In the past few days, The New York Times has published two
excellent articles on brain and cognitive fitness. Despite
appearing in separate sections (technology and editorial),
the two have more in common than immediately meets the eye.
Both raise key questions that politicians, health policy
makers, business leaders, educators and consumers should
pay attention to.
1) First, Exercise Your Brain, or Else You'll ... Uh ...,
by Katie Hafner (5/3/08). Some quotes:
- "At the same time, boomers are seizing on a mounting body
of evidence that suggests that brains contain more
plasticity than previously thought, and many people are
taking matters into their own hands, doing brain fitness
exercises with the same intensity with which they attack a
treadmill."
- "Alvaro Fernandez, whose brain fitness and consulting
company, SharpBrains, has a Web site focused on brain
fitness research. He estimates that in 2007 the market in
the United States for so-called neurosoftware was $225
million."
- "Mr. Fernandez pointed out that compared with, say, the
physical fitness industry, which brings in $16 billion a
year in health club memberships alone, the brain fitness
software industry is still in its infancy. Yet it is
growing at a 50 percent annual rate, he said, and he
expects it to reach $2 billion by 2015."
- "Boomers believe they have ample reason to worry. There
is no definitive laboratory test to detect Alzheimer's
disease".
Comments: I enjoyed the conversations I had with the NYT
reporter, Katie Hafner. The main 3 points I wanted to
convey were, and are:
a) The brain fitness software programs mentioned in the
article (and others) are no more than "tools" to exercise
certain brain functions. None of the products on the market
today offer an overall brain health solution. Some programs
are helpful at training specific cognitive skills that tend
to decline with age, others improve attention or decision
making skills, and still others help assess cognitive
functions. If health, education and corporate executives as
well as consumers become more familiar with the progress
that cognitive science has made over the last 10-20 years,
they will be able to make informed decisions about which,
if any, tools, may help. This is what "smart people" do:
adapt to new environments and use new tools appropriately -
without falling prey either to manufacturers' inflated/
confusing claims, or negating the value of those tools as a
general principle.
b) Many times, baby boomers worried about their memory tend
to blame Alzheimer's disease. This reaction causes stress
and anxiety, which in turn harms the brain structurally (by
reducing neurogenesis - the creation of new neurons) and
functionally (by reducing working memory and
decision-making abilities). Hence, stress management or
emotional self-regulation, is often a much needed cognitive
training intervention.
c) The brain fitness market is growing fast and this trend
will continue. This is not just a Nintendo-fueled fad. The
article reflects this point best. Part of the market
confusion lies in the disconnect between what computerized
brain fitness programs can do (the ones with more science
behind them than Nintendo Brain Age) and what people seem
to want them to do. Computerized programs can be an
efficient way to exercise and train specific cognitive
skills and improve productivity and daily life. Think of
them as similar to the range of equipment in a health club.
If you walk into a health club today, you will find
machines for abdominal muscles and others for cardio
training, biceps, etc. Similarly, there are brain fitness
programs to improve auditory processing, others to expand
working memory, maintain driving-related skills, etc.
However, what the current brain fitness software programs
can't do is to prevent Alzheimer's disease altogether. At
most, there is circumstantial evidence that they can
(together with, say, learning how to play the piano, taking
on a second or third career, or nurturing new stimulating
interests) help lower the probability of developing
Alzheimer's symptoms. But, again, no specific program has
been shown to be better than another from this
"anti-Alzheimer's" point of view. The best protection is to
lead rich, stimulating lives.
The second excellent article in the New York Times on a
related topic was an opinion piece by David Brooks, which
provides the perfect context for why cognitive fitness and
training deserves more attention than it gets today.
2) David Brooks: The Cognitive Age (5/2/08). Quotes:
-"It's the skills revolution. We're moving into a more
demanding cognitive age. In order to thrive, people are
compelled to become better at absorbing, processing and
combining information."
-"the most important part of information's journey is the
last few inches — the space between a person's eyes
or ears and the various regions of the brain. Does the
individual have the capacity to understand the information?
Does he or she have the training to exploit it?"
-"But the cognitive age paradigm emphasizes psychology,
culture and pedagogy — the specific processes that
foster learning."
Comments: Beautifully said. Yes, we are "moving into a more
demanding cognitive age." This is true for the reasons that
Brooks aludes to: because of globalization that requires
workers to keep their cognitive skills sharp to compete.
But, there are other reasons such as current demographic,
health and scientific trends. People are living longer
which means that they have more opportunities to experience
cognitive decline and and will require specific
interventions. Huge medical advances over the last 100
years have enabled longevity, improved quality of life
overall. But, they have focused more on how to maintain
"healthy bodies" than on "healthy brains." Thanks to
scientific research, there is now more knowledge on the
cognitive effects of a variety of medications and
conditions, from attention deficit disorders to
chemotherapy and beyond. Our market projections take into
account these trends.
In sum, we agree with Brooks: the Cognitive Age is here.
And we add: new tools will help us be more healthy and
productive.
----------------------------------------------------
Alvaro Fernandez is the CEO and Co-Founder of
SharpBrains.com, which covers the brain training and brain
health fields. SharpBrains has been recognized by
Scientific American Mind, Newsweek, Forbes. Alvaro holds MA
in Education and MBA from Stanford University, and teaches
The Science of Brain Health at UC-Berkeley Lifelong
Learning Institute. You can learn more at
http://www.sharpbrains.com/
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