Tweet Year in Review
Each year I look back at my brain tweets in an effort to get a handle on what was hot & what was not. Here’s a synopsis of 2017’s neuroscience that made the news
Fighting Dementia with Sea Hero Quest
Sea Hero Quest – the world’s first smartphone game where anyone can help scientists fight dementia – announces it’s early findings…
Hot Topics in Neuroscience by Dr Jack
I finally took the time to categorize and tally as many of my recent Tweets as I could get my hands on to clarify what topics have been hottest in recent times.
Hang Onto Your Marbles by Dr Jack Lewis
By increasing interconnectivity between different brain areas involved in a wide variety of cognitive functions the onset of dementia may be delayed by enabling other brain areas take over the function of regions damaged as the brain ages.
Might New Arthritis Drugs Delay Dementia As Side Effect?
Talking openly and honestly about highly emotive topics like Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia in general, is a very delicate matter. Given the prevailing time pressures of live television and the quick/punchy explanations that it requires, there is always the potential to be misunderstood. This means that really hot topics must occasionally be left out in case they have the unintended effect of causing undue anxiety as opposed to the specific intention: inspiring the public with what we can do to hang onto our marbles well into old age. This brainpost reveals a new breakthrough in our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease, deemed too risky to mention live on ITV1’s This Morning in mid-August in case it was misconstrued, but which may one day be instrumental in keeping dementia at bay in each and every one of us.
Cognitive Reserve Keeps Alzheimer’s Dementia at Bay by Dr Jack Lewis
Contrast the lifestyles of people in their seventies who do and do not suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and clues about how to keep your brain ticking over nicely, well into old age, jump right out at you. Those who do not suffer with this dreaded disease tend to have been more committed to a regular exercise regime throughout their later years. They tend to have been more engaged in a wider array of social activities. They tend to have been careful with their diet in the long term, favouring a healthy Meditteranean-style diet over a typical modern Western diet. They also tend to have been more proactively involved with their local community and more motivated to seek regular mental stimulation. People are now being advised to adopt a variety of brain-healthy habits if they wish to reduce the likelihood of developing cognitive deficits that the progression of Alzheimer’s disease can, but does not always, induce.
Dr Jack’s Memory Clinic on ITV1’s THIS MORNING – Mon 13th June 2011
Over the summer I’ll be making a series of contributions to ITV’s THIS MORNING. The aim is to get the nation interested in how their brains work and ultimately to help YOU get the most out of YOUR brain. I’ll offer easy-to-follow advice on how to get your brain firing on all cylinders each and every day.
Hold On To Your Grey Matter – Take a Walk by Dr Jack
Although we cannot halt the inexorable process of grey matter loss completely, the good news is that we can slow its progression. This month a study conducted at the University of Pittsburgh and published in the journal “Neurology” describes the influence of regular exercise on the rate of reduction of brain volume and cognitive function in 299 elderly individuals.
It was observed that those individuals of this group of average age 78 who walked in excess of 6 miles per week had a significantly reduced rate of grey matter loss and consequently a lower incidence of cognitive decline. The greater the distance walked each week, the smaller the reduction in volume over a 9 year period within their frontal lobe, occipital lobe, entorhinal cortex and critically, in the hippocampus.
This begs the question – how and why does exercise slow down the rate at which grey matter shrinks?
Brain Teasers = Brain Training by Dr Jack Lewis
Dr Jack Lewis is keen to get people motivated to get the best out of their brains, so has compiled a quick overview