“Chemobrain” or “chemofog” is a condition that affects cancer survivors who have undergone chemotherapy. Dozens of studies have shown that post-chemotherapy, patients may experience a decline in cognitive performance and memory, and many doctors have long believed chemobrain to be a significant problem for cancer patients. (To learn more about chemobrain, I recommend this in-depth article.) Despite this [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Last week I wrote about some very healthy, happy centenarians and talked about a recent study on people aged 100+ that found some commonalities across those living long and well. Today I saw that Dr. Mark Lachs has just come out with a new book called Treat Me, Not My Age which purports to give [...]

A study showing that people who retire earlier have lower performance on cognitive tests. This is another piece of evidence that leading a brain-healthy lifestyle improves cognitive abilities later in life.

2:00 PM: We are wrapping up. Thank you to everyone who attended the webinar and followed along here. We will be posting a video of the webinar on our website next week. Special thanks to Dr. Rourke, Maggie Atkinson, and Greg Robinson for your contributions. In closing, Dr. Rourke recommends an article by Maggie in [...]

The brain fitness market has expanded rapidly in recent years, and there is now a large selection of computer and on-line brain training exercises to choose from. At one end of the spectrum are games that are purely for entertainment purposes. At the other end are exercises that have been scientifically validated in clinical trials. [...]

We’ve all been there: you’re having a casual, run-of-the-mill conversation, and all of a sudden you just… can’t… quite… think of… the… umm… hoo boy. At this point, you may try to make a joke to play off the situation, and if you’re of a certain age, that joke probably involves the phrase “senior moment” [...]

April is Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month. As you’re probably aware, Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a degenerative, progressive brain disease that mainly affects movement, causing tremors, balance problems, rigidity, or slow movements. You may not know that PD can also manifest other debilitating symptoms, including cognitive impairment, insomnia, depression, anxiety, and a host of ophthalmological abnormalities. [...]