sparkmygenius.com

Dr. Rohn Kessler

Parents are juggling so many things today that the metaphor of juggling can turn a bit negative. But juggling itself can be a cognitive powerhouse, especially for children. A cognitive powerhouse is an activity like learning to play a musical instrument, that, when practiced enthusiastically over a period of time, improves mental skills like attention, memory, information processing efficiency and spatial reasoning. This is important because in everyday life it can generalize to important skills like better goal setting, planning, map reading and reducing stress.

Learning to juggle is a cool, fun-filled activity for children and can be a terrific aerobic exercise for improving attention, endurance, balance, rhythm, eye-hand coordination and confidence.

Juggling is great for the brain. As little of 7 days of training leads to an increase in the density of the gray matter in the brain and boosts connections between different parts of the brain by tweaking the architecture of the brain’s white matter. The real significance of this finding is not only that juggling boosts brain connections but it suggests that learning a new skill is more important than exercising what you are already good at – the brain wants to be puzzled and learn something new.¹

Children as young as five or six can begin to juggle with scarves. School programs which incorporate juggling into the curriculum report improvements in focus, eye-hand coordination, fine motor skills, reading and behavior. ²

These schools also report that learning to juggle increases both motivation and self-discipline and reduces impulsivity. Juggling can level the playing field because some students who don’t excel or even like athletics can juggle very well.  Students who learn to juggle can also build communication and teamwork skills.

Some teachers even report that juggling helps students improve their ability to listen and follow directions. What parent wouldn’t like more of that at home!

Juggling is one of many creative, brain-enhancing activities encouraged and practiced at the Sparks of Genius Neuroeducation Center in Boca Raton, Florida. www.SparksofGenius.com

Children learn that physical fitness requires strength, speed, stamina, balance and flexibility. These five attributes can be taught with one ball. Whether juggling the 3-ball cascade, juggling 2, 3, and even 4 balls back and forth with another person, students learn that juggling optimizes their own brain by making dendrites bloom.”

My mentor, the noted pediatrician William Grant Crook, taught me how important it is that every child receives a daily dose of “psychological vitamins.” Learning to juggle can do just that for many special needs children, including those with ADHD, Asperger’s, learning disabilities, sensory processing disorders etc.

Groundbreaking research in neuroeducation connecting learning, arts and the brain confirms that when a student passionately engages in an art form for an extended period of time, attention, cognition and fluid intelligence increase. ³ Juggling could be the art form for your child.

When a child uses the Sparks of Genius Method™ and learns to juggle 3 or even 4 balls back and forth with me and then teaches this skill to a parent, it brings joy to my heart. True, most of today’s parents are juggling too many things. But how many parents are too busy to appreciate a Sparks of Genius moment like this with their child?

References

1. Learning to Juggle Grows Brain Networks for Good. New Scientist. Oct. 14, 2009

1. Delisio, E. (2002) Teachers Link Juggling to Improved Academic Skills. Education World.
2. Posner, M. and Patoine (2010). How Arts Training Improves Attention and Cognition. In “Emerging Ideas in Brain Science:” Cerebrum 2010. Dana Press.

Brains and Bodies work together!

By Amy Price PhD

Your brain care how your body lives. Maybe it is time to redecorate from the inside out!

New research on cognition that shows transfer of training and increase in quality of life  can be very successful when individual differences are professionally assessed and programs targeted to individuals.  This is why one size fits all ‘brain training’ shows limited success. The brain requires novelty and positively graded accomplishment to reach full potential. [1-4].  

Brain age related deficits are noticed primarily in the prefrontal and parietal cortical regions  which tend to shrink as individuals age with men exhibiting more extensive shrinkage than women [5]. These areas are crucial for planning and for connecting input from other brain areas. The areas of shrinkage initially demonstrate increased regional activation. This may be a time sensitive window where neuroplasticity growth factors can be leveraged to best advantage. Combining several strands of behavioral and neuro-imaging evidence, the argument can be made that functional plasticity has the capacity to alter the course of cognitive aging. Losses in regional brain integrity may drive functional reorganization through changes in processing strategies and domain specific cognitive training.

These same deficits can be present in brain injured persons but the route to successful training would take a different though just as effective path.

Factors such as cognitive training, regular exercise, nutrition enrichment and  positive relationships can increase Cortical thickness . These findings were first published on animal studies but are also noted in human studies [5-10].  A combination targeted personalized brain and physical training produces specific volume changes in white and grey matter [9]

Physical exercise boosts the brain’s rate of neurogenesis throughout life, while mental exercise increases the rate at which those new brain cells survive and make functional connections into existing neural networks.[7-10] Both physical exercise and the challenge from mental exercise increase the secretion of nerve growth factor, which helps neurons grow and stay healthy.[8-10] This makes sense if we think of how exercise helps to clean out the sludge and provide oxygen so the body can make more effective use of tissues needed for regeneration and repair.  In fact scientists are now finding compounds that can increase our stem cells within the body and even then are finding that targeted solutions are needed for optimum stem cell growth health and production [14]

Nyberg found that although older brains exhibit less plasticity than do young brains overall, the benefits of training—particularly domain-specific training—can be substantial and durable [13]. Studies are showing these gains to be of 5 years + More- over, the training benefits were found to be similar to the amount of decline anticipated over 7–14 years [3, 12, and 13].

References

1.            Posner, M., & Rothbart M. Educating the human brain. Washington, DC US: American Psychological Association.; 2007:189-208. doi:10.1037/11519-009

2.            Jaeggi SM, Buschkuehl M, Jonides J, Perrig WJ. Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2008;105(19):6829-33. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18443283

3.            Willis SL, Tennstedt SL, Marsiske M, et al. Long-term effects of cognitive training on everyday functional outcomes in older adults. JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association. 2006;296(23):2805-14. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17179457

4.            Gordon E, Arns M, Paul RH. Research Report THE INTEGRATE MODEL OF EMOTION, THINKING AND SELF REGULATION: AN APPLICATION TO THE “PARADOX OF AGING”. Thinking. 2008;7(3):367-404.

5.         Greenwood PM. Functional plasticity in cognitive aging: review and hypothesis. Neuropsychology. 2007;21(6):657-73. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17983277

6.            Joseph J, Cole G, Head E, Ingram D. Mark P. Mattson, Sic L. Chan and Wenzhen Duan. Physiological Reviews. 2009:637-672.

7.            Kramer AF, Bherer L, Colcombe SJ, Dong W, Greenough WT. Environmental influences on cognitive and brain plasticity during aging. The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences. 2004;59(9):M940-57.: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15472160.

8.            Kramer, AF; Erickson KI, Colcombe SJ (2006). “Exercise, cognition, and the aging brain”. J Appl Physiol 101 (4): 1237–42. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00500.2006.

9.             Valenzuela MJ, Sachdev P, Wen W, Chen X, Brodaty H. Lifespan mental activity predicts diminished rate of hippocampal atrophy. PloS one. 2008;3(7):e2598. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18612379.

10.          Ernst C, Olson AK, Pinel JP, Lam RW, Christie BR. Antidepressant effects of exercise: evidence for an adult-neurogenesis hypothesis? Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN. 2006;31(2):84-92. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16575423

11.          Ball K, Edwards JD, Ross La. The impact of speed of processing training on cognitive and everyday functions. The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences. 2007;62 Spec No(I):19-31.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17565162.

12.          Willis, SL; SL Tennstedt, M Marsiske, et al. (2006). “Long-term effects of cognitive training on everyday functional outcomes in older adults”. JAMA 296: 2805–14. doi:10.1001/jama.296.23.2805.

13.          Nyberg, L. (2005). Cognitive training in healthy aging: A cognitive neuroscience perspective. In R. Cabeza, L. Nyberg, & D. Park (Eds.), Cognitive neuroscience of aging: Linking cognitive and cerebral aging. New York: Oxford University Press.

 14.         New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16383-drugs-unlock-the-bodys-own-stem-cell-cabinet.html}

By Ninah Kessler, LCSW

Successful Older Worker

As the population ages, especially if their portfolios don’t go up, we will see more Alzheimer’s disease in the workplace.  Because an employee with Alzheimer’s is likely to have poor judgment, it is not likely that they will ask for help. They may not realize there is a problem and may be afraid and embarrassed. The employer needs to respect the employee’s dignity and privacy, especially because they have to live with cognitive challenges.  You would not want to put a stumbling block before a blind person.

Dealing with Alzheimer’s on an individual level is best handled at regularly scheduled performance reviews where specific incidents that hinder the employee’s work can be reviewed.  The employer can then adopt a supportive stance and the suggestion that the employee might want to further explore things with their physician or EAP, keeping in mind that psychological stress, other health conditions, lack of adequate sleep or even poor nutrition can mimic Alzheimer’s.

If the employee offers to share his diagnosis, it is important for the employer to remember that a diagnosis of dementia does not wipe out the worker’s skills and experience.

Often employees with early stages of dementia can still be gainfully employed, possibly in a supportive work environment. They can still be dedicated, loyal and effective workers and their jobs can keep them effectively engaged which might act to slow the progression of dementia. While they are gainfully employed they can be strengthening the company, paying their taxes and contributing to the family income.

At Sparks of Genius Brain Optimization Center in Boca Raton we offer professional cognitive training strategies for workers with dementia. Many clients diagnosed with beginning stages of Alzheimer’s can to continue to be productive at work. Examples include:

¨      An accountant who still did the books with his wife quietly reviewing accounts before submission.

¨      A therapist who did supportive work in assisted living facilities with her husband handling the driving duties.

¨      A top notch event planner in a family owned business.

Of course we didn’t work with the country’s accomplished employee with dementia, President Ronald Reagan.  Because he had the support of trusted advisors orchestrated by his wife Nancy, he was possibly one of our most successful and definitely one of our most popular presidents.

Employees with dementia can be taught compensatory skills like writing down notes and appointments in an IPhone or personal organizer, making sure that there is a place for everything and not writing notes on scrapes of paper which can be misplaced.

On the macro level, employers need to take a look at cognitive fitness and brain optimization.  Just like the corporate world acknowledges physical wellness, cognitive wellness needs to be on the agenda.  And the two are not unrelated.

Physical exercise, a heart healthy diet, cognitive training, stress management, lifelong learning and pharmaceutical interventions have all been shown to have some effect on slowing the progression of dementia. Even rotating employees through different positions can sharpen their brains.

Employees need the help of corporations and corporations need to learn how they can benefit from employees who may have dementia.