong Cognitive Activities Build Cognitive Reserve and Delay Memory Loss", cognitive training is now considered a part of healthy aging:

[F]or every "activity day" (participation in one activity for one day a week) the subjects engaged in, they delayed for about two months the onset of rapid memory loss associated with dementia. Interestingly, the positive effect of brain-stimulating activities in this study appeared to be independent of a person's level of education.

This is great news as it suggests that it is never too late to try to build up brain reserve. The more brain stimulating activities one does and the more often, the better for a stronger cognitive reserve

The cognitive reserve hypothesis suggests that individuals with more cognitive reserve can experience more Alzheimer's disease pathology in the brain (more plaques and tangles) without developing Alzheimer's disease symptoms.

Recently, Mr. Fernandez and Dr. Goldberg collaborated on a printed version of their research. As testament to the popularity of the subject, The SharpBrain's Guide to Brain Fitness: 18 Interviews with Scientists, Practical Advice, and Product Reviews, To Keep Your Brain Sharp has broken the top 10 on Amazon in the preventative health category.

cheers

Mars

JohnBFisher · Post by **JohnBFisher** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:35 am

Careful! If too many people find out we can sharpen our brains, we might not be allowed to take them aboard that next flight we take. As it is, too many political and religious organizations ask us to check them at the door!

katcw · Post by **katcw** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:46 am

Good article. Thanks!

mars · Post by **mars** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:07 am

JohnBFisher wrote:Careful! If too many people find out we can sharpen our brains, we might not be allowed to take them aboard that next flight we take. As it is, too many political and religious organizations ask us to check them at the door!

I suspect I checked my brains in when I was about 11.

Since then I have been through so many damned doors that I cannot find the one where I checked in my brains.

After 12 months of compliance, and activity on this Forum, I suspect a few new neural pathways have been created .

But I still wish I could find that damned door.

Mars

Neural pathways are explained at -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_pathway

You may need to magnify the following link -

http://www.fphcare.com/userfiles/file/O ... 045154.pdf

a quote from the above link -

Memory Consolidation -

• In adults, the main function of REM sleep is believed to be the creation and maintenance of
memories
• In infancy, REM is believed to be crucial to the establishment of neural pathways (‘learning’).
Infants spend 50% of their sleep time (up to 8 hours a day) in REM sleep

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:08 pm

Thanks for the link, Mars.
O.

JohnBFisher · Post by **JohnBFisher** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 2:41 pm

First thanks for the great links. I love to learn more about how our brains (should) work. I tend to see and understand how "systems" work, and our brains are MARVELOUS examples of interoperating systems designed to provide us control and interaction with the world.

Just a quick note about the one quote:

mars wrote:... In adults, the main function of REM sleep is believed to be the creation and maintenance of
memories ...

This is an older theory about REM sleep. While still valid, it is now believed REM sleep continues to be involved in the development of neural pathways. In fact studies have shown that without REM sleep (due to a few poor folks who suffered this type of problem) the outcome is bad - death!! (Of course, I've seen other studies that seem to refute those results). If true, by simple deduction we can reason that REM sleep provides us more function than just creation and maintenance of memories.

I suspect it will be another 20 to 30 years before the various stages of sleep are much better understood. We need to better map the interdependance of the brain systems before we can monitor how sleep impacts / improves those systems. We spend a lot of time asleep. There must be a substantial benefit to offset the potential danger it presents to us.

mars · Post by **mars** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:15 pm

JohnBFisher wrote:

mars wrote:... In adults, the main function of REM sleep is believed to be the creation and maintenance of
memories ...

This is an older theory about REM sleep. While still valid, it is now believed REM sleep continues to be involved in the development of neural pathways.

Hi John

I agree entirely. Although I did not want to add my personal thoughts on the content of the link I did think that OSA probably retarded my brain development to some degree, and that cpap therapy might be like picking up from where I left off when OSA started. You could say like going back to a child-like brain state ( with all the adult stuff tacked on here and there). So I too thought that, given those circumstances, then REM sleep may well still be facilitating new neural pathways.

And, of course, creating new neural pathways is a major function of one of my favourite therapies - Rational-Emotive Therapy, which I studied many years ago, and still use when I need to. I found out on this Forum that RET is now under the umbrella of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, whereas in my day, CBT was generally considered a part of RET.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_e ... or_therapy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_ ... al_therapy

Still, the creation of new neural pathways is what we are after, and CBT, brain exercises, cpap therapy and REM sleep is the way to go.

And, of course, some good discussions on this Forum.

cheers

Mars

Edited to fix spelling mistakes

JohnBFisher · Post by **JohnBFisher** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:17 pm

mars wrote:
JohnBFisher wrote:
mars wrote:... In adults, the main function of REM sleep is believed to be the creation and maintenance of memories ...
This is an older theory about REM sleep. While still valid, it is now believed REM sleep continues to be involved in the development of neural pathways.
... I did not want to add my personal thoughts on the content of the link ...

Well, your experience and thoughts actually are valuable. You can certainly provide ancedotal evidence - as long as you note that it is ancedotal.

For example, I know that my brain is wired to see the world systemically, be very intuitive (taking wild leaps from little data to an answer) and be fairly creative. (Trust me ... there are LOTS of downsides in how my brain works. I do NOT remember details. I do not remember dates. My memories get crunched together ... so I don't remember details that others do. Fortunately, I have a VERY understanding wife! )

But I know - from my experience - that I need to "feed" my brain. It takes good sleep and it takes stories and new experiences. With LOTS of high quality input (stories, music, new problems, new technical skills to learn), and with LOTS of good sleep / dreams, I leap forward. Starve either ... and I flounder.

That's just ancedotal. But I suspect if we think about it, we will realize we tend to have the most active dreams when we are also most active mentally.

Anyway, thanks for the pointers.

mars · Post by **mars** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:00 am

Hi All

The following link was first mentioned by Raj on the thread -

gabapentin for migraines - other SDB considerations
which is at -
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=48660&p=444410&hili ... ty#p444410

A friend of mine has just put me put me on to this link, which I missed before because I did not read that particular thread. Maybe others missed it also, so here it is.

http://www.lumosity.com

It looks good

cheers

Mars

BlackSpinner · Post by **BlackSpinner** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 11:34 am

Another link about recovery

http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_tay ... sight.html

She has a great book out by the same title.

I have been quite amazed at how well I have recovered. Learning new programming concepts, remembering formats, speed of coding are all back to normal (for me). My ability to speak more then one language also improved.

Now I am job hunting again - scary but I feel capable of doing new things again. The only hang over seems to be anxieties - old emotional thought patterns.

mars · Post by **mars** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 6:29 am

Hi BlackSpinner

That is an amazing talk that Dr Jill Bolte gives on the link you posted above.

She explains an awful lot in a short time. And made me want to know more.

And what an interesting concept of Nirvana, which, if there is to be any truth about it, must come from within.

Thank you BlackSpinner, for a great link

cheers

Mars

BlackSpinner · Post by **BlackSpinner** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 7:11 am

mars wrote:Hi BlackSpinner

That is an amazing talk that Dr Jill Bolte gives on the link you posted above.

She explains an awful lot in a short time. And made me want to know more.

And what an interesting concept of Nirvana, which, if there is to be any truth about it, must come from within.

Thank you BlackSpinner, for a great link

cheers

Mars

Someone send it to me after my mother had a series of mini strokes. It and her book helped me a lot with coming to terms with the whole situation - as well as talking to a therapist.

mars · Post by **mars** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 8:46 pm

Hi All

A lot of newcomers to the Forum recently, so I have bumped up this thread so that the newcomers can know about this. So my suggestion is to read from the beginning, not just this post.

And the latest -

The Lumosity Brain Grade Test -

http://www.braingradetest.com/brain-gra ... .bbc.co.uk

and for good measure I will throw in -

From BBC Health -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11537068

cheers

Mars

kteague · Post by **kteague** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 9:48 pm

Mars, have you taken the linked Brain Grade Test? I'm just wondering if they ask general lifestyle questions or if it is some measure of cognition.

cwied · Post by **cwied** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:05 pm

kteague wrote:Mars, have you taken the linked Brain Grade Test? I'm just wondering if they ask general lifestyle questions or if it is some measure of cognition.

It's just general lifestyle questions.

It seems to be a hook to get you to register for their subscription service.

Getting and Keeping Our Cognitive Functioning

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