Treating chronic pain with brain training?

August 29, 2023

Can the Brain Gauge be used to decrease pain or improve brain function?
For many years, people have found modest success with treating different forms of chronic pain with different types of tactile stimulation (vibration, electrical stimuli, etc.). Results from those studies (and there were quite a few) are both divergent in terms of results obtained from tactile stimulation and inconclusive. In our own work, we demonstrated a reduced effect of high frequency tactile stimulation (this means we delivered 150 Hz vibration to the skin at the same time as

Parallels between brain fitness and physical fitness

August 28, 2023

Brain Fitness is not that different from physical fitness and shares many similarities, despite targeting different aspects of health. Here are some ways in which brain training for brain fitness is similar to physical training for physical fitness are similar:

Goal of Improvement: Both brain training and physical training aim to enhance specific aspects of health and performance. Brain training targets cognitive functions like speed, accuracy, attention, and problem-solving, while physical training focuses on improving strength, endurance, and flexibility.

Adaptation: Both types of training rely on the principle of adaptation.

GABA and lateral inhibition

August 25, 2023

The brain maintains a balance between two neurotransmitters: GABA, the brain’s main inhibitory neurotransmitter and glutamate, the main excitatory neurotransmitter. GABA, countering the stimulating effects of glutamate, functions to slow the firing of brain cells, inducing a calmed and relaxed state.

There are two types of GABA receptors: GABAa and GABAb. When GABA binds to a GABAa receptor, excited neurons are blocked, which leads to relaxation, sedation, sleep, and reduced anxiety. When GABA binds to a GABAb receptor, a more complex process is triggered, which reduces stress, boosts cognition,

The importance of detecting the barely detectible...

August 25, 2023

Following a mild concussion, individuals typically begin to perceive a sense of normalcy within 1-2 weeks. Symptoms gradually subside, and if undergoing professional assessment, patients often exhibit a return to their initial scores on standard evaluations like SCAT and ImPACT during this post-concussion period. However, the question arises: is their brain genuinely fully recovered?
Unlike a fracture that can be directly observed through an X-ray, head injuries are evaluated indirectly by gauging brain function. This comparison is akin to assessing a broken arm's condition by assessing the arm's mobility – a

New! Brain Training with the Brain Gauge

August 24, 2023

Brain training 1.0 with the Brain Gauge is no longer in beta testing though versions 2.0 and 3.0 are! If you would like to add brain training to your Brain Gauge, simply contact support@corticalmetrics.com to get the free update.

What is Brain training?
Brain training refers to a range of cognitive exercises, activities, or programs designed to enhance and optimize various mental processes, such as memory, attention, problem-solving, and reasoning. The primary aim of brain training is to stimulate and challenge the brain's neural networks

Person Woman Man Camera TV

February 22, 2021

OR... Here we go again...

The post below was written a few years ago..but recent events in the news are prompting us to re-post it. After all, the people that this applies to are a few years older than when we first posted..

Basically, it comes down to the "boiling frog syndrome". All of these old people are saying that they are just fine. How does that relate to a boiling frog? Simple. When you toss a frog in a pot of cold water, it doesn't jump

Long Term Consequences of COVID-19

November 30, 2020

The long term neurological impact of an inflammatory disease like covid is still largely unknown

Despite having been around for less than a year, the covid-19 virus already has a very large showing in the literature. A quick google scholar search for “covid-19” yields an impressive 110,000 results from this year, and “covid-19 neurological disorders” racks up 19,200 hits. Even with the immense body of literature, there is still a lot that we don’t know or understand about the virus and how it effects its human host.

Diet, Focus and Saturated Fat

July 27, 2020

More evidence that we are what we eat

A recent study out of Ohio State University has found what holistic health practitioners—and really, most people—have known for a long time: what we eat can have an immediate impact on our brain function.

The study, conducted with 51 women, tested the difference in ability to concentrate following consumption of a meal high in saturated fat versus a meal high in unsaturated fat. All participants were fed a meal consisting of eggs, turkey sausage, biscuits, and gravy, but half of

Novel Coronovirus and Brain Health

April 24, 2020

Unless you are living completely off-the-grid (in which case, you would not be reading this!), you know that the signs and symptoms to look for that indicate COVID-19 are fever, dry cough, and shortness of breath. A new study, however, suggests that the virus may also have a significant neurological impact on some patients.

The study, published in JAMA Neurology this month, was conducted in 3 hospitals in Wuhan, China. A total of 214 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 were examined for neurological symptoms. Over a third (36.4%

Brain Size

March 16, 2020

Another not-so-surprising study…

There always seems to be a new study promoting the importance of exercise and a healthy lifestyle hot off the press, and this week is no different. A new preliminary study from Columbia University in New York suggests that regular, high-intensity exercise is associated with larger brain volume. Generally, as people age, their brain begins to shrink, but this new research suggests that staying active may keep that from happening.

In a study of 1,557 people without dementia (but 296 had mild cognitive impairment) and an