Can We Improve Brain Fitness?
What Is Brain Fitness?
Brain fitness is having brain-based emotional, cognitive, and self-regulation capacities needed to succeed in one's environment. Brain fitness refers to different techniques and strategies such as cognitive training to keep the brain 'in shape' by being engaged in mental exercises that target and engage the senses, memory, and attention. For all ages, as well as for people suffering from ADHD, learning disorders, memory loss, and even brain injury, keeping the brain' fit' is recognised as helpful and important.
Just as physical fitness has become a central topic related to human health and wellbeing over the past decades, the recent explosion of research into brain structure, organization, and function signals that brain fitness is quickly catching up as one of the critical areas of scientific investigation.
This is because research into the concept of brain fitness seems to cut across several major concepts that affect nearly every aspect of our lives—such as learning, memory, plasticity, and environment.
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The idea of brain fitness is based on the understanding that the human brain can be trained or rehabilitated by manipulating stimuli and environmental influences—a concept known as brain plasticity—and that learning continues to affect brain fitness and the ability to learn in a never-ending cycle.
Can We Improve Brain Fitness?
Today, people are beginning to recognize the importance of keeping the brain fit and healthy in a similar manner to our body. Over time, our cognitive abilities, such as memory or hand-eye coordination, tend to decline. Keeping those cognitive skills in top shape allows us to remain sharp and enjoy our daily life and experiences.
Mental training can be an integral part of maintaining a healthy mental state. Maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle, and keeping the mind stimulated regularly can help boost our cognition and support the different cognitive skills we use daily.
Maintain A Healthy Lifestyle : Anyone who has had to perform on stage or give a speech in front of a large group of people knows that stress and anxiety, supposedly mental phenomenon, can manifest in physical discomforts such as "Butterflies" in our stomachs, sweaty palms, and increased heart rate.
Get Plenty of Exercise: Staying active with physical exercise can help reduce the risk of a number of diseases and is therapeutic for a number of physical alterations, from prostate cancer to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
Keep Your Brain Stimulated: Staying mentally active is just as important as staying physically active. Like an athlete will remain active between training sessions, staying mentally active can help anyone maintain Brain Fitness and get the most out of their training.
Following are the top companies working on this research are CogniFit, CNS Vital Signs, NovaVision, Cogmed, BrainHQ, Advanced Brain Technologies, Synaptikon, SMARTfit, Lumos Labs, MyBrainTrainer.
Many startups are introducing novel products and services that help the populace to tackle mental stress. Here are some startups and the type of products and services they offer.
Psious: With a finding of €10.1 mn, Psious offers a mobile-based technology made by psychologists that creates hyper-realistic virtual environments. This platform helps in tackling anxiety disorders through virtual exposure therapy.
Lyra: This U.S.-based startup is promoting brain fitness through serving as a medium between various companies and their employees to mental health providers.
Urgotech: Founded in 2015, Urgotech explores technological innovations for a good brain fitness experience. It recently introduced a padded headband known as Urgonight that uses neurofeedback therapy to display a real-time display of the brain activity. The device also connects to an app and teaches to control the brain waves that impact sleep.
References:
https://www.cognifit.com/brain-fitness
https://www.theinsightpartners.com/reports/brain-fitness-market