Brain Health Science

Welcome to Fit Brains. I'm Dr. Paul Nussbaum, Chief Science Officer of Fit Brains and a Clinical Neuropsychologist specializing in brain health across the lifespan. I have published many peer reviewed articles, chapters and books within the scientific community in order to help educate people on the basics of the human brain and how to keep it healthy over the entire lifespan.

The Value of Brain Fitness

The human brain starts slowing down as early as age 25. Fortunately, you can keep it running at peak performance and even make improvements at any age. Just like your body, you can "use it or lose it". One of the essential concepts of Brain Fitness is the building of "Brain Reserve", which is also related to Brain Plasticity, or the brain's ability to reorganize itself and build new connections. At nearly any point in your life, you can strengthen your Brain Reserve by doing tasks that are Novel and Complex, and stimulate a balanced variety of areas within the brain.

Building a Stronger Brain

Mental activity is an important way to develop a stronger, healthier brain through the building of Brain Reserve. Brain Reserve relates to the brain’s ability to physically reorganize itself in response to the demands placed upon it. A brain with a strong Reserve is one that has formed many cellular connections and is rich in brain cell density. A strong reserve is generally believed to have the ability to delay the onset of mental deterioration, such as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Simply put, neurodegenerative diseases must work longer and harder to manifest in a brain that has built up strong reserve.

A healthy brain should look like a lush, vibrant jungle (as opposed to an island with a single palm tree), because it is full of dense cellular connections. You might think of a neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer's as a weed-whacker which invades the brain and begins to do its damage by destroying brain cells. However, it takes AD a much longer time to show any impact if it has to destroy a jungle’s worth of brain cell connections. In contrast, AD can manifest itself fairly quickly after infiltrating a brain with only a relatively few cellular connections. At any point in your life, you can build these connections with a regular, balanced routine of mental stimulation.

Click here to learn more about Brain Plasticity and Cognitive Reserve...

The 5 Major Brain Areas

At Fit Brains, our games are scientifically-designed to target each of the five major brain categories;

• Memory
• Concentration & Attention
• Language Skills
• Visual & Spatial
• Executive Functions (Logic & Reasoning)

In addition to these categories, each area is further subdivided into additional sub-measures that are reflected within the game activities and progression metrics. These areas are not distinctly separate; they work together in conjunction, like different instruments in an orchestra, and when blended with one another are able to achieve a greater measure of brain stimulation. Each of these areas are stimulated using techniques derived from the related fields of Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience.

Click here to learn more about the 5 major Brain Functions...

Maintaining a Healthy Brain

An important factor in an effective brain fitness program is a balanced approached. For optimal health, all 5 areas of brain function need regular exercise. For maximum mental stimulation, these exercise activities need to provide;

• Variety
• Diversity
• Complexity

Fit Brains games offer a variety of well-rounded, scientifically-based brain stimulation activities wrapped within a fun and engaging experience that is accessible even to first-time users. By providing diverse stimulation across the spectrum of the brain, and ramping the difficulty in ways that increase the complexity of the tasks over time, our brain games and tools can offer you an effective means of brain exercise.

Click here to read about Scientific Studies relating to Brain Health...