Synergistic Brain-Training

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Let The Games Begin (But It Matters What Kind)

Exercise is good for brain health; we’ve written about this before, for example:

How To Reduce Your Alzheimer’s Risk ← there are many advices here, but exercise, especially cardiovascular exercise in this case, is an important item on the list!

Today it’s Psychology Sunday though, and we’re going to talk about looking after brain health by means of brain-training, via games.

“Brain-training” gets a lot of hype and flak:

  • Hype: do sudoku every day and soon you will have an IQ of 200 and still have a sharp wit at the age of 120
  • Flak: brain-training is usually training only one kind of cognitive function, with limited transferability to the rest of life

The reality is somewhere between the two. Brain training really does improve not just outwardly measurable cognitive function, but also internally measurable improvements visible on brain scans, for example:

But what about the transferability?

Let us play

This is where game-based brain-training comes in. And, the more complex the game, the better the benefits, because there is more chance of applicability to life, e.g:

  • Sudoku: very limited applicability
  • Crosswords: language faculties
  • Chess: spatial reasoning, critical path analysis, planning, memory, focus (also unlike the previous two, chess tends to be social for most people, and also involve a lot of reading, if one is keen)
  • Computer games: wildly varied depending on the game. While an arcade-style “shoot-em-up” may do little for the brain, there is a lot of potential for a lot of much more relevant brain-training in other kinds of games: it could be planning, problem-solving, social dynamics, economics, things that mirror the day-to-day challenges of running a household, even, or a business.
    • It’s not that the skills are useful, by the way. Playing “Stardew Valley” will not qualify you to run a real farm, nor will playing “Civilization” qualify you to run a country. But the brain functions used and trained? Those are important.

It becomes easily explicable, then, why these two research reviews with very similar titles got very different results:

The first review found that game-based brain-training had negligible actual use. The “games” they looked at? BrainGymmer, BrainHQ, CogMed, CogniFit, Dakim, Lumosity, and MyBrainTrainer. In other words, made-for-purpose brain-trainers, not actual computer games per se.

The second reviewfound that game-based training was very beneficial. The games they looked at? They didn’t name them, but based on the descriptions, they were actual multiplayer online turn-based computer games, not made-for-purpose brain-trainers.

To summarize the above in few words: multiplayer online turn-based computer games outperform made-for-purpose brain-trainers for cognitive improvement.

Bringing synergy

However, before you order that expensive gaming-chair for marathon gaming sessions (research suggests a tail-off in usefulness after about an hour of continuous gaming per session, by the way), be aware that cognitive training and (physical) exercise training combined, performed close in time to each other or simultaneously, perform better than the sum of either alone:

Comparing the effect of cognitive vs. exercise training on brain MRI outcomes in healthy older adults: A systematic review

See also:

Simultaneous training was the most efficacious approach for cognition, followed by sequential combinations and cognitive training alone, and significantly better than physical exercise.

Our findings suggest that simultaneously and sequentially combined interventions are efficacious for promoting cognitive alongside physical health in older adults, and therefore should be preferred over implementation of single-domain training

~ Dr. Hanna Malmberg Gavelin et al.

Source: Combined physical and cognitive training for older adults with and without cognitive impairment: A systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Take care!

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    Stop wasting time with ineffective stretching methods. Get specific, effective techniques for flexibility, strength, and mobility goals. No age limit. Stretch scientifically with this book.

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  • Lower Cholesterol Naturally

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Lower Cholesterol, Without Statins

    We’ll start this off by saying that lowering cholesterol might not, in fact, be critical or even especially helpful for everyone, especially in the case of women. We covered this more in our article about statins:

    Statins: His & Hers?

    …which was largely informed by the wealth of data in this book:

    The Truth About Statins – by Dr. Barbara H. Roberts

    …which in turn, may in fact put a lot of people off statins. We’re not here to tell you don’t use them—they may indeed be useful or even critical for some people, as Dr. Roberts herself also makes makes clear. But rather, we always recommend learning as much as possible about what’s going on, to be able to make the most informed choices when it comes to what often might be literally life-and-death decisions.

    On which note, if anyone would like a quick refresher on cholesterol, what it actually is (in its various forms) and what it does, why we need it, the problems it can cause anyway, then here you go:

    Demystifying Cholesterol

    Now, with all that in mind, we’re going to assume that you, dear reader, would like to know:

    • how to lower your LDL cholesterol, and/or
    • how to maintain a safe LDL cholesterol level

    Because, while the jury’s out on the dangers of high LDL levels for women in particular, it’s clear that for pretty much everyone, maintaining them within well-established safe zones won’t hurt.

    Here’s how:

    Relax

    Or rather, manage your stress. This doesn’t just reduce your acute risk of a heart attack, it also improves your blood metrics along the way, and yes, that includes not just blood pressure and blood sugars, but even triglycerides! Here’s the science for that, complete with numbers:

    What are the effects of psychological stress and physical work on blood lipid profiles?

    With that in mind, here’s…

    How To Manage Chronic Stress (Even While Chronically Stressed)

    Not chemically “relaxed”, though

    While relaxing is important, drinking alcohol and smoking are unequivocally bad for pretty much everything, and this includes cholesterol levels:

    Can We Drink To Good Health? ← this also covers popular beliefs about red wine and heart health, and the answer is no, we cannot

    As for smoking, it is good to quit as soon as possible, unless your doctor specifically advises you otherwise (there are occasional situations where something else needs to be dealt with first, but not as many some might like to believe):

    Addiction Myths That Are Hard To Quit

    If you’re wondering about cannabis (CBD and/or THC), then we’d love to tell you about the effect these things have on heart health in general and cholesterol levels in particular, but the science is far too young (mostly because of the historic, and in some places contemporary, illegality cramping the research), and we could only find small, dubious, mutually contradictory studies so far. So the honest answer is: science doesn’t know this one, yet.

    Exercise… But don’t worry, you can still stay relaxed

    When it comes to heart health, the most important thing is keeping moving, so getting in those famous 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise is critical, and getting more is ideal.

    240 minutes per week is a neat 40 minutes per day, by the way and is very attainable (this writer lives a 20-minute walk away from where she does her daily grocery shopping, thus making for a daily 40-minute round trip, not counting the actual shopping).

    See: The Doctor Who Wants Us To Exercise Less, And Move More

    If walking is for some reason not practical for you, here’s a whole list of fun options that don’t feel like exercise but are:

    No-Exercise Exercise!

    Manage your hormones

    This one is mostly for menopausal women, though some people with atypical hormonal situations may find it applicable too.

    Estrogen protects the heart… Until it doesn’t:

    Menopause can bring increased cholesterol levels and other heart risks. Here’s why and what to do about it

    See also: World Menopause Day: Menopause & Cardiovascular Disease Risk

    Here’s a great introduction to sorting it out, if necessary:

    Dr. Jen Gunter: What You Should Have Been Told About Menopause Beforehand

    Eat a heart-healthy diet

    Shocking nobody, but it has to be said, for the sake of being methodical. So, what does that look like?

    What Matters Most For Your Heart? Eat More (Of This) For Lower Blood Pressure

    (it’s fiber in the #1 spot, but there’s a list of most important things there, that’s worth checking out and comparing it to what you habitually eat)

    You can also check out the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) edition of the Mediterranean diet, here:

    Four Ways To Upgrade The Mediterranean Diet

    As for saturated fat (and especially trans-fats), the basic answer is to keep them to minimal, but there is room for nuance with saturated fats at least:

    Can Saturated Fats Be Healthy?

    And lastly, do make sure to get enough omega 3 fatty-acids:

    What Omega-3s Really Do For Us

    And enjoy plant sterols and stanols! This would need a whole list of their own, so here you go:

    Take These To Lower Cholesterol! (Statin Alternatives)

    Take care!

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  • Brazil Nuts vs Hazelnuts – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing Brazil nuts to hazelnuts, we picked the hazelnuts.

    Why?

    In terms of macros, Brazil nuts have more fats (including more omega-3, and/but also including more saturated fat) while hazelnuts have more fiber, carbs, and protein. So, which one wins this round is a little subjective; we’d say it’s the fiber for hazelnuts that cinch it, but we could also reasonably declare this round a tie.

    In the category of vitamins, Brazil nuts are not higher in any vitamins, while hazelnuts are higher in vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, C, E, K, and choline. And the margins of difference are large in most cases. An easy win for hazelnuts here.

    When it comes to minerals, things get interesting: Brazil nuts have more calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and selenium, while hazelnuts have more iron, manganese, and potassium, but!

    Before we crown Brazil nuts with a 4:3 win in this category, though, let’s take a closer look at those selenium levels:

    • A cup of hazelnuts contains 13% of the RDA of selenium. Your hair will be luscious and shiny.
    • A cup of Brazil nuts contains 10,456% of the RDA of selenium. This is way past the point of selenium toxicity, and your (luscious, shiny) hair will fall out.

    For this reason, it’s recommended to eat no more than 3–4 Brazil nuts per day.

    We consider that a point against Brazil nuts.

    Adding up the sections makes for an overall win for hazelnuts, but by all means enjoy either or both, we just recommend to practise moderation when it comes to the Brazil nuts!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like:

    Why You Should Diversify Your Nuts

    Enjoy!

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  • I lost weight and my period stopped. How are weight and menstruation linked?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    You may have noticed that changes in weight are sometimes accompanied by changes in your period.

    But what does one really have to do with the other?

    Maintaining a healthy weight is key to regular menstruation. Here’s why – and when to talk to your doctor.

    The role of hormones

    The menstrual cycle – including when you bleed and ovulate – is regulated by a balance of hormones, particularly oestrogen.

    The ovaries are connected to the brain through a hormonal signalling system. This acts as a kind of “chain of command” of hormones controlling the menstrual cycle.

    The brain produces a key hormone, called the gonadotropin-releasing hormone, in the hypothalamus. It stimulates the release of other hormones which tell the ovaries to produce oestrogen and release a mature egg (ovulation).

    But the release of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone depends on oestrogen levels and how much energy is available to the body. Both of these are closely related to body weight.

    Oestrogen is primarily produced in the ovaries, but fat cells also produce oestrogen. This is why weight – and more specifically body fat – can affect menstruation.

    Woman in pyjamas lies on a bed holding a hot water bottle.
    Fat cells produce oestrogen, a hormone with a key role in the menstrual cycle. Halfpoint/Shutterstock

    Can being underweight affect my period?

    The body prioritises conserving energy. When reserves are low it stops anything non-essential, such as reproduction.

    This can happen when you are underweight, or suddenly lose weight. It can also happen to people who undertake intense exercise or have inadequate nutrition.

    The stress sends the hypothalamus into survival mode. As a result, the body lowers its production of the hormones important to ovulation, including oestrogen, and stops menstruation.

    Being chronically underweight means not having enough energy available to support reproduction, which can lead to menstrual irregularities including amenorrhea (no periods at all).

    This results in very low oestrogen levels and can cause potentially serious health risks, including infertility and bone loss.

    Missing periods is not always a cause for concern. But a chronic lack of energy availability can be, if not addressed. The two are linked, meaning understanding your period and being aware of any prolonged changes is important.

    How about being overweight?

    Higher body fat can elevate oestrogen levels.

    When you’re overweight your body stores extra energy in fat cells, which produce oestrogen and other hormones and can cause inflammation in the body. So, if you have a lot of fat cells, your body produces an excess of these hormones. This can affect normal functioning of the uterus lining (endometrium).

    Excess oestrogen and inflammation can interfere in the feedback system to the brain and stop ovulation. As a result, you may have irregular or missed periods.

    It can also lead to pain (dysmenorrhea) and heavier bleeding (menorrhagia).

    Being overweight can sometimes worsen premenstrual syndrome as well. One study found for every 1 kg increase in height (m²) in body mass index (BMI), the risk of premenstrual syndrome went up by 3%. Women with a BMI over 27.5 kg/m² had a much higher risk than those with a BMI under 20 kg/m².

    What else might be going on?

    Sometimes weight changes are linked to hormonal balances that indicate an underlying condition.

    For example, people with polycystic ovary syndrome may gain weight or find it hard to lose weight because they have a hormonal imbalance, including higher levels of testosterone.

    The syndrome is also associated with irregular periods and heavy bleeding. So, if you notice these symptoms, it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor.

    Similarly, weight changes and irregular periods in midlife might signal the start of perimenopause, the period before menopause (when your periods stop altogether).

    A woman in her forties gives her daughter a piggyback ride.
    Changes in weight and your period could be a sign of menopause approaching. Sabrina Bracher/Shutterstock

    When should I worry?

    Small changes in when your period comes or how long it lasts are usually harmless.

    Similarly, slight fluctuations in weight won’t usually have a significant impact on your period – or the changes may be so subtle you don’t notice them.

    But regular menstruation is an important marker of female health. Sometimes changes in flow, regularity or the pain you experience can indicate there’s something else going on.

    If you notice changes and they don’t feel right to you, speak to a health care provider.

    Mia Schaumberg, Associate Professor in Physiology, School of Health, University of the Sunshine Coast and Laura Pernoud, PhD Candidate in Women’s Health, School of Health, University of the Sunshine Coast

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Related Posts

  • Human Connection In An All-Too-Busy World
  • Do We Simply Not Care About Old People?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The covid-19 pandemic would be a wake-up call for America, advocates for the elderly predicted: incontrovertible proof that the nation wasn’t doing enough to care for vulnerable older adults.

    The death toll was shocking, as were reports of chaos in nursing homes and seniors suffering from isolation, depression, untreated illness, and neglect. Around 900,000 older adults have died of covid-19 to date, accounting for 3 of every 4 Americans who have perished in the pandemic.

    But decisive actions that advocates had hoped for haven’t materialized. Today, most people — and government officials — appear to accept covid as a part of ordinary life. Many seniors at high risk aren’t getting antiviral therapies for covid, and most older adults in nursing homes aren’t getting updated vaccines. Efforts to strengthen care quality in nursing homes and assisted living centers have stalled amid debate over costs and the availability of staff. And only a small percentage of people are masking or taking other precautions in public despite a new wave of covid, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus infections hospitalizing and killing seniors.

    In the last week of 2023 and the first two weeks of 2024 alone, 4,810 people 65 and older lost their lives to covid — a group that would fill more than 10 large airliners — according to data provided by the CDC. But the alarm that would attend plane crashes is notably absent. (During the same period, the flu killed an additional 1,201 seniors, and RSV killed 126.)

    “It boggles my mind that there isn’t more outrage,” said Alice Bonner, 66, senior adviser for aging at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. “I’m at the point where I want to say, ‘What the heck? Why aren’t people responding and doing more for older adults?’”

    It’s a good question. Do we simply not care?

    I put this big-picture question, which rarely gets asked amid debates over budgets and policies, to health care professionals, researchers, and policymakers who are older themselves and have spent many years working in the aging field. Here are some of their responses.

    The pandemic made things worse. Prejudice against older adults is nothing new, but “it feels more intense, more hostile” now than previously, said Karl Pillemer, 69, a professor of psychology and gerontology at Cornell University.

    “I think the pandemic helped reinforce images of older people as sick, frail, and isolated — as people who aren’t like the rest of us,” he said. “And human nature being what it is, we tend to like people who are similar to us and be less well disposed to ‘the others.’”

    “A lot of us felt isolated and threatened during the pandemic. It made us sit there and think, ‘What I really care about is protecting myself, my wife, my brother, my kids, and screw everybody else,’” said W. Andrew Achenbaum, 76, the author of nine books on aging and a professor emeritus at Texas Medical Center in Houston.

    In an environment of “us against them,” where everybody wants to blame somebody, Achenbaum continued, “who’s expendable? Older people who aren’t seen as productive, who consume resources believed to be in short supply. It’s really hard to give old people their due when you’re terrified about your own existence.”

    Although covid continues to circulate, disproportionately affecting older adults, “people now think the crisis is over, and we have a deep desire to return to normal,” said Edwin Walker, 67, who leads the Administration on Aging at the Department of Health and Human Services. He spoke as an individual, not a government representative.

    The upshot is “we didn’t learn the lessons we should have,” and the ageism that surfaced during the pandemic hasn’t abated, he observed.

    Ageism is pervasive. “Everyone loves their own parents. But as a society, we don’t value older adults or the people who care for them,” said Robert Kramer, 74, co-founder and strategic adviser at the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care.

    Kramer thinks boomers are reaping what they have sown. “We have chased youth and glorified youth. When you spend billions of dollars trying to stay young, look young, act young, you build in an automatic fear and prejudice of the opposite.”

    Combine the fear of diminishment, decline, and death that can accompany growing older with the trauma and fear that arose during the pandemic, and “I think covid has pushed us back in whatever progress we were making in addressing the needs of our rapidly aging society. It has further stigmatized aging,” said John Rowe, 79, professor of health policy and aging at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

    “The message to older adults is: ‘Your time has passed, give up your seat at the table, stop consuming resources, fall in line,’” said Anne Montgomery, 65, a health policy expert at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. She believes, however, that baby boomers can “rewrite and flip that script if we want to and if we work to change systems that embody the values of a deeply ageist society.”

    Integration, not separation, is needed. The best way to overcome stigma is “to get to know the people you are stigmatizing,” said G. Allen Power, 70, a geriatrician and the chair in aging and dementia innovation at the Schlegel-University of Waterloo Research Institute for Aging in Canada. “But we separate ourselves from older people so we don’t have to think about our own aging and our own mortality.”

    The solution: “We have to find ways to better integrate older adults in the community as opposed to moving them to campuses where they are apart from the rest of us,” Power said. “We need to stop seeing older people only through the lens of what services they might need and think instead of all they have to offer society.”

    That point is a core precept of the National Academy of Medicine’s 2022 report Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity. Older people are a “natural resource” who “make substantial contributions to their families and communities,” the report’s authors write in introducing their findings.

    Those contributions include financial support to families, caregiving assistance, volunteering, and ongoing participation in the workforce, among other things.

    “When older people thrive, all people thrive,” the report concludes.

    Future generations will get their turn. That’s a message Kramer conveys in classes he teaches at the University of Southern California, Cornell, and other institutions. “You have far more at stake in changing the way we approach aging than I do,” he tells his students. “You are far more likely, statistically, to live past 100 than I am. If you don’t change society’s attitudes about aging, you will be condemned to lead the last third of your life in social, economic, and cultural irrelevance.”

    As for himself and the baby boom generation, Kramer thinks it’s “too late” to effect the meaningful changes he hopes the future will bring.

    “I suspect things for people in my generation could get a lot worse in the years ahead,” Pillemer said. “People are greatly underestimating what the cost of caring for the older population is going to be over the next 10 to 20 years, and I think that’s going to cause increased conflict.”

    KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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    Subscribe to KFF Health News’ free Morning Briefing.

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  • Decoding Hormone Balancing in Ads

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    It’s Q&A Time!

    This is the bit whereby each week, we respond to subscriber questions/requests/etc

    Have something you’d like to ask us, or ask us to look into? Hit reply to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom, and a Real Human™ will be glad to read it!

    Q: As to specific health topics, I would love to see someone address all these Instagram ads targeted to women that claim “You only need to ‘balance your hormones’ to lose weight, get ripped, etc.” What does this mean? Which hormones are they all talking about? They all seem to be selling a workout program and/or supplements or something similar, as they are ads, after all. Is there any science behind this stuff or is it mostly hot air, as I suspect?

    Thank you for asking this, as your question prompted yesterday’s main feature, What Does “Balancing Your Hormones” Even Mean?

    That’s a great suggestion also about addressing ads (and goes for health-related things in general, not just hormonal stuff) and examining their claims, what they mean, how they work (if they work!), and what’s “technically true but may be misleading* cause confusion”

    *We don’t want companies to sue us, of course.

    Only, we’re going to need your help for this one, subscribers!

    See, here at 10almonds we practice what we preach. We limit screen time, we focus on our work when working, and simply put, we don’t see as many ads as our thousands of subscribers do. Also, ads tend to be targeted to the individual, and often vary from country to country, so chances are good that we’re not seeing the same ads that you’re seeing.

    So, how about we pull together as a bit of a 10almonds community project?

    • Step 1: add our email address to your contacts list, if you haven’t already
    • Step 2: When you see an ad you’re curious about, select “share” (there is usually an option to share ads, but if not, feel free to screenshot or such)
    • Step 3: Send the ad to us by email

    We’ll do the rest! Whenever we have enough ads to review, we’ll do a special on the topic.

    We will categorically not be able to do this without you, so please do join in—Many thanks in advance!

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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  • Fast Diet, Fast Exercise, Fast Improvements

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    Diet & Exercise, Optimized

    This is Dr. Michael Mosley. He originally trained in medicine with the intention of becoming a psychiatrist, but he grew disillusioned with psychiatry as it was practised, and ended up pivoting completely into being a health educator, in which field he won the British Medical Association’s Medical Journalist of the Year Award.

    He also died under tragic circumstances very recently (he and his wife were vacationing in Greece, he went missing while out for a short walk on the 5th of June, appears to have got lost, and his body was found 100 yards from a restaurant on the 9th). All strength and comfort to his family; we offer our small tribute here today in his honor.

    The “weekend warrior” of fasting

    Dr. Mosley was an enjoyer (and proponent) of intermittent fasting, which we’ve written about before:

    Fasting Without Crashing? We Sort The Science From The Hype

    However, while most attention is generally given to the 16:8 method of intermittent fasting (fast for 16 hours, eat during an 8 hour window, repeat), Dr. Mosley preferred the 5:2 method (which generally means: eat at will for 5 days, then eat a reduced calorie diet for the other 2 days).

    Specifically, he advocated putting that cap at 800 kcal for each of the weekend days (doesn’t have to be specifically the weekend).

    He also tweaked the “eat at will for 5 days” part, to “eat as much as you like of a low-carb Mediterranean diet for 5 days”:

    ❝The “New 5:2” approach involves restricting calories to 800 on fasting days, then eating a healthy lower carb, Mediterranean-style diet for the rest of the week.

    The beauty of intermittent fasting means that as your insulin sensitivity returns, you will feel fuller for longer on smaller portions. This is why, on non-fasting days, you do not have to count calories, just eat sensible portions. By maintaining a Mediterranean-style diet, you will consume all of the healthy fats, protein, fibre and fresh plant-based food that your body needs.❞

    ~ Dr. Michael Mosley

    Read more: The Fast 800 | The New 5:2

    And about that tweaked Mediterranean Diet? You might also want to check out:

    Four Ways To Upgrade The Mediterranean Diet

    Knowledge is power

    Dr. Mosley encouraged the use of genotyping tests for personal health, not just to know about risk factors, but also to know about things such as, for example, whether you have the gene that makes you unable to gain significant improvements in aerobic fitness by following endurance training programs:

    The Real Benefit Of Genetic Testing

    On which note, he himself was not a fan of exercise, but recognised its importance, and instead sought to minimize the amount of exercise he needed to do, by practising High Intensity Interval Training. We reviewed a book of his (teamed up with a sports scientist) not long back; here it is:

    Fast Exercise: The Simple Secret of High Intensity Training – by Dr. Michael Mosley & Peta Bee

    You can also read our own article on the topic, here:

    How To Do HIIT (Without Wrecking Your Body)

    Just One Thing…

    As well as his many educational TV shows, Dr. Mosley was also known for his radio show, “Just One Thing”, and a little while ago we reviewed his book, effectively a compilation of these:

    Just One Thing: How Simple Changes Can Transform Your Life – by Dr. Michael Mosley

    Enjoy!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

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