Does Your Brain Need A Workout?

Does Your Brain Need a Workout?

By Harry S. Margolis

Some brain researchers have concluded that those who actively use their brains will be less susceptible to dementia through Alzheimer's disease, small strokes, or other attacks, than those who don't challenge themselves in the same way. The reasoning is that such individuals have more brain 'reserve' and can continue functioning better despite illness.

A corollary to this theory is one that we can create better brain function and more reserve through appropriate brain exercise. While the science is not yet conclusive, American free enterprise has stepped into the breach with many programs for brain exercise.

I was fortunate to be invited to participate as a tester of six of these programs for The Wall Street Journal, the results of which were published in its February 3-4 Encore section. We were asked to rate the programs on ease of use, benefit achieved and amount of fun.

The panel of testers could not agree on a favorite program, but did agree that they had to be fun or neither we nor others would keep using them. We also agreed that without the hard science that brain workouts would really make our brains stronger, it would be hard to be motivated to 'exercise' on a regular basis.

The top pick among the testers for 'fun' of use was the MindFit program, with Nintendo's BrainAge a close second. The top pick for ease of use and clear directions was Posit Science's Brain Fitness 2.0.

Here's a list of all the programs we tried out:

Brain Age, Nintendo Co., www.brainage.com

BrainBuilder, Advanced Brain Technologies LLC, www.brainbuilder.com

Brain Fitness 2.0, Posit Science Corp., www.positscience.com

Happy Neuron, Quixit Inc., www.happyneuron.com

MindFit, CogniFit Ltd, www.cognifit.com

My Brain Trainer, MyBrainTrainer LLC, www.mybraintrainer.com