Body Scan Meditation
During some talks I gave recently for the Thrive Approach I promised I’d make the Body Scan script I’ve been working with available in this month’s blog, so here it is…
Thou Shalt Adapt (To The “New Normal”)
The good news is that the human brain has an incredible capacity to adapt to new circumstances, so whatever happens, it’s important to stay calm, adopt new habits to encourage your brain adapt to the changes and then try to stay positive.
Changing Brains
This month’s blog is an update on some of the recent published research investigating the potential for neuroplastic change in the adult human brain.
Brain Benefits of Mindfulness – PART 1
Early evidence indicating the likelihood of neuroplastic changes induced by regular practice of meditation has fundamentally changed my attitude to mindfulness
Brain Benefits of Mindfulness – PART 2
Here I outline brain areas that appear to be most consistently impacted by the regular practice of mindfulness.
Sort Your Brain Out – new book by Dr Jack Lewis and Adrian Webster
Sort Your Brain Out – endorsement: “I thought it was accessible, thought-provoking and full of useful, easy-to-follow tips about improving your everyday life through a better understanding of the brain.” Killian Fox, writer for the Observer and other publications
Man the Manipulator by Dr Jack Lewis
Iterative cycles of human brains adapting to environments and environments being adapted by human brains have enabled our species to thrive in a wider variety of ecological niches than any other mammal across the length and breadth of the entire globe. Of vital importance to our adaptability is the emergence of cognitive faculties enabling us to circumvent the painstakingly slow processes involved in evolutionary change that drive behavioural adaptations in most other multicellular species.
High Sugar Diet Impacts Negatively on Cognition (but Omega 3 Protects) by Dr Jack
Rats fed high fructose corn syrup supplement navigate a maze significantly slower than others fed normal rat feed: click here for full article.
Does brain training really work? by Dr Jack Lewis
A study conducted in collaboration with the BBC and recently published in top science journal “Nature” suggests that “brain training doesn’t make us smarter”. In this article I argue that lack of proof is not the same as proving that something doesn’t work and outline several reasons why I believe it would be premature to write off the potential benefits of brain training on the basis of the first proper clinical trial ever to investigate this potentially exciting phenomenon. I also describe a possible approach to a future clinical trial that might give brain training the best possible chance of proving itself worthy of the billions of dollars people are spending on such programs worldwide.