The Des Moines Register published a nice summary article today by Dawn Sagario about brain health and how to maintain it. In addition to suggestions about learning new languages and physical exercise, the article also described the recently released results of the pilot study led by Dr. Bob Bender, a geriatrician in Des Moines. The study was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The "Brain Wellness" study included regular, consistent physical exercise, nutritution advice, meditation, and regular mental workouts with Happy Neuron games. The participants who complied with this program had positive results, including significantly more brain activity, as measured by pre-and post-PET scans and clinical examinations. Dr. Bender and his team are very enthusiastic about the potential for prevention, using these lifestyle choices and brain exercises like Happy Neuron.The illustration above is by Mark Marturello/Register Illustration.
1 comment:
Sheryle, I would be interested in writing something about this 'Brain Wellness' study in my Elderwoman Newsletter. (see http://www.elderwoman.org). But I'd need to have more details about it, first. News articles like the one in the Des Moines Register presumably arise out of the press release which your company issued, and nowhere in that article or your press release is there a link to the original study, so I can't check it out for myself. I would want to be sure, for example, that any improvements in the subjects'functioning really did appear to arise from the experimental program and not as a result of the 'Hawthorne Effect'. Was there a control group that received as much attention as the experimental group?
Marian Van Eyk McCain
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