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Alvaro Fernandez's Articles

  • Can Brain Training Games Make You a Better Driver? Allstate Insurance To Test Them
    Allstate just announced a very intelligent initiative. The auto insurance company is going to offer a brain training game to thousands of drivers and measure the impact on their driving performance. Allstate says this can be the "next big breakthrough in automobile safety." Today I am fortunate to interview Tom Warden, Assistant Vice President and Leader of Allstate's Research and Planning Center, to better understand this initiative.
  • Healthy Aging for Brain and Body: Answers to your Main Questions
    Given the growing and often contradictory media coverage regarding aging and Alzheimer's Disease topics, you probably have a good number of questions you would like to see answered. The main recommendations today: ensure good nutrition, and follow a regime of frequent physical and mental exercise.
  • Top 7 Brainteasers and Puzzles for Job Interviews and Brain Challenge
    A recent CNN article highlights how a growing number of companies use brainteasers and logic puzzles during job interviews. Want to train and try a few? Here you have our selected Top 7 Brainteasers/ Logic Puzzles for Job Interviews and Brain Challenge. Please try to GUESS the answers to the questions below based on your own logical approach. The goal is not to find out the right answer, but to provide an appropriate range.
  • ABC Reporter Bob Woodruff's Incredible Recovery From Traumatic Brain Injury
    A few weeks ago John Edwards was interviewed by reporter Bob Woodruff. All the resulting media coverage centered on Edwards' declarations. However, there is something much more remarkable that surfaced at that interview: Bob Woodruff's spectacular recovery from his severe traumatic brain injury, suffered when a roadside bomb detonated next to his vehicle in Iraq. Today I am fortunate to interview Bob's wife, Lee Woodruff.
  • Is the Future of Cognitive Therapy Similar to Training One's Abdominal Muscles?
    In short, here we have a number of major societal problems (anxiety, depression...) that affect people of all ages, and an intervention (cognitive therapy) that teaches people cognitive skills to be able to manage those related challenges better. Talk about "teaching how to fish" vs. simply handing out fish (which we could argue is what antidepressant medications do). Why don't more people benefit today from this approach?
  • Obesity Crisis or Cognitive Crisis? How to Get Weight Under Control
    In early August, a scientific study published in the British Medical Journal added a novel perspective on how to think of, and consequently address, the so-called obesity epidemic that many developed countries, including the US, are experiencing. The ability to self-regulate behaviors is not a genetic given, but learnable and trainable. If adults cannot regulate their own eating and exercise habits, half the battle is lost.
  • Combine Physical and Mental Exercise for Brain Health: Interview with Dr. Kramer
    Interested in maintaining a healthy, strong brain? Dr. Arthur Kramer, Director of the Biomedical Imaging Center at the University of Illinois, based on recent brain research findings, suggests we should all find ways to combine physical and mental exercise. For example, have you ever considered joining a Walking Book Club?
  • Top 25 Brain and Mind Haikus. Can you Write Yours?
    The results of a recent "Brainy Haikus" contest are in. Below you have my Favorite 10 Haikus on brain-related topics, plus many other fun ones for a total of 25... Can you write a haiku describing anything crossing your mind now? Remember the simple rules: write 3 lines, which don't need to rhyme, containing 5,7, and 5 syllables.
  • Top 10 Brain Training Future Trends: New Mind-Body Focus, Brain Trainers, and More
    In an emerging, dynamic, high growth market, like brain training, it is difficult to make precise projections. But, we can observe a number of trends that executives, consumers, public policy makers, and the media should watch closely in the coming years, as brain fitness and training becomes mainstream, new brain trainers appear, and an ecosystem grows around it. Here you have the Top Ten trends I predict.
  • Ready to Measure Your Brain Fitness and Cognitive Health?
    You know your weight. And your physical fitness. And a variety of health-related metrics. What about your brain fitness? In years to come, we can expect a growing number of assessments to help each of us address that precise question, using tools that today are only available to researchers and clinicians, raising both opportunities and concerns. This article explains the importance of this emerging trend.
  • Brain Age Mythology Compared to What Really Improves Cognitive Health
    Many people have been asking us recently about whether we all have a "Brain Age" and how we can reduce our "brain ages". This concept is a myth, fueled by the (very fun) Nintendo game and a recent PBS campaign promoting a program produced by Posit Science. The concept of having a "brain age" is, itself, profoundly unscientific, as we will show in this article.
  • Why Smart Brains Make Stupid Decisions On Money, Work and Health
    It happens. Often. Why? We just secured an interview with Ori Brafman, co-author of Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior (Doubleday Business, 2008), to discuss our Dark Side (well, he calls if "different hidden forces" and "psychological undercurrents"). For example, look at the story of Harvard Business School students who paid $204 for a twenty-dollar bill.
  • Brain Improvement and Cognitive Fitness: Fact or Fiction?
    You may already have a Nintendo Brain Age game, or at least have heard of it. You may also have read recently that start-up Lumos Labs raised $3m to develop "brain training games". In this article I address a few typical questions such as: - Do these programs cure Alzheimer's? - How do I evaluate whether any program is good for me or my clients, patients or residents?
  • Study: Meditation Can Help Adults and Children with ADHD
    Travel back, in your mind's eye, to a time when you felt a healthy exhaustion after hiking, biking, playing sports.., and let you re-live that moment as vividly as you can. Congratulations. You have trained your brain. And a recent study shows how techniques like this can help children and adults with attention deficits.
  • Top Ten Cognitive Health Events in 2007: Brain Fitness Program Explained, and More.
    By now, you surely are aware that our brains retain the ability to generate neurons and change over our lifetimes, breaking the scientific paradigm prevalent during the 20th century. And you have read about the growing number of brain games and brain fitness programs offered. Now, you may wonder, why is all this happenning now? To understand that, let's review 10 important events that took place in 2007, a seminal year for the field.
  • Exercise Your Brain in the Cognitive Age: Reflections on the Brain Games Market
    In the past few days, The New York Times has published two thought-provoking articles on the growing brain and cognitive fitness market. Both raise key questions that politicians, health policy makers, business leaders, educators and consumers should pay attention to. Are our brains ready to compete in the global economy? how can we improve our brain health and mental abilities? can this also helo delay Alzheimer's and other diseases?
  • Top 21 Books on Brain Health, Fitness and Training, Neuroplasticity and Neurogenesis
    Given the growing media coverage of brain fitness and brain training, we have produced this compilation of the Top 21 Books that help understand these trends, the research behind them, and the implications for all of us. For your easy browsing, we have categorized them into seven groups. Enjoy!
  • The Dana Guide to Brain Health: A Practical Family Reference From Medical Experts. Book Review.
    Book Review of The Dana Guide to Brain Health: A Practical Family Reference From Medical Experts, published by Dana Press. In short, this is a great reference book for health professionals and for people interested in learning more about the brain and how to maintain a healthy brain.
  • Brain Training to Improve Driving Skills Using Video Games, For Teenagers and Older Adults
    The New York Times just published an article, titled "Are You a Good Driver? Here's How to Find Out", that asked, "Can VideoGames make better drivers?". We analyze the article, and answer that question, by interviewing a top researcher in the field, Dr. Jerri Edwards. In short, we could reply YES: a well-designed video game CAN make one a better driver.
  • Exercise Your Brain: Quick Brain Teasers to Test Your Memory and Thinking Skills
    Here's a quick quiz to test your memory and thinking skills, which should work out important parts of your brain. See how you do! (Answers are below).
  • What Every Parent and Educator Should Know About Enriching Young Brains and Minds
    To learn important lessons for all parents and educators, we interview today Eric Jensen, a former middle school teacher and former adjunct professor for several universities including the University of California, San Diego. Mr. Jensen co-founded the Learning Brain Expo, a conference for educators, and has written 21 books on the brain and learning.
  • Ten Findings on the State of the Brain Fitness and Cognitive Health Software Market
    You probably have been reading much about "brain training" and "brain fitness" and wondered, "What is all the Fuss About?" After many months of work, we have just released our inaugural report on the emerging Brain Fitness Software Market, and we want to share Ten of the Key Findings with you.
  • Why Do You Turn Down the Radio When You're Lost?: Multi-Tasking and the Brain 101
    You're driving through suburbia one evening looking for the street where you're supposed to have dinner at a friend's new house. You slow down to a crawl, turn down the radio, stop talking, and stare at every sign. Why is that? Neither the radio nor talking affects your vision. turn down the radio, stop talking, and stare at every sign. Why is that? Neither the radio nor talking affects your vision. Or do they?
  • Train Your Brain With a New $225m Gaming Market Based on Latest Research on Brain Health and Fitness
    This past Tuesday, the MIT Club of Northern California and SmartSilvers sponsored an event on The Emerging Brain Fitness Software Market: Building Better Brains to explore the realities and myths of this growing field. An example is the line of Nintendo games, such as Brain Age and Brain Training, that have shipped over 15 million units worldwide despite limited scientific support, since 2005.
  • Improving Brain Functioning For Healthy Aging: Interview with scientist Jerri Edwards
    Have you been reading all about Brain Training? Today we are fortunate to interview Dr. Jerri Edwards, an Associate Professor at University of South Florida's School of Aging Studies and Co-Investigator of the influencial ACTIVE study. Dr. Edwards' research is aimed toward discovering how cognitive abilities can be maintained and even enhanced with advancing age.
  • Asking 40 Important Health and Medical Questions to the Next US President
    Dear Mr or Mrs Next US President, The health and medical blogosphere would like to make sure you and your team take into account the 40 issues outlined below as you and your aids formulate your policies and put together the team that will further define and implement them.40 different health bloggers have asked these questions that I now pose to you and your team.
  • What Every Parent and Educator Needs to Know About Learning and the Teenager Brain
    Today we are fortunate to interview Dr. Robert Sylwester, a recognized educator of educators who has received multiple awards during his long career as a master communicator of the implications of brain science for education and learning. His most recent book is The Adolescent Brain: Reaching for Autonomy (Corwin Press, 2007).
  • 10 Brain Health and Fitness New Year's Resolutions: Train Your Brain
    Let me suggest 10 New Year's Resolutions that will help you make 2008 a year of Brain Health and Fitness, based on three key guidelines for brain health: the need for novelty, variety and challenge.
  • Brain Training for Stress Management: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Programs
    Stanford University's Robert Sapolsky and others have shown how chronic stress may contribute to the death of neurons in our brains. The question is how can one evaluate the many stress management programs out there? which ones are science-based? Probably the most promising area of scientific inquiry for stress management is Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and in this article we summarize what MBSR is and where it comes from.
  • Do Crossword Puzzles and Bridge Provide all the Brain Exercise You Need?
    This is a question we often get asked in our classes and lectures. The quick answer is No. They are both very good activities, but we need more if we want to work on our memory and brain health. Read this article to learn why.
  • Brain Training and Mind Games: Interview with Japanese Expert Go Hirano
    Unless you are hiding in a cave, you will have heard about the latest Brain Training gaming trend that has taken over the USA, Europe and Japan. Today we are traveling to Japan, where the movement originated, to interview Go Hirano, a Japanese executive with experience in neuroscience and gaming.
  • Use It or Lose It: The Theory and Practice of Brain Exercise and Fitness for Cognitive Health
    Who has not heard "Use It or Lose It". Now, what is "It"? How do we best exercise it and help maintain it sharp? In this article we will give you a fun overview of how the brain works and 5 Tips to Exercise Your Brain.
  • Enhance Happiness and Health by Cultivating Gratitude: Interview with Robert Emmons
    Today we interview Prof. Robert Emmons, Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Positive Psychology and author of Thanks: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier. Some of his key messages: the practice of gratitude can increase happiness levels by around 25%, this is not hard to achieve, and brings other health effects, such as longer and better quality sleep time.
  • Are Yoga and Meditation Good for my Brain? A Scientific Take on Stress Management
    Yes! Yoga, meditation, and visualization are all excellent ways to learn to manage your stress levels. Reducing stress, and the stress hormones, in your system is critical to your brain and overall fitness. In this article we explore the science behind stress and stress management and include some tips you can start using today.
  • Cognitive Fitness and Health: 10 Debunked Myths on How Your Mind Works.
    How does your brain work? Interested in improving it? Over the last year we have interviewed more than 10 leading neuroscientists and psychologists worldwide to learn about their research and thoughts, and have news to report. Read this article to learn about 10 common myths that deserve to be debunked.
  • Information Overload? Seven Productivity and Learning Tips
    Hundreds of thousands of new books, analyst reports, scientific papers published every year. Millions of websites at our googletips. The flow of data, information and knowledge is growing exponentially, stretching the capacity of our brains. Let me offer 7 Strategies that can help manage this flow of information better.
  • Brain Fitness Vacations for Baby Boomers: Tips for Staying Sharp
    Looking for new and stimulating travel ideas? Well, let us explain what a "Brain Fitness Vacation" is: "A brain fitness vacation is like a regular vacation, only you attend events, do exercises, and arrange for experiences that address the aspects of good brain health: physical exercise, mental exercise, good nutrition, and stress management."
  • Ten Highlights from the Aspen Institute Forum on Health, Wellness and Medical Science
    The Aspen Health Forum just gathered an impressive group of around 250 people to discuss the most pressing issues in Health and Medical Science. Here you have the summary of the top Ten Trends discussed.
  • Beck Diet: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person-and Maintain Weight Loss (Part 2)
    Do you wonder why, after losing some pounds, you typically regain them quickly? Interested in discovering how to maintain your target weight? Read this interview with Dr. Judith Beck, Director of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research and author of The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person, a widely acclaimed book on how we can develop the mental skills required to sustain weight loss. Part 2 of 2.
  • The Beck Diet: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person-and Maintain Target Weight (Part 1)
    Do you wonder why, after losing some pounds, you typically regain them quickly? Interested in discovering how to maintain your target weight? Read this interview with Dr. Judith Beck, Director of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research and author of The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person, a widely acclaimed book on how we can develop the mental skills required to sustain weight loss. Part 1 of 2.
  • Stanford Media X Ten Innovation Trends: Robotics, Aging, Clean Tech, Brain, Gaming, Science and More
    The goal of Stanford University Media X is to foster collaborations between industry and academia. The 5th Annual Media X Conference on Research, Collaboration, Innovation and Productivity, which I was fortunate to attend, served its purpose well. Let me share the 10 Key Innovation Trends that every business executive and innovator should be paying attention to.
  • 7 Quotes from Neuroscientists that Will Revolutionize Brain and Mind Health, Fitness and Wellness
    Interested in improving your attention, memory, thinking skills, ability to manage stressful situations? Good news: "Recent research in neuroplasticity - the brain's ability to change in response to information and new activities - shows that brain cells and new pathways continue to develop throughout life...". I have interviewed many leading neuroscientists and experts, and I want to share with you 7 of my favorite quotes.
  • The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Brains
    Confused by the growing number of articles on how to train our brains, improve our memory, exercise our minds, and even create new neurons? To put all of them in better perspective, let's review 10 good lifestyle habits we can follow to maintain, and improve, our vibrant brains.
  • 10 Key Points on Training the Aging Workforce
    Will most baby boomers retire at 60? Will there be a massive employee shortage in a few years' time, as predicted in a number of major policy reports? What can companies and government agencies do? This is a very important topic, given demographic trends worldwide. Here we provide a summary of 10 key Trends and Recommendations.
  • Is there Science Behind the Growing Brain Fitness Industry?
    To address this question, we interview today Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg, one of the earliest proponents of the Brain Fitness and Exercise field. He is a clinical professor of neurology at New York University School of Medicine, and author of The Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the Civilized Mind and The Wisdom Paradox: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older.
  • A Neuroscientist's Perspective on How to Protect Your Brain
    "We saw that the group with high level of leisure activities presented 38% less risk of developing Alzheimer's symptoms. And that, for each additional type of activity, the risk got reduced by 8%." Read this SharpBrains interview with Dr. Yaakov Stern, Division Leader of the Cognitive Neuroscience Division of the Sergievsky Center at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York.
  • Top Ten Tips for Women Who Lead Men
    Here you have Ten Tips that every woman should be aware of to understand men, stress management, learning, emotions, patience...grounded on cognitive and evolutionary psychology. Enjoy!
  • 10 Stress Management and Memory Improvement Tips
    These days we deal with events and illnesses that gnaw away at us slowly, that stress us out and that, believe it or not, end up hurting our memory and brain. What are the best defenses against stress, that will help our mind and memory remain healthy for life? In this article we list 10 Tips that will help you.
  • 10 Truths About Aging You May Not Know
    Why is "aging" such a bad word? In this article, we review 10 neuroscience-based Truths that put "aging" in better perspective and help us see that there is much we can do to take ownership of our future.
  • Sicko and Bill Clinton on Health and Wellness Trends
    Given the current debate around Michael Moore's Sicko, we want to share in this article some of the insights and advice on Health and Wellness trends that Bill Clinton gave recently at the Healthetc event sponsored by California Pacific Medical Center and KCBS.

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