Brain Health Blog

Category Archives: Aging

Eating fish may reduce risk of stroke

By Gregory Kellett, a cognitive neuroscience researcher at SFSU and UCSF, and science writer for Lumos Labs.
Eating lots of fish, the ultimate brain food, was recently associated with reduced risk of stroke.
A study conducted by Jyrki Virtanen and his crew at the University of Kuopio in Finland found that people who ate more fish tended [...]

Physical Exercise and Brain Blood Flow

By Gregory Kellett, a cognitive neuroscience researcher at SFSU and science writer for Lumos Labs .
Recent findings have linked exercising regularly with increased cerebral blood flow and a greater number of blood vessels in the brain.

While it has been shown in the past that aerobic exercise might reduce cognitive decline, this study [...]

Smoking and the Brain

By Gregory Kellett, a cognitive neuroscience researcher at SFSU and UCSF, and science writer for Lumos Labs.
A recent research review to be published in the journal Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry shows a link between cigarette smoking and adverse changes in the function and physiology of the brain. Summarizing the findings of dozens [...]

Older People Learning Newer Tricks

By Gregory Kellett, a cognitive neuroscience researcher at SFSU and UCSF, and science writer for Lumos Labs.
Recent research coming out of Hamburg, Germany and published in the Journal of Neuroscience demonstrates that older brains still have the flexibility to literally grow. Researcher Janina Boyke and crew, split 50 people with an average age of 60 [...]

Good Cholesterol and Good Memory

By Gregory Kellett, a cognitive neuroscience researcher at SFSU and UCSF, and writer for Lumos Labs.
A recent British study published by the American Heart Association suggests that the balance of cholesterol in our blood may affect not only heart health but also memory performance. It is widely accepted that diets promoting “Good” cholesterol, otherwise known [...]

Cognitive training and aging

K. Warner Schaie and Sherry L. Willis are two of the more important researchers in the area of aging and cognitive training. They oversee the Seattle Longitudinal Study, which followed adults across many years as they grew older, regularly monitoring their cognitive status. Among their most important findings:

Through cognitive training (exercises for the brain), older [...]

Memory problems in aging men

Men more likely to have problems with memory and thinking skills
CHICAGO – When it comes to remembering things, new research shows men are more likely than women to have mild cognitive impairment, the transition stage before dementia. The research will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago, April [...]

Genetic Component of Alzheimer’s Disease

By Lumos Labs Science Associate, Paul Li, MS Neuroscience.
There is some new evidence that Alzheimer’s disease is much more likely for people whose parents both have the neurodegenerative disorder than if only one parent has it. Researchers examined families in which both parents have Alzheimer’s, and found that their children ended up with the disease [...]