Notes

Train THE HUMAN BRAIN With a fresh $225m Market Predicated on Latest Brain Health and Fitness Research
A spate of recent news coverage on brain fitness and "brain training" reflects an evergrowing fascination with natural, non-drug-based interventions to help keep our brains sharp once we age. This interest is very timely, given the aging population, increasing Alzheimer's rates, and soaring health care costs that place more emphasis than ever on prevention and changing lifestyle.

This past Tuesday, the MIT Club of Northern California, the American Society on Aging, and SmartSilvers sponsored an event on The Emerging Brain Fitness Software Market: Building Better Brains to explore the realities and myths of the growing field. Prior to the panel, I had the opportunity to present a synopsis of hawaii of the Brain Fitness Software Market.

Why are we discussing this field at all? Well, for just one, an increasing number of companies are achieving significant commercial success in packaging "brain exercise". An example is the type of Nintendo games, such as for example Brain Age and Brain Training, that have shipped over 15 million units worldwide despite limited scientific support, since 2005. What's less visible is that several companies and scientists are partnering to create products to advertise with a more solid clinical validation. We estimate the united states market was $225m in 2007 (growing from $100 in 2005). Whereas K12 Education was previously the major segment, adult individuals are responsible for the majority of that growth: we estimate the consumer segment grew from the few million in 2005 to $80 m in 2007.

Who is buying these products? Yes, of course, many adults over 50 who would like to protect their memory are among the pioneers. 78 million baby boomers are eager to try new approaches. An increasing number of retirement communities and nursing homes are offering programs with their residents to expand their usual fitness and social activities. And we can not just forget about K12 education: certain brain fitness software programs have shown they can help kids who have dyslexia and related difficulties.

Will there be science behind these claims? Do the products work? It depends on what we define "work". If "working" means quantifiable short-term improvements following a amount of weeks of systematic "brain training" to boost specific cognitive skills, then the answer is that numerous programs do seem to work. If , alternatively, "working" means measurable long-term benefits, such as better overall brain health as we age, or lower incidence of Alzheimer's symptoms, the answer is that circumstantial evidence suggests they could, but it continues to be too early to tell.

Any kind of public policy implications? We certainly think that there are. The Center for Disease Control recently partnered with the Alzheimer's Association to build up a comprehensive Cognitive Health road map to better guide research efforts and improve public education on the lifestyle habits that every proud owner of a brain could benefit from following. Given the high rates of traumatic brain injuries and stress disorders within numerous the men and women coming home from the Iraq war, the military is investing heavily in research to help identify problems to build up tools to solve them, and we expect that research will result in wider health applications. No presidential candidate, to our knowledge, has directly addressed his or her priorities in the cognitive health realm but, given the growing importance and economic impact of brain-related disorders, we expect that to happen soon.

What are some trends that executives and investors ought to be looking at to comprehend this growing market? I want to create a few predictions:

1) An increased emphasis on Brain Maintenance, from retirement communities to gyms and health clubs. Will health clubs 1 day offer brain fitness programs, and perhaps "brain coaches"? get more info think so.

2) Better and more widely available assessments of cognitive function will enable of most us to establish a target baseline of how our minds are evolving, identify priorities for "workouts" and lifestyle interventions, and help us measure progress. Science-fiction? Not necessarily. there are already very good tests used in clinical and medical environments, the challenge is to refine and package those assessments in a consumer-friendly way.

3) We will have more and better computer-based tools, all of which may be appropriate to focus on specific priorities. Just as we find a number of machines in health clubs today, down the road we are able to expect different programs tailored to teach specific cognitive skills.

4) More non-computer based tools may also provide much value. There's a growing number of research on how meditation and cognitive therapy, to mention 2 examples, can be extremely effective in literally re-wiring parts of the brain.

5) Insurance Companies will introduce incentives for member who wish to follow brain fitness programs. Perhaps even companies will offer such programs to employees to attract and retain mature workers who would like access to the very best and the most recent innovations to keep their minds sharp.

Now, this being truly a pretty new field, many questions remain open. For instance, how will consumers and institutions receive quality information and education to navigate through the emerging research and the overwhelming amount of new programs, separating reality from hype?

In summary, what were the primary take-aways from the event?

1. Research indicates that a number of cognitive abilities (attention, memory...) could be assessed and trained

2. An emerging market is needs to develop-growing from around $100m in 2005 to $225m in 2007, in the US alone-, and is poised to help keep growing at significant rates.

3. Many companies are currently selling products direct to consumers (and also through institutions) with sometimes unclear claims - this threatens to confuse consumers and present a significant obstacle to the growth and credibility of the sector.

If you are thinking about this rapidly growing field, please keep tuned in! There are fascinating research reports every month.

Copyright (c) 2008 SharpBrains

Alvaro Fernandez may be the Co-Founder of SharpBrains.com, which will release the report "HAWAII of the Brain Fitness Software Market 2008" on March 4th. SharpBrains has been recognized by Scientific American Mind and Newsweek as expert resource for Online Brain Training. Alvaro holds MA in Education and MBA from Stanford University, and teaches The Science of Brain Health at UC-Berkeley Lifelong Learning. It is possible to learn more
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