Notes

Train THE HUMAN BRAIN With a fresh $225m Market Based on Latest Brain Health and Fitness 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 healthcare costs that place more emphasis than ever on prevention and changing lifestyle.

Earlier this Tuesday, the MIT Club of Northern California, the American Society on Aging, and SmartSilvers sponsored a meeting on The Emerging Brain Fitness Software Market: Building Better Brains to explore the realities and myths of the growing field. Before the panel, I had the chance to present a synopsis of hawaii of the mind Fitness Software Market.

Why are we talking about this field at all? Well, for 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 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 number of companies and scientists are partnering to bring products to advertise with a far more solid clinical validation. We estimate the united states market was $225m in 2007 (growing from $100 in 2005). Whereas K12 Education used to be the major segment, adult individuals are responsible for most of that growth: we estimate the buyer segment grew from the few million in 2005 to $80 m in 2007.

Who is buying the products? Yes, needless to say, many adults over 50 who want to protect their memory are on the list of pioneers. 78 million seniors 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 forget about K12 education: certain brain fitness software packages have shown they are able to help kids who have dyslexia and related difficulties.

Will there be science behind these claims? Do these products work? It depends on what we define "work". If "working" means quantifiable short-term improvements after a amount of weeks of systematic "brain training" to boost specific cognitive skills, then your answer is that several programs do appear to work. If , on the other hand, "working" means measurable long-term benefits, such as better overall brain health as 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 tell.

Are there any public policy implications? We certainly believe that there are. The Center for Disease Control recently partnered with the Alzheimer's Association to build up a thorough Cognitive Health road map to better guide research efforts and improve public education on the approach to life 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 a lot of the women and men 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 translate into wider health applications. website , to our knowledge, has directly addressed her or his 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? I want to make a few predictions:

1) An increased emphasis on Brain Maintenance, from retirement communities to gyms and health clubs. Will health clubs one day offer brain fitness programs, 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 really. there are already pretty good tests used in clinical and medical environments, the task will be to refine and package those assessments in a consumer-friendly way.

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

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

5) INSURANCE FIRMS will introduce incentives for member who would like 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 best and the most recent innovations to keep their minds sharp.

Now, this being truly 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 conclusion, what were the main 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 keep growing at significant rates.

3. get more info are currently selling products direct to consumers (and 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 interested in this rapidly growing field, please stay tuned! There are fascinating research reports on a monthly basis.

Copyright (c) 2008 SharpBrains

Alvaro Fernandez may be the Co-Founder of SharpBrains.com, which will release the report "The State of the Brain Fitness Software Market 2008" on March 4th. SharpBrains has been acknowledged 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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