

Show HN: Strong Brain – Anti-Alzheimer's mental exercises - kabowen
http://strong-brain.com

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dang
This post was heavily flagged by users, no doubt because of the controversial
"Anti-Alzheimer's" in the title. I think that's a shame, since the site looks
interesting and fun whether it prevents Alzheimer's or not. Feel free to try
posting this again without that bit in the title.

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theseatoms
Is there research indicating these types of activities stave off Alzheimer's?
I'm skeptical, is all.

The site design is charmingly old-school.

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lqdc13
Consensus on brain training from the scientific community:

[http://longevity3.stanford.edu/blog/2014/10/15/the-
consensus...](http://longevity3.stanford.edu/blog/2014/10/15/the-consensus-on-
the-brain-training-industry-from-the-scientific-community/)

~~~
kabowen
In contrast, see the 17 articles linked at: [http://blog.strong-
brain.com/mental-agility/research/](http://blog.strong-brain.com/mental-
agility/research/) The situation is no different than that regarding
plasticity. One can easily find such "consensus" statements in the pre-50s
literature to the effect that brain structure and neuron "allotment" is fixed
by adolescence.

~~~
lqdc13
There are some papers that claim it yes, but there are meta analysis papers
that take those into account as well and overall conclusion is that it doesn't
help with "fluid intelligence". One can develop new skills though just like
with every other activity.

Meta analysis:
[http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/dev/49/2/270/](http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/dev/49/2/270/)

Scientific american article about it:
[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/brain-training-
doe...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/brain-training-doesn-t-make-
you-smarter/)

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molecule
_> Show HN: Strong Brain – Anti-Alzheimer's mental exercises_ *

* "This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease"

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scotch_drinker
I do love the old school design as mentioned in another comment. However,
there is probably about as much support for brain training to reduce
Alzheimer's as there is for low carb diets to do the same. [1] We just don't
yet know the genesis of dementia but we sure can come up with solutions.

[1]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15082091](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15082091)

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robbiep
We can't talk specifically to brain-training for alzheimer's, and we know, for
instance, that brain-training doesn't work for actually making you smarter.

But the biggest protective effect against Alzheimers is years of education (ie
>13 years of education is protective and it goes up from there). So it's
plausible

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flarg
The quality of quizzes is great, but this doesn't seem like a really great way
of presenting them. Did you know that there's research that older people with
dementia do remarkably better in an environment that reminds them of their
youth? I can't find the research right now but it's interesting. Maybe there's
a presentation format that reminds people of their youth - like a quiz show
format - with buttons to press to choose an answer.

