The idea first came to poet Gary Glazner whilst working as a florist in 2003. Delivering bouquets of flowers to a nursing home and seeing the residents' faces light up gave him the inspiration to help those with dementia express themselves through poetry. From an initial $300 grant, he is now founder and Executive Director [...]
Researchers have discovered that drinking a particular brain-boosting beverage can restore your depleted intellectual abilities, improve your mental focus, banish fuzzy cognition and even change the way your neurons fire off signals to each other. When I call water a wonderful brain elixir, I’m not exaggerating much, because research shows downing a humble glass of [...]
A few weeks ago (Issue #534) I wrote about the role infections play in Alzheimer’s disease. Much of the focus of that article was on herpes viruses. The herpes-dementia link is an important enough discovery to visit again, and go into in greater depth. For one thing, it may finally move the pharmaceutical companies to [...]
Your immune system can be your best friend – when it protects you from pathogens – or your worst nightmare when it goes on the blink. . . . . .because misbehaving immune cells can cause as much harm to the body as any disease. Your brain is particularly vulnerable to this type of destruction. [...]
You may remember learning in school about the reciprocal relationship animals (including us) have with plants. We inhale oxygen and exhale CO2 (carbon dioxide.) Plants “inhale” carbon dioxide and send out oxygen. That means we need plants as much as they need us. But plants do even more for us than create oxygen. They can [...]
Grown in the warm, marshy wetlands of India, Pakistan and other Asian countries, this creeping herb has been prescribed by traditional Ayurvedic (Indian) health practitioners for thousands of years. They believe it strengthens memory, bolsters cognition, improves concentration and even relieves anxiety. Over the last four decades, scientists have confirmed all this is true. In [...]
In the field of Alzheimer’s research, it’s a million-dollar question whether an infection is the root cause of Alzheimer’s disease. When I say “million-dollar question” I mean it literally. Leslie Norins, a physician and medical publisher, is offering a million dollar “Challenge Award” to any researcher who can provide “persuasive proof the ‘Alzheimer’s germ’ is [...]
Environmental scientist Barbara Maher was clearly surprised and alarmed by the results of a study she led. She described the findings as "dreadfully shocking." She said it was “a discovery finding, and...a potentially very important environmental risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.” Her concern centers on a metallic industrial toxin that's been found in higher amounts [...]
Poems often proclaim the eyes to be a direct window to the soul. Medical researchers are more prosaic, but they make much the same point without the poetry. We now understand that the eyes provide a direct view into the health of your brain. Plus, you can actually use your eyes to improve your memory. [...]
When you get hit by a 255-pound offensive tackle up to 50 times a game, it's bound to inflict physical harm. That's exactly what brain scans of hundreds of active and retired football players have found -- clear evidence these helmet-to-helmet blows cause damage.1 But you don't have to be an NFL footballer to experience [...]
