Rockford Counseling Discovery-Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro IC Released
Rockford Counseling Discovery
Is high tech sobriety here? Not quite. This is pretty amazing stuff, and it does not take the place of your basic 12 Step program for those of you not concerned with impulse control issues. I imagine that the use of Mind Sparke is going to be very helpful in sobriety too, especially in those difficult early days.
For those of you who do not know, I have been a fan of the concepts of neurogenesis and neuroplasticity since reading about them about three years ago.
I am working on increasing my own neurogenesis and neuroplasticity by attending to what are routinely called the Pillars of Brain Fitness, which are physical exercise, good nutrition including antioxidants and omega 3 fatty acids, good sleep, stress management and novel learing experiences, which usually describe the kind of learning we undertake when we learn a new language or instrument, and this last pillar also can include online brain fitness programs.
I have played with three of the online tools, one of which is Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro, and it is an excellent program for training attention and focus. Most folks in the early stages of recovery are less than confident in their ability to manage impulse control, and using a tool like Mind Sparke, and watching their progress, would be a great tool for recovering folks to have.
But I think the information below is intended for those who want to cut back, and it will certainly help with focus and awareness as those relate to cutting back.
MindSparke, a leading publisher of cognitive training programs, today announced the publication of new software designed to help customers reduce drinking, quit smoking and increase overall impulse control. Brain Fitness Pro IC (Impulse Control) combines working memory training with meditation, positive reinforcement, and brain entrainment to produce a tool for strengthening willpower by boosting the brain’s capacity for executive control.
Rockford Counseling Discovery-Omega-3s reduce stroke severity, study suggests
Rockford Counseling Discovery
Looks there is some more evidence pointing to what the brain fitness folks have been saying for awhile. Remember those pillars of brain fitness? They are physical exercise, good nutrition including omega 3 fatty acid and antioxidants, good sleep, and novel learning experiences.
If we indulge those things daily, we increase neurogenesis and neuroplasticity, which makes the brain better at deciding what the next right thing to do is. In fact, according to the information below, omega 3 has anti-inflammatory capacities that help in the aftermath of stroke.
The best source of omega 3 is fish, deep water ocean going fish, which could make you susceptible to mercury poisoning, so you may want to look at supplements. There are dietary sources also, walnuts, flax seed, and avocado also…but do not eat a pound of guacamole claiming that you need to get your omega 3′s.
“ScienceDaily (2011-08-25) — A diet rich in omega-3s reduces the severity of brain damage after a stroke, according to a new study. Researches have shown that the extent of brain damage following a stroke was reduced by 25 percent in mice that consumed DHA type omega-3s daily.”
Rockford Counseling Discovery-Brain Fitness Updates.
Rockford Counseling Discovery
First of all, thanks to those of you who have followed or visited my website. I am grateful for your interest and participation.
It is a bit of an anniversary for me. I really began to pour effort into this website in in the summer of 2010, in order to be more visible for counseling keywords in the Rockford market. One of the importaant ideas that I want to communicate to my potential clients is that healthy change is very possible. I have seen folks make some tremendous changes using the traditional talk therapy, EEG Biofeedback, Heartmath or heart rate variability biofeedback, AA, Open Focus, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, and I have recommended a brain fitness lifestyle since I read a book written by Norman Diodge, M.D. called The Brain That Changes Itself, which was my introduction to the concepts of neurogenesis and neuroplasticity, and what we lay people call brain fitness. So I bought some of the commercial brain fitness programs available, including the Mind Sparke Brain Fitness Pro, Lumosity, and the Posit Science Brain Fitness Program, and used them. They are all excellent, and all challenging to my Boomer Brain. In other words, I am helping my brain to grow more new neurons, which is called neurogenesis, (and nobody knew we human’s could do that until recently) and I am helping my brain to form more new connections, and to keep them in what the neuroscientist call a ‘cognitive reserve’.
I was also interested in determining whether use of the brain fitness programs could help me reverse a trend I was noticing in myself, an occasional lapse in word recall. The use of the online programs, particularly the Posit Science program (for me) was very useful in that regard.
But I have not kept up with changes in the programs for about one year, so I was very surprised to come across the recent addition to Lumosity of a version of the dual n back task. That is good news for me. I like that I can use all the other Lumosity brain fitness tools and the dual n back in one workout. Want to give it a try? Improve Your Memory: Scientifically designed games and regular training. Free Trial. The dual n back task has been shown to increase what we call fluid intelligence, or the intelligence we use to solve problems that involve the creation of a new solution. (Crystallized intelligence is the intellegence we use to solve the re-occurance of a problem. It is the intelligence used previously.)
If you want more information on brain fitness in general, please visit AskMiketheCounselor2.com, and please let me know here of there what your experience was like. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy your free trial.
