Fit Brains - Guilt Free Fun!

We have no cure or perfect prevention against progressive dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, research over the past decade or more has established consistent links between lifestyle and the ability to delay the onset of such dementias. I have proposed a “Brain Health Lifestyle” to include five major factors: (1) physical activity, (2) mental stimulation, (3) socialization, (4) nutrition, (5) and spirituality.

 A recent interview on ABC News suggested that physical exercise may be the best means of preventing AD today, better than medications, intellectual activity, and supplements. Studies on mice bred to develop plaques in their brains consistent with AD were exposed to an exercise regimen or not. Those mice that exercised had 50 to 80 percent less plaque than the brains of mice that were passive. Other studies have demonstrated generation of new brain cells in animals that exercise and a relationship in humans between physical exercise and increased cognitive performance.

One important point is that our body does not operate in a fragmented manner. I describe the brain and body as a miraculous symphony. One system directly impacts another and both health and disease effects can be experienced as a result throughout the body. Exercise is one example of a behavior that has positive impact on multiple systems of the body including the brain. The same can be said for the other four brain health lifestyle behaviors noted above.

 While I am not yet sure that any one behavior such as exercise is better than another in promoting brain health, I do champion regular exercise as a very important behavior with positive brain health effects. My view is to approach brain health from an integrated manner using the five part brain health lifestyle. This approach fits with the complex integrated reality of our bodies and brains.

Everyone experiences moments when we feel sluggish or perhaps hyperactive. Sometimes our brains feel like they are stuck in mud while other times we can solve almost any problem we confront. Interestingly, these cycles of mental energy or arousal may occur within a 24 hour time period, our circadian rhythm.

Some of us have our creative time or the time we perform best mentally in the morning hours. Others have their greatness expressed in the evening hours. There is no right versus wrong, simply different. Some people who work after midnight or in a mine shaft that has no natural light can experience a different circadian rhythm than those who work during the day and have exposure to natural sunlight. Sleep disorders, depression, and cognitive problems can result from altered sleep wake cycles.

There is no clear explanation for when arousal is highest in some and lowest for others. Some factors that can enhance or reduce mental energy or arousal include the following:

•  Amount of daily exercise
• Amount of sleep in 24 hours
• Types of foods consumed
• Water intake and hydration
• Exposure to sunlight
• Prescribed Medication and substance abuse
• Mental challenge during the day

One of the best methods to increase mental energy is to increase blood flow to the brain through movement. This can include a brisk walk, aerobics, swimming, and even a dance. Fresh air can also rejuvenate a sluggish brain and increase water intake to remain hydrated during the day. Sugar can put the brain to sleep in some cases or make it feel like a good nap is needed. Caffeine can provide a quick boost, but may result in a type of mental crash later in the day.

 It is a good idea to first identify what periods of the day your brain is alert and productive and when it is sluggish. Try to identify what factors might be causing the onset of sluggishness and consider the tips suggested above.

A mentally alert brain is critical to health and to productivity.

The human brain left to its own would likely create in unthinkable ways. Creativity most likely occurs when structure is limited and free flow of cognition can take place. It is suggested that Einstein’s most creative moments occurred when he took his morning walk or bike ride.

 Recent research suggests creativity relates to advanced age. It is important to note that older brains tend to lose a disproportionate number of brain cells in the frontal lobe, the area of the brain that helps to impose structure in our lives and perhaps on our thinking. With less capacity to impose structure, creativity may be unleashed.

 Given this, it is interesting to consider how much brain expression our world suppresses. Our classrooms impose enormous structure as do our jobs. We are highly routinized animals and probably rely as much on our subcortical brain regions as we do our cortex. We tend to refrain from new experiences or pathways to a similar endpoint. We also do not free our brains from structure long enough to express creativity.

 It is important to provide your brain with some time to simply think or exist without any task to be completed. Such time may help the brain express itself in ways it otherwise cannot. One prescription is to give your self 30 minutes a day of quiet or idle time. Einstein used such time to take a walk or ride a bike. By releasing structural restraints on your brain, you may create an entire new reality and future for your self and for others.

Physical Activity

Our last blog on brain health discussed the importance of mental stimulation as one factor in my five factor brain health lifestyle. Clearly FitBrains provides a fun and healthy activity that is considered mentally stimulating.

Similar to mental stimulation, your brain appreciates it when you are physically active. The reason is simple: every time your heart beats 25% of the blood output from that one heartbeat goes directly to your brain! I refer to this as “market share.” If your brain goes even several minutes without sufficient blood and the oxygen carried by the blood will suffer potential damage with functional and cognitive loss.

Research highlights specific physical activities that reduce the risk of dementia (promote brain health). These include:

• Walking on a daily basis
• Aerobic exercise three times a week
• Dance
• Knitting
• Gardening
• Jogging
• Treadmill, Stepmaster, Stationary bike exercises
• Write with the non-dominant hand daily

Interestingly these activities employ both sides of the body, thereby stimulating both sides of the brain. An ambidextrous brain is probably a more adaptive brain than one that is highly specialized in one hemisphere.

Remember, the more active you are the more your brain will be nourished with the blood-glucose and oxygen it demands. You will have a happy brain!

Health and healthy lifestyles have become a priority in the lives of more people than ever before. Millions of people walk or jog, engage in formal exercise, meditate, and abide by healthy diets all to maximize the healthy of their bodies. Interestingly, our culture, like so many before, prioritizes the health of the heart as most important. Indeed, the Egyptian royalty were buried with every organ removed except the heart because they believed the heart was the center of the universe.

We in the United States continue to prioritize the heart, a pump that perfuses blood throughout our body. We provide meaning and import to the heart it really does not deserve. For example, we ascribe love and emotion to the heart as when we say “I love you with all my heart or you broke my heart.” While common prose, it is really a silly statement. It is time to realize that our every thought, emotion, and motor behavior is due to the miraculous system of the human brain.

With recent research supporting the human brain as a highly dynamic, constantly reorganizing system (plasticity) capable of generating new brain cells and brain reserve, we are now able to apply a lifestyle that promotes health for the brain. Perhaps one of the greatest paradoxes of our time is the fact that most do not even know the basics of this critical part of our being-our brain!

Brain Health is important because our commitment to a lifelong lifestyle that promotes development of brain reserve can enhance our ability to maintain our thinking abilities, our memory, and our “life story.” Many Americans are afraid of brain disease and fear losing their memory. Brain health is a proactive and positive means to do what is in our control to maximize and preserve our brain function.

I have proposed and published a “Brain Health Lifestyle” that is proactive and contains five major factors to form your Brain Health Pie:

• Physical Activity
• Mental Stimulation
• Spirituality
• Nutrition
• Socialization

Together, these five components each have specific research-based activities that relate to brain health and development of brain reserve. FitBrains provides opportunity for mental exercise that is considered important to the mental stimulation piece of the brain health pie. I will outline each of the five major components to your brain health lifestyle in upcoming blogs.

Hello!  My name is Mark Baxter, and I am a Co-founder and the Vice President of Product Development here at Fit Brains.  I have a background in Psychology and have over 8 years of experience in the Games & New Media Industry creating top-quality games for broad audiences, including several hit titles on entertainment portals including Shockwave, Yahoo! and RealArcade.

I will be regularly blogging on a variety of perspectives related to Health and Entertainment, with a significant focus on Brain Fitness.  As such, I will be exploring topics relating to Psychology & Mental Wellness, ‘Serious’ & ‘Casual’ Gaming, and Online Social Communities.  Serious Games – defined as interactive content that uses entertainment for the purpose of education and/or training – has only recently gained wider acceptance with the advent of industry gatherings like the Serious Games Initiative in 2002.  This genre is growing quickly and covers a wide range of topics, including: education, corporate training, health and environmental awareness, to name just a few.

Increasingly our society is becoming aware of a concept that has long been at the foundation of effective children’s education: fun can be a great motivator for learning and growth!  Fortunately, at Fit Brains we very much believe that the value of fun as a motivator applies to adults as well.  If we can make important aspects of our daily routine more accessible and engaging, we are more likely to do things we might not be as motivated to do – especially items like long-term health goals that are often difficult to maintain.

For instance, do you have greater interest in enjoyable physical activities like golf or rollerblading, or a prescribed fitness regimen?  Are you more likely to stick to a diet with food that’s healthy but bland, or food that’s healthy and tastes good?  For most, the answers to these questions are self-evident; any task that can be made more enjoyable will also be easier to integrate more consistently into our daily lives.  In the coming weeks and months, I will be exploring a variety of ways that Serious Games are gaining mainstream acceptance, and also take a look at the growing body of research that demonstrates their value in our everyday lives.

We believe that entertainment is a great motivational tool for healthy living.  Our goal is to provide you with a wide variety of entertaining games & activities that have a solid foundation in cognitive science.  At Fit Brains, we harness the power of FUN to help you keep your mind healthy and sharp!

More and more we hear and read about the supposed powers of mental exercise. While this seems to make sense it is natural to wonder how and why a “brain workout” is beneficial.

We have learned within the past decade that the human brain has the ability to generate new brain cells (neurogenesis). The hippocampus, a structure that lies deep in the middle of each temporal lobe and serves functions of memory, learning, and spatial representation, is the site of such neurogenesis. Interestingly, this is the exact site of neurogenesis established in rodents in the 1950s. There appears to be something critically important about the hippocampus with regard to new brain cell development.

Similar to rodent brains the human brain reacts to environmental input in generally predictable ways. Damaging, punishing, and negative input can do structural and functional damage to the hippocampus. In contrast, positive, nurturing, and stimulating input can help to foster structural and functional enhancements. As we noted earlier on this blog, the human brain seeks and enjoys mental stimulation and exposure to the “novel and complex.”

A daily brain workout can help to provide the brain (cortex) the stimulation it seeks. Environments that are considered complex and novel by your brain will provide the most benefit particularly when compared to input that is rote and passive. Daily brain workouts that challenge the cortex will also help to build new cellular connections (synapses) that in turn reflect “brain reserve.” Recall, brain reserve is believed to delay the onset of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s Disease.

One of the greatest fears of the baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, is the loss of memory and onset of dementia. A proactive approach to try and delay the onset of such loss and disease is a lifelong brain health lifestyle, part of which includes daily exposure to the novel and complex. The Brain Health Workout makes good sense so get started today!!

Here is part 2 to the inital brain health blog from Dr. Nussbaum.

 Your Brain Health

1. Brain health begins in the womb and needs to be promoted across your lifespan.

2. Engage in the novel and complex not the rote and passive.

3.Consider the following Brain Health Lifestyle to build up your brain reserve:

Five Domains of the Brain Health Lifestyle: Socialization 

• Do not isolate or segregate as you get older. People who isolate have a higher risk for dementia.

• Join groups and social organizations in your community.

• Maintain and build your friendship and family network.

• Be forgiving.

• Develop hobbies.

• Do not retire.

Physical Activity

• Walk between 7,000 and 12,000 steps daily. Walking several times a week reduces the risk of dementia.

• Buy yourself a pedometer to remind yourself to walk and to keep track of your daily steps.

• Dance as this is a behavior that reduces the risk of dementia.

• Garden and Knitting reduce the risk of dementia.

• Aerobic exercise will help the heart and thereby feed the brain with the necessary blood and oxygen. It also promotes cognitive functioning such as memory and is now believed to relate to positive structural changes in the brain.

• Use both sides of your body more often: Become ambidextrous.

Mental Stimulation

• Learn a second language.

• Read and write (use your nondominant hand) on a daily basis: the more complex the better.

• Learn sign language as it increases IQ and increased IQ reduces the risk of dementia.

• Play board games as board game playing reduces the risk of dementia.

• Travel reduces the risk of dementia because it involves a new and complex environment.

• Play a musical instrument.

• Listen to classic music as it helps to increase learning.

• Problem solve.

Spirituality

• Pray on a daily basis as it enhances your immune system.

• Attend regularly a formal place of worship at it relates to better quality of life and longevity.

• Learn to meditate in order to slow down. Animals exposed to environments that are too stimulating demonstrate slowed brain development.

• Learn relaxation procedures with deep breathing and muscle relaxation.

• Slow down and do not be afraid to say “no”.

Nutrition

• Eat 80% of what you intend to eat at each meal. Reasonable caloric restriction can increase your longevity.

• Eat with utensils and you will eat less and also eat healthier foods.

• Increase your intake of Omega 3 fatty acids. This includes fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, and herring. Several ounces of salmon weekly reduce the risk of dementia. Walnuts and unsalted nuts are also good for you.

• Increase your intake of antioxidants. This includes Vitamins C and E. Colored fruits (grapes, apples, cantaloupe, and berries) and vegetables are good for you. The FDA recommends five servings of fruit and vegetables a day.

• Decrease your intake of processed foods and red meats. Lean meat such as chicken breast without skin is relatively okay.

• Green leafy vegetables are good for you.

• Eat one sit down meal with others a day. This activity provides many brain boosting effects at once (classic music, language, eating with utensils, slowing down, eating healthier foods).

Hello, I am Dr. Paul Nussbaum, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Fit Brains, and I am happy to introduce myself to the Ft Brains’ community.  My background is in clinical neuropsychology, and I specialize in brain health and aging across the lifespan.  Currently, I maintain an Adjunct Associate Professorship in Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

This is my first posting, and I will be bogging weekly.  In the days to come, I plan on covering many subjects in the area of brain health.  Today’s blog will be the first part in this series.

Your Brain Health 

The single greatest system ever designed in the history of the universe is your brain. Your brain is responsible for your every thought, emotion, and behavior. Unfortunately we humans do not know much about our brains and it is time to change that.

Brain Basics: 

1. Your brain weighs 2 to 4 pounds.

2. Your brain is comprised of 60% fat and is the fattiest system in your body.

3. Your brain consumes 25% of the blood from every heartbeat.

4. Your brain has two sides or hemispheres (left hemisphere and right hemisphere).

• Left hemisphere helps you with language, detail, and analysis

• Right hemisphere helps you with faces, spatial orientation, sounds.

5. Your brain has a Cortex and Subcortex.

• Your Cortex is conscious and helps you learn, remember, communicate, Read, write, orient to space, process sensory information, and personality.

• Your Subcortex processes subconscious motor or procedural behaviors such as dressing, driving, and typing on your computer.

• Your Cortex and Subcortex interact as a beautiful symphony.

6. Your hippocampus is the structure in your brain (sits in the middle of each temporal lobe just under each temple on your skull) that enables you to learn.

New Ideas about Your Brain:

•  The human brain (like the animal brain) can generate new brain cells. This new brain cell development (neurogenesis) occurs in the hippocampus.

• The human brain is now thought to have “neural plasticity” or be a system that is highly dynamic, constantly reorganizing, and malleable. It is shaped by environmental input.

• Our brains need exposure to environments that are enriched, complex and novel. Environments that are passive and rote do not help the health of your brain.

• Exposure to enriched environments across your lifespan will lead to new brain cell development and increased cellular connections (“Synaptic Density”). Synaptic Density or Brain Reserve may help to delay the onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

Hello and welcome to the first official Fit Brains’ blog!  Let me introduce myself.  I am Michael Cole, the founder and CEO of Vivity Labs, creator of Fit Brains.

Fit Brains is developing a web experience that will be the first of its kind, appealing to adults of all ages and will elevate the concept and acceptance of brain fitness to the mainstream.  We will do this through a unique combination of interactive games, personalization tools and community features.  Our team understands that the key ingredient for mass adoption of brain fitness will be the “fun factor”, and is developing scientifically based workouts that are engaging and fun.

Among other topics, the Fit Brains blog will discuss recent brain health news, allowing our readers to stay up-to-date on the latest developments.  In addition, guest bloggers who are experts in their respective fields, will contribute to the discussions.  

Stay tuned - Fit Brains will be adding a lot of exiciting features in the weeks ahead.  I invite you to become an active member and help grow the Fit Brains community.  Technorati Profile