Ancient Greeks and Romans believed dreams predicted the future. Sigmund Freud thought they expressed repressed conflicts or desires and could help people unravel the reasons for mental illness. I take a dim view of both theories, but a new study now shows bad dreams do help us out in a completely different way. Scientists today [...]
When it comes to memory-robbing brain proteins, amyloid and tau top the list. Lately, scientists are investigating how these can be removed from the brain once they've grown out of control, or better still, how their formation can be prevented in the first place. In breakthrough research, scientists identified two genes that help clear both [...]
Nearly a decade ago the American Heart Association began to promote seven targets to shoot for to achieve ideal cardiovascular health. They hoped the strategy, called “Life's Simple 7,” would reduce the incidence of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. This could be achieved, they said, with simple lifestyle changes plus medication if needed. What's good [...]
Your height, eye color and wavy hair can all be linked to your DNA. However, the development of Alzheimer’s disease may not be determined by your genetics to the extent some experts think, according to a recent Canadian study.1 Let’s take a closer look at what scientists found. Twin Study Links Dementia to Genetics Scientists [...]
The neurons in your brain need a lot of nutritional support to do their jobs, because they never stop working. They need a steady stream of nutrients to protect them from destructive oxidation and keep their cellular structures intact. And research into brain health shows there’s a crucial nutritive category that helps your brain develop [...]
To keep our memory and learning abilities strong we need an abundance of dendrites on our brain cells. Good sized dendritic networks indicate a healthy, well-functioning brain. Disrupted dendrite growth is seen in the brains of people with autism and schizophrenia. So it’s pretty clear which kind of network you want. If we can promote [...]
Raymond Dalio is an American investor. Jack Dorsey is the founder of Twitter. Both have something in common -- apart from being billionaires that is. They both take time out to meditate each day. And they're not alone. Many successful people practice meditation. In fact, it's catching on big time with a large number of [...]
Long-time readers know that we strive to offer the latest research on brain health, as well as lifestyle tweaks proven to cut the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. However, in this article I’d like to delve into a troubling facet of this misunderstood disease. Here’s a common scenario: A person is diagnosed with dementia, they share [...]
Some people have the misfortune of experiencing a rare mutation in a gene called presenelin 1, which causes early memory loss. Presenelin 1 triggers memory loss in people as young as 40 and develops into full blown Alzheimer's by the late 40s, inflicting death by age 60, or thereabouts. Scientists discovered the group of people [...]
I don’t think a lot of people are aware of what a major factor head injuries are in making you susceptible to dementia. The public probably has some awareness of the problem because it’s now known that pro football players – and even high school and college athletes – can get dementia decades later because [...]
