Notes

Train Your Brain With a New $225m Market Predicated on Latest Brain Health Research
A spate of recent news coverage on brain fitness and "brain training" reflects a growing fascination with natural, non-drug-based interventions to help keep our brains sharp once we age. This interest is quite 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 this growing field. Prior to the panel, I had the chance to present an overview of hawaii of the Brain Fitness Software Market.

Why are we talking about this field at all? Well, for just one, an increasing amount of companies are achieving significant commercial success in packaging "brain exercise". A good example is the line 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 a variety of companies and scientists are partnering to create products to advertise with a more solid clinical validation. We estimate the US market was $225m in 2007 (growing from $100 in 2005). Whereas K12 Education used to be the major segment, adult consumers are responsible for most of that growth: we estimate the buyer segment grew from a few million in 2005 to $80 m in 2007.

Who is buying these products? Yes, of course, many adults over 50 who wish to protect their memory are on the list of pioneers. 78 million seniors are eager to try new approaches. A growing number of retirement communities and assisted living facilities are offering programs with their residents to expand their usual fitness and social activities. And we can not forget about K12 education: certain brain fitness software packages 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 how we define "work". If "working" means quantifiable short-term improvements after a amount of weeks of systematic "brain training" to improve specific cognitive skills, then the answer is that numerous programs do seem to work. If , however, "working" means measurable long-term benefits, such as better overall brain health once we age, or lower incidence of Alzheimer's symptoms, the solution is that circumstantial evidence suggests they could, but it is still too early to inform.

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 develop a comprehensive Cognitive Health road map to raised guide research efforts and improve public education on the lifestyle habits that each proud owner of a brain could reap the benefits of 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 develop 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 occur soon.

What exactly are some trends that executives and investors ought to be looking at to comprehend this growing market? Let me make a few predictions:

1) An increased emphasis on Brain Maintenance, from retirement communities to gyms and health clubs. get more info , as well as perhaps "brain coaches"? We think so.

2) Better and much more accessible 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 pretty good tests found in clinical and medical environments, the task is to refine and package those assessments in a consumer-friendly way.

3) We will see more and better computer-based tools, all of which may be more appropriate to focus on specific priorities. In the same way we find a variety of machines in health clubs today, down the road we are able to expect different programs tailored to train specific cognitive skills.

4) More non-computer based tools will also provide much value. There's a lot more research on how meditation and cognitive therapy, to mention 2 examples, can be very effective in literally re-wiring elements of the brain.

5) INSURANCE FIRMS will introduce incentives for member who want to follow brain fitness programs. Maybe even companies will offer such programs to employees to attract and retain mature workers who want access to the very best and the most recent innovations to keep their minds sharp.

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

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

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

2. An emerging market is beginning to develop-growing from an estimated $100m in 2005 to $225m in 2007, in america alone-, and is poised to keep growing at significant rates.

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

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

Copyright (c) 2008 SharpBrains

Alvaro Fernandez is the Co-Founder of SharpBrains.com, that may release the report "The State 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. You can learn more
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