The goal of this blog is to educate ourselves (you, and me) about the brain science underlying brain health. We shall have something to say, almost every day, on three grand subjects.
First, this shall be a “No Spin Zone” on the subject of brain fitness. We’ll discuss discoveries and claims that inform us about the neurology and psychology of normal and pathological aging – and just what in hell we might do about it! One special focus of our discussion shall be the rapidly growing science of “neuroplasticity” — that remarkable capacity of the brain to change (IMPROVE) itself, at any age. We’ll do a little debunking now and again, but our main goal is to be positively HELPFUL – to guide you (or the clients that you to better strategies to maximize your brain fitness, and to help assure that your “brain-span” exceeds your “life-span”!
Second, we’re going to discuss the brain origins of neurogical and psychiatric impairments and “disease”. We’ll try to keep up to date on studies of psychotic illnesses (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, OCD, depression, PTSD, Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons, et alia), and on the many identified sources of cognitive (mental) and motoric losses (traumatic brain injury, stroke, “chemobrain” and “radiationbrain” stemming from cancer treatment, et alia). Again, our goal is to discuss these human maladies from the special perspective of neuroplasticity. My goal, again, is to be positively HELPFUL – to help YOU understand your very substantial capacity for improvement and recovery, and the possible strategies that can help you achieve them.
Third, we’ll spend lots of time talking about the neuroscience of child development, and of a wide variety of problems that limit the achievements of kids. Those achievements are, again, a product of their “plastic” brain. When a kid falls behind in their development or in their achievements, the normal brain plasticity processes have contributed to their limitations. At the same time (the GOOD news), it is also a great resource for lifting that ceiling for a child. Our goal here is to help guide a parent or guardian or health professional or therapist to understand how brain science informs us about effective strategies for the amelioration or re-normalization of such a child’s abilities.
We’re going to keep all of this information neatly sorted out at this blog site. You’ll have the option of reading about all of these subjects, if that is of interest to you. Many of you shall choose to limit yourselves to the sub-topic that most directly affects you, or the people you love or help. My goal is to have something new to say about all three of these subjects at least 3 or 4 times each week.
I’m counting on those of you who are “in the know” to help feed information to me to enrich this effort. Don’t be shy about telling me when I’m wrong, or incomplete, or have just plain missed the point! And please don’t be shy about telling me about important things that our special community — the readers of this blog — should be aware of!
