An Australian study recently released a shocking finding: every hour of television a person watches shortens their life by an average of 22 minutes. Looking at the behavior of 11,000 participants, the Queensland scientists found that people who watched around 6 hours of TV each day lived an average of almost 5 years less than [...]

1. Life Gets Better After Age 50 (Really!)
2. Early Results: European Study Combines Exercise and Brain Training for Memory
3. Having Correctly Prescribed Glasses Improves Quality of Life

Ed. Note: To coincide with Independence Day celebrations, we’re offering an educational 4-part series “Saluting our Soldiers.” We’re taking a closer look at the mental health issues facing today’s soldiers and veterans—and sharing the latest research news affecting military personnel. Overview: Official military figures report that about 115,000 troops have experienced a traumatic brain injury [...]

1. Saluting our Soldiers Series: Part 4 – Cognition and Combat
2. Saluting our Soldiers Series: Part 1 – Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
3. Saluting our Soldiers Series: Part 3 – Mental Health & Older Veterans

I’ve just gotten back from a very exciting scientific meeting in Greece (yes, the life of a brain scientist occasionally has its perks!) I had the opportunity to visit our collaborators in the Long-Lasting Memories consortium. This research group, with members in Greece, Spain, Austria, France, and Cyprus, is working to develop a combined brain [...]

1. BBC Study on Brain Training in Nature Magazine: BBC Brain Training Program Does Not Work
2. Our Brain Awareness Q&A Session on Movement, Exercise, and the Brain with Dr. G
3. Our Brain Awareness Session on Brain Plasticity & Brain Fitness with Dr. Michael Merzenich

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, debilitating disease that attacks the neurological system, affecting both body and brain function. A recent study of Canadian MS  patients revealed that fewer than half of them consistently use MS medications for 2+ years.  The drugs, known as DMDs (disease-modifying drugs) have been proven to slow the progress of [...]

1. Live Blogging the SharpBrains Summit – Day 2
2. Chemobrain and cognitive training
3. HIV-Related Cognitive Decline – Webinar with Dr. Sean Rourke

A few days ago, we hosted a Q&A session on Facebook about brain plasticity and brain fitness with Posit Science founder Dr. Michael Merzenich. For those who missed the discussion and prefer to read it in transcript form, I’ve re-posted it here. Question: I would love to know what Dr. Merzenich thinks about brain plasticity [...]

1. Evaluating Brain Fitness Programs – Which Should I Choose?
2. Our Brain Awareness Session on Brain Foods with Karen Merzenich
3. Our Brain Awareness Q&A Session on Movement, Exercise, and the Brain with Dr. G

I have a dog named Easy. He’s quite handsome, as you can see in this picture. According to a new study, he might also be my “secret weapon” to healthier living–as long as I walk him on a regular basis. In the study, researchers from Michigan State University investigated whether walking a dog is a [...]

1. Physical Pain and Emotional Pain
2. An Everyday Example of Brain Fitness
3. Our Brain Awareness Session on Brain Plasticity & Brain Fitness with Dr. Michael Merzenich

A few weeks ago, we hosted an excellent Q&A session on Facebook about movement, exercise, and the brain. Movement specialist M.A. Greenstein, PhD, aka Dr. G, answered people’s questions and I think we all learned a lot! For those who missed the discussion and prefer to read it in transcript form, I’ve re-posted it here. [...]

1. Our Brain Awareness Session on Brain Plasticity & Brain Fitness with Dr. Michael Merzenich
2. Early Results: European Study Combines Exercise and Brain Training for Memory
3. Our Brain Awareness Q&A Session on Music and the Brain with Kimberly Sena Moore

Ed. Note: this article is cross-posted on Dr. Merzenich’s blog On The Brain. I had the great pleasure of visiting a wonderful research team studying the neurological origins and treatment of tinnitus at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis last week.  About 30 million U.S. citizens have tinnitus (chronic, persistent ringing in the ears).  For [...]

1. Tinnitus, Music, and Brain Plasticity
2. Tinnitus: A Special Example of a Failure Mode for your Plastic Brain
3. Chemobrain and cognitive training

As if you needed yet another reason to fear high cholesterol and high blood pressure: a new study has shown that people with elevated cholesterol and blood pressure in middle age exhibit more problems with their memories as they age, as compared to people with good cardiovascular health. The study was conducted in nearly 5,000 [...]

1. Barbara Strauch Speaks on the Middle Aged Brain
2. This is Your Brain on… Bacon?!?
3. Nuts For Brain Health!

Time Magazine got it wrong.  Naming Mark Zuckerberg “Person of the Year” is okay but a better choice would have been the first Boomer to turn 65 in 2011.  That person, whomever he or she may be, is literally at the forefront of a tsunami that will change our world. NPR reported this morning that [...]

1. Boomer Coverage, Continued
2. The Coming Costs of Alzheimer’s
3. Why isn’t brain health top of mind?