Category Archives: Health & Wellness

Music exercises increase gray matter in the brain

Last week, on June 21, France celebrated World Music Day, a day that has been important for the past 30 years and has also been adopted by several other countries and states in the United States… Street performers, free concerts and all sorts of music related events! So why are we talking about music now? [...]

Nutrition: How sugar affects your memory

Most people are aware of how high sugar intake can affect your body. But what about your brain? A recent study published in the Journal of Physiology has shown the negative effect of a long-term high-fructose diet has on the brain. The study was conducted on rats and indicated that drinking soft drinks or eating [...]

MemTrax: THE application to detect memory issues

SBT, the editor of the HAPPYneuron service, has adapted the memory screening test MemTrax on the iPad. This test is a very quick and easy way to detect memory impairments associated with Alzheimer’s disease for example. The application will be available in just a few weeks. In the meantime, discover the demonstration video:  

March is National Nutrition Month®

National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign created annually in March by the American Dietetic Association. The campaign focuses attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. This year’s theme is “Eat Right with Color”. National Nutrition Week was first observed in 1973 [...]

Changing Your (Cognitive) Fitness Habits

So we’ve read it in many studies: Physical exercise is important and contributes to a healthy life style. It has also been shown to be essential for cognitive health, helping us not only to remain physically fit but also to maintain mental sharpness. Today, however, researchers find that it is not enough to inform people. [...]

November is National Family Caregivers Month

Watching a family member struggle pains us all, especially when there is little we can do personally to alleviate their ailment. Unfortunately one of the most common issues facing the aging population is being diagnosed with dementia, cognitive impairment, or Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. Alzheimer’s causes a person [...]

Intelligence and Creativity

Most of us have a general concept of what intelligence is but, similar to the intangible concepts of happiness and love, our personal definition of intelligence is influenced by our own understanding of the concept. We tend to define intelligence in many ways: The capacity to learn The faculty of understanding An aptitude in grasping [...]

How Our Attention Works

Last week we gave a summarizing overview of what is currently known about memory. This week we take a look at attention. Attention is generally defined as our ability to selectively focus on one thing, idea, or task while filtering out other distractions. Another way to describe attention is selective concentration. Attention is the function [...]

8 Unusual Facts About Your Brain

This week we explore eight unusual facts you may or may not know about your brain. Do you know other unusual facts not on the list below? Please let us know by including them in the comment section below. 1. No rest for your brain Believe it or not, although rest is quite important for [...]

Don’t Become Another Statistic!

It appears a few major publications read the Brain Fitness for Life blog, because both Business Week and Time ran stories this week about the staggering costs of treating dementia after we ran our op-ed piece More reason to engage in brain exercise! Both the Business Week and Time article reference the current Alzheimer’s Disease [...]