By Paddy Kamen, publisher BetterBrainBetterLife.com

Is it possible to turn Alzheimer’s around, to have someone walk back from a diagnosis, return to work, recall foreign languages that were lost to them, and re-grow hippocampal volume? The latest research says yes, but is that research sound? This article covers the details of this groundbreaking research, along with criticism of it. 

What constitutes crazy talk with respect to Alzheimer's treatment may be a matter of opinion. Click 'Read More' below to see where the battle lines are being drawn. 

In this photo, UW students Darby Losey, left, and Jose Ceballos are positioned in two different buildings on campus as they would be during a brain-to-brain interface demonstration. The sender, left, thinks about firing a cannon at various points throughout a computer game. That signal is sent over the Web directly to the brain of the receiver, right, whose hand hits a touchpad to fire the cannon.

Learn more about this research here.

Mind training is about gaining perspective on who we are and the mystery of the world around us. This TED X talk by Polly Young-Eisendrath, a psychologist and Jungian psychoanalyst practicing in Burlington, Vermont, sheds light on how we might shift perspective and gain happiness. 
I had the privilege of meeting Young-Eisendrath and meditating in her home in Vermont some years ago. She is a colleague of my meditation teacher, Shinzen Young  (they are not related). I sense that Polly is making a wonderful contribution to our world and I consider this talk exemplary. She gives some very practical suggestions for learning to be in the moment, and for putting our experience in perspective. This is mind training, and as we know, the way we use our minds directly influences our brains.

Art & Beauty Boost Brain: Three tidbits on art and beauty on mood and stress:

By Paddy Kamen, Publisher, BetterBrainBetterLife.com

One: It turns out that music that is considered ‘sad’ can lift your spirits, but only if you also find it beautiful. Research from the Universities of Kent and Limerick tells an interesting story: http://bit.ly/1eh4bel

Two: Research from the University of Westminster showed that even a brief visit to an art gallery  lowered cortisol (stress hormone) levels: http://bit.ly/1cBTQxo

Three: I swear that reading the poetry of ee cummings is good for my brain, and certainly heightens my mood. I came across a most interesting excerpt from a book on ee cummings by Susan Cheever recently in Vanity Fair: http://vnty.fr/Lisb9O. I would also refer you to the poems: http://amzn.to/NmhuEC.

In closing….

“Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.” Saint Augustine

By Paddy Kamen, Publisher, BetterBrainBetterLife.com

Do you want your brain’s molecules to revert to a youthful state? Keep taking, or start taking the anti-depressant fluoxetine (FLX, which is also known by trade names like Prozac, Sarafem, and Fontex) if you want to get a jump on brain-youth, as it has been found in research on mice to induce a juvenile-like state in the prefrontal cortex. But watch out, you just might start spending hours in front of the mirror analyzing your skin, hair style and dance moves.

By Guest Writer Samantha Zhang

Every night when we go to sleep, our brain transforms into something quite different from its daytime state.  Not only does our brain function differently at night, but our body’s internal clock, which resides in the midbrain, brings about a slew of changes that affect the whole body, including our skin. In this case, we look at how sleep and skin health are related.

In a study commissioned by Estée Lauder, physician scientists at University Hospitals Case Medical Center conducted a variety of skin tests on a volunteer group of women.  These women were between 30-49 years old. Half of them were poor sleepers while the other half got enough sleep most nights. The goal was to compare the skin conditions of the poor sleepers with that of the good sleepers. While there has been much anecdotal evidence that links sleep with beauty, this study was the first of its kind to demonstrate this relationship via the scientific method.