by Robin Fiedler
How old is your brain? There are no plastic surgeons to make your brain look more youthful and rejuvenated, but some claim you can decrease brain age. The brain fitness craze has spawned brain games, or brain gyms, for brain exercises through cognitive and memory training activities. The trend has gotten hotter in the last decade as the scientific community steps up research to cure or prevent diseases that affect brain function. 
Did it all start with Sudoku, the world's most popular number puzzle game? Sudoku wasn't introduced, to the West at least, until 2004. A year earlier, a 2003 Time article summed up scientific research on the brain that shows intellectual stimulation works. "[T]here's mounting evidence that a late-life surge in mental activity - taking up board games, crosswords, arts and craft - can help stave off the ravages of" dementia. Sudoku's popularity may have just been in the timing as we clamored for a new puzzle.
Now we have the popular Nintendo DS computer game Brain Age, which includes Sudoku along with other memory and math games. Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day is the 3rd best selling DS game with 18.5 million sold worldwide according to VGChartz. Its companion Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day is the 6th bestselling DS game with 14.5 million sold worldwide. Nintendo says the game is solely for entertainment, while others claim it improves memory, math skills, and test taking. Studies have yet to support the latter claims.
Cecily Jenkins, Ph.D claims, "The benefits of physical exercise in helping older adults maintain a healthy body and mind have been well established by scientific study. There is also growing evidence that cognitive exercise (exercise towards improved thinking) has a beneficial effect on maintaining a healthy brain." Jenkins admits, however, scientists don't know if any one specific activity is best for delaying dementia or brain aging.
Besides brain games and puzzles, brain supplements have gained popularity. Called brain food, brain nutrients, and brain vitamins, they are supposed to increase memory and brain function. The list of brain supplements can be mind-boggling--in fact, finding out which anti-oxidant, Omega-3, acid, Ginkgo Biloba, CoEnzyme to take, and the list goes on, may very well be the best brain workout in itself.
The final word from doctors at Stanford Center on Longevity this year is that dietary supplements and software based brain games claims to improve brain function have not been scientifically supported. Still, Stanford admits, "Learning stimulates the brain and contributes to one's general sense of competence." Thus, bring on the Brain Age and Sudoku, but more importantly, the doctors emphasize that physical exercise, such as aerobics, has been proven to improve mental functioning, including attention, reasoning, and memory.
And so, we're down to a physical exercise regime as the number-one activity to improve brain function. No wonder "exercise more" and "be healthier" end up on our New Year's resolution lists every year. We know what we have to do. It's doing it that's the problem.
Resources
"Cognitive and Brain Experts Urge Consumer Caution on Memory Fitness Products." Stanford Center on Longevity. 5 May 2009.
Jenkins, Cecily. "Cognitive Training and Early Dementia." Currents. Summer 2009. University of San Diego.
Wiliams, Daniel. "Boosting Brain Fitness." Time in Partnership with CNN. 13 Feb. 2003.
"Worldwide Total Sales." VGCharts. 27 Dec. 2009
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One Response to “Brain Fitness Craze”
This is one of the best games out there. I love playing it even though my brain age is horrible. It is a definate must for everyone!