Category: Brain Research

Reversing Alzheimer's: Is This Crazy Talk?

7/28/2016

By Paddy Kamen, publisher BetterBrainBetterLife.com

Dale Bredesen

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.

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Dementia Patients Sought for Exciting Research

1/6/2015

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Marvin Berman, Ph.D.

Infrared Light Helps Dementia Patients

We're pleased to welcome Marvin Berman as a guest writer. His work with depression, anxiety, addictions and learning disabilities is now augmented by his research into near-infrared light stimulation (NIRS) to the brain. As you will read, he is seeking dementia patients for a two-year study into NIRS combined with neurofeedback. In this, the International Year of Light, Dr. Berman's research is both timely and very promising for humankind.

By Marvin H. Berman, Ph.D.

A diagnosis of dementia can be terrifying to patients and their loved ones. Some psychologists are suggesting that we should not even use the word ‘dementia’ when describing test results, saying it is preferable to talk about the ‘memory challenges’ and ‘executive functioning deficits’. The wife of a patient of mine who is struggling with short-term memory loss and expressive aphasia (can’t find the right word), recently told me she feared that if her husband was told that he probably had Alzheimer’s, he might commit suicide. She therefore spent countless hours and huge sums of money trying different methods to improve his condition but wouldn’t tell him what she knew and forbade the doctors from informing him directly of his diagnosis.

But avoidance and denial create tremendous stress on the family, coloring all interactions to the point where everyone puts their energies into ensuring they don’t say something they shouldn’t. Instead of denial, families need to spend time talking about what’s really important, namely the time they spend together, including their feelings about the unknowns they are all facing as the disease progresses. Finding ways to support one another takes time and thought and support from doctors and other experts, as well as the growing dementia-support community.

What patients and families need most is a sense of hope that something can be done to stop the progression of memory loss. Several hundred drug trials worldwide have so far been unsuccessful and interest is now focusing on new alternative approaches. As a neuroscientist, clinician and researcher (I founded the Quietmind Foundation and Quietmind Associates Brain Enhancement and Treatment Center in Plymouth Meeting, PA, 15 years ago), I’ve been working with brainwave biofeedback or neurofeedback (NFB), and near-infrared light stimulation (NIRS) to the brain for the past seven years. I’m very encouraged with the results we’re seeing with these technologies and I believe they hold great promise for those affected by neurodegenerative diseases including dementia and Parkinson’s disease.

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E-Readers are Harmful at Night

12/26/2014

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E-Readers are Great, but Your Brain Needs Sleep!
By Paddy Kamen, Publisher, BetterBrainBetterLife

Did you receive an e-reader as a gift this year? If so, lucky you: they are excellent travel companions and can make the reading experience better (I like the Kindle notes and highlights features and use an iPad also). However, reading from a light-emitting (LE) e-reading device before bed can seriously disrupt your sleep, according to research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston, MA.

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Controlling the Brain's Ability to Remember

11/14/2014

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Dr. Keith Murai

By Paddy Kamen, Publisher, BetterBrainBetterLife

Sometimes the brain remembers too much, as with autism, and other times too little, as with Alzheimer's disease. Researchers from McGill University have discovered a protein trigger that controls how this happens in the brain.

Led by Dr. Keith Murai, associate professor in the department of neurology and neurosurgery, the researchers found they could either block or enhance the brain's ability to create the new molecules necessary for new memory formation.

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Brain to Brain Interface

11/6/2014

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Credit: U Washington

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.

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Notes, News and Views

Reversing Alzheimer's: Is This Crazy Talk?

Dementia Patients Sought for Exciting Research

E-Readers are Harmful at Night

Controlling the Brain's Ability to Remember

Brain to Brain Interface

Subjects

Notes, News and Views

Reversing Alzheimer's: Is This Crazy Talk?

Dementia Patients Sought for Exciting Research

E-Readers are Harmful at Night

Controlling the Brain's Ability to Remember﻿

Brain to Brain Interface

Subjects

Controlling the Brain's Ability to Remember