Comprehensive research review identifies most promising interventions to boost workplace mental health
This report summarises what we at Wellcome have learned from our first commission on promising approaches for addressing workplace mental health. It also sets out why businesses and researchers need to work together to take a more scientific approach to supporting mental health at work. What’s inside:
findings from ten research projects that looked at the evidence behind promising approaches for supporting workplace mental health
suggested actions businesses can take, based on this evidence
reflections on gaps in the evidence and why it’s important for businesses and scientists to work together to understand what work...
Source: SharpBrains - May 12, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health anxiety depression Flexible working mindfulness sitting Wellcome workplace workplace mental health Source Type: blogs
Study: Social media and general tech engagement not found to “fry” teenagers’ brains
Little to no increase in association between adolescents’ mental health problems and digital tech (Science Daily):
With the explosion in digital entertainment options over the past several decades and the more recent restrictions on outdoor and in-person social activities, parents may worry that excessive engagement with digital technology could have long-term effects on their children’s mental health.
A new study published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science, however, found little evidence for an increased association between adolescents’ technology engagement and mental health problems over the past 30 ye...
Source: SharpBrains - May 10, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation adolescents depression digital technology mental health problems smartphones social-media Source Type: blogs
Study: Higher mental wellbeing (in 2016) seen to lower healthcare costs (in 2017)
Conclusions: Estimated reductions in costs related to mental well-being add to what is already known about potential savings related to the prevention of mental illness. It does so by illustrating the savings that could be made by moving from lower to higher levels of mental well-being both within and beyond the clinical range. Our estimates pertain to costs associated with those health-related outcomes that were included in the study, but excluding other social and economic outcomes and benefits. They cover immediate cost estimates (costs generated the year following mental well-being measurement) and not those that could...
Source: SharpBrains - May 7, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Conversation Tags: Brain/ Mental Health continuum mental health promotion mental wellbeing mindfulness self care Source Type: blogs
Cumulus Neuroscience raises $8.3M to develop EEG-based wireless ‘Fitbit for the brain’
Belfast-based Cumulus raises €6.9m for its ‘Fitbit for the brain’ (The Irish Times):
… Formerly known as BrainWaveBank, the company has developed a wireless electroencephalogram (EEG) headset and proprietary software platform that use advanced analytics and machine learning to measure cognitive fitness.
“This funding will allow us to build on the ground-breaking advances we have made in remote, frequent monitoring of brain activity and cognitive function in the home, in partnership with leading developers of digital biomarkers,” said Mr Cunningham, the company’s chief executive.
“We believe our integrated n...
Source: SharpBrains - May 5, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation Alzheimer’s Disease BrainWaveBank clinical-trials CNS CNS therapies cognitive-fitness Cumulus Neuroscience dementia Dementia Discovery Fund digital biomarkers EEG electroencephalogra Source Type: blogs
Reading Our Minds: New book issues strong call to action to modernize psychiatry
The Rise of Big Data Psychiatry (The Wall Street Journal):
As a physician, I need to figure out three things when a new patient walks into my office: what their life is typically like, what has changed that made them seek treatment and what I can do to help them. It’s a complex problem, and most fields of medicine approach it by taking measurements. If I were a cardiologist evaluating a patient’s chest pain, for instance, I would speak with the patient, but then I would listen to their heart and measure their pulse and blood pressure. I might order an electrocardiogram or a cardiac stress test, tools that weren’t ava...
Source: SharpBrains - May 4, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation big data Big Data Psychiatry clinical decision tools machine-learning neural networks neurotechnologies Neurotechnology suicidal thoughts Twitter Source Type: blogs
On centenarians, memory, Mars, tDCS, ADHD, digital health, beautiful brains, and more
Hendrikje van Andel Schipper (1890–2005)
Welcome to a new edition of SharpBrains’ e‑newsletter, featuring ten timely resources and research findings for lifelong brain and mental fitness.
#1. Let’s start with a fascinating story and study 🙂
Study with 330 centenarians finds that cognitive decline is not inevitable … (Henne Holstege, PhD, assistant professor at Amsterdam University Medical Center) said her interest in researching aging and cognitive health was inspired by the “fascinating” story of Hendrikje van Andel Schipper, who died at age 115 in 2005 “completely cognitively healthy.”
#2. Neuro...
Source: SharpBrains - April 30, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Attention & ADD/ADHD Brain/ Mental Health Education & Lifelong Learning Technology & Innovation ADHD-Treatment aging Alzheimer’s astronauts beautiful brains brain health centenarians cognitive decline cognitive-function cogniti Source Type: blogs
Let ’s welcome Mental Health Month (May) by appreciating our beautiful brains
Self Reflected was created over two years by a team that included neuroscientists, engineers, physicists, and students, and is a hyperdetailed representation of 500,000 neurons in a sagittal slice. Credit: Greg Dunn and Brian Edwards.
Between Thought and Expression (Cerebrum):
Greg Dunn was on his way to a Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania when he realized that bringing the brain’s beauty to life was a more suitable role for him than lab work. He started in ink, inspired by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean paintings and the similarities he found in the microscopic world of neurons and the macroscopic w...
Source: SharpBrains - April 28, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Education & Lifelong Learning beauty Mental Health Month Microetchings neuro art neuroimaging Neurons neuroscience Neurotechnology Source Type: blogs
Ohio joins Indiana and Kentucky in funding Pear Therapeutics ’ digital addiction treatments
Ohio is third state to fund Pear’s digital therapeutics to tackle addiction (pharmaforum):
The company has been pushing for more reimbursement of its three marketed DTx products in the US following a first FDA approval in 2017.
Pear said that the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) and RecoveryOhio are providing access to Pear’s FDA-approved DTx reSET and reSET‑O, for treatment of substance use disorder and opioid use disorders, respectively.
Funding is provided by the State Opioid Response (SOR) 2.0 grant, administered by OhioMHAS, and part of the US Department of Health and Human Serv...
Source: SharpBrains - April 26, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation addiction cognitive-behavioral-therapy digital therapeutics FDA Indiana Kentucky Ohio opioid use disorder Pear Therapeutics prescription digital therapeutics reSET reSET-O substance Source Type: blogs
Shape your environment, shape your mind
One of the biggest contributors to our happiness is something we barely pay attention to: the voice inside our own heads.
As psychologist Ethan Kross describes in his new book Chatter, that voice is constantly analyzing the situations we’re in, reflecting on the past and future, and telling us who we are. While sometimes friendly and optimistic—it’s OK, everything’s going to work out!—it can also be critical and downbeat. Our inner voice can berate us for mistakes or decide our life is ruined. It can ruminate on negative emotions and experiences, dredging them up without any kind of constructive resolution.
Accor...
Source: SharpBrains - April 23, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Greater Good Science Center Tags: Education & Lifelong Learning book brain calmer mind chatter clutter declutter environment Ethan Kross feelings nature rumination thoughts Source Type: blogs
Next in NASA ’s path to Mars: Overcoming astronauts’ cognitive and mental health challenges
– Illustration by Zoë Van Dijk
Space Between the Ears (Cerebrum):
A few short months ago, news programs around the globe showed NASA engineers and scientists celebrating as a robot named Perseverance successfully landed on the surface of Mars. The mission: capture and share images and audio that have never been seen or heard before. As impressed as most observers were of this major milestone, many couldn’t help but wonder when we might be ready to someday send humans. While it seems the stuff of science fiction and almost inconceivable, the answer—according to recent NASA planning—is before the end of the 2030s, l...
Source: SharpBrains - April 21, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Peak Performance Artemis astronauts brain-function brain-teaser cognitive cognitive-performance Gateway MaRS mental capacities mental health challenges NASA spaceflight Stress stressors Source Type: blogs
Study: Depression affects visual perception … making it more accurate
The brightness of Figures A and B is exactly the same, but they are perceived differently due to a difference in the background. This illusion was perceived similarly by the patients and healthy control subjects. The contrast of Figures C and D is exactly the same as well, but the perception of this illusion was weaker among the depressed patients than the control subjects. (Salmela et al, J. Psychiatry Neurosci, 2021)
Depression affects visual perception (press release by University of Helsinki):
Researchers specialised in psychiatry and psychology at the University of Helsinki investigated the effects of depression on vi...
Source: SharpBrains - April 19, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Education & Lifelong Learning behavioural tests Cerebral Cortex cortical processing depression electrophysiology perception tests psychiatry Psychology visual-perception Source Type: blogs
Emerging applications of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS): e ‑sports skills training, cognitive enhancement in older adults
Conclusion: TDCS increased the efficacy of cognitive training, but only in participants with initially low general cognitive performance.
Research in Context:
Neuromodulation developer Halo Neuroscience closes its doors; Flow Neuroscience acquires assets
Important insights on the growing home use of tDCS brain stimulation: older-than-expected users, positive self-reported results for treatment of depression but negative for self-enhancement, and a couple areas of concern (severe burns, frequency)
Pros and Cons of latest wearable tech trend: Mood-altering electrical brain stimulation
??
How to address privacy, ethical ...
Source: SharpBrains - April 16, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Peak Performance Technology & Innovation cognitive-enhancement cognitive-performance Cognitive-Training e-sports electrical stimulation Gaming Halo Neuroscience healthy older adults Lero tDCS Transcranial-direct-current-stimulation Source Type: blogs
Does ADHD treatment enable long-term academic success? (Yes, especially when pharmacological and non-pharma treatments are combined)
Academic difficulties are one of the most important adverse consequences of ADHD, and they frequently contribute to parents’ decision to seek treatment for their child. Whether treatment consistently yields a positive impact on long-term academic success is thus an important issue; however, the answer to this question has been somewhat controversial.
A study published recently in the Journal of Attention Disorders, Long-term outcomes of ADHD: Academic achievement and academic performance, represents the most comprehensive effort to date to identify and synthesize research related to this important question.
The Study:
Th...
Source: SharpBrains - April 14, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Dr. David Rabiner Tags: Attention & ADD/ADHD Brain/ Mental Health academic difficulties AD/HD-treatments long-term academic success non-pharmacological Source Type: blogs
Study with 330 centenarians finds that cognitive decline is not inevitable
Hendrikje van Andel Schipper (1890–2005)
Age-Related Cognitive Decline May Not Be Inevitable (WebMD):
It is often assumed that a decrease in memory and brain function are inevitable parts of aging, but a new study of centenarians suggests otherwise.
Investigators found that despite the presence of neurological issues generally associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), many centenarians maintained high levels of cognitive performance.
(Henne Holstege, PhD, assistant professor at Amsterdam University Medical Center) said her interest in researching aging and cognitive health was inspired by the “fascinating” story of...
Source: SharpBrains - April 13, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Education & Lifelong Learning aging assessments brain resilience brain-reserve centenarians cognitive decline cognitive resilience cognitive trajectories cognitive-performance cognitive-reserve Mini-Mental Stat Source Type: blogs
Final 3 weeks to nominate teachers for the $1M Global Teacher Prize 2021
Dear friends,
We hope you are doing well.
There is now less than one month to go until applications and nominations close for the Global Teacher Prize, and we wanted to ask you to help us spread the word.
We are now starting the seventh cycle of this prize, which continues to highlight the important work of extraordinary teachers around the world. Now more than ever, it is important they are recognised for their contribution and have a seat at the table when decisions are made on education.
Teachers applying for the Global Teacher Prize will be assessed on teaching practices, how they innovate to address local challenges, ...
Source: SharpBrains - April 8, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Varkey Foundation Tags: Education & Lifelong Learning Global Teacher Prize Lifelong-learning teachers Varkey Foundation Source Type: blogs
