Dementia Awareness Month is Dementia Australia’s national awareness-raising campaign held every year throughout September. 

Its aim is to encourage all Australians to become more aware of dementia, to get a better understanding of what it is like to live with dementia and how we can support people living with dementia.

This year’s theme is Small actions Big difference.

There are many small actions people can take to create a big difference for people impacted by dementia, their families and carers. 

There are many ways to get involved in Dementia Awareness Month.

I have just returned from The 2018 International Neurorehabilitation Conference in Boston run by Harvard Medical School. I was one of hundreds of delegates from all over the world attending to get the latest updates on cutting-edge treatments to help people with brain problems. We had experts presenting on a large range of topics ranging from neuroplasticity to proven and state-of-the-art brain therapies.

We are what we eat…But, do we? Can we? Eat enough of the good stuff EVERY day?

It’s time to talk about food, guts, brains and the slippery science of oils…

 Deciding what to eat can be an enormously effortful task. Aside from the vast choice available to us, we are also informed (not always necessarily well informed) about the choices we think we should be making…paleo this, low FODMAP that, raw something else, oops now I’m a flexitarian…the pleasure of eating can be spoilt by complexity sometimes. This is not to deride these choices, indeed they work well for some.

Neuroscientist Michael Merzenich looks at one of the secrets of the brain's incredible power: its ability to actively re-wire itself. He's researching ways to harness the brain's plasticity to enhance our skills and recover lost function.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference, and was featured by our editors on the home page.

What is Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a persistent neuro-developmental disorder that affects how a person communicates, relates to other people, and how they experience the world around them. Often symptoms of ASD develop gradually, and parents will usually notice signs by around 2 yrs of age, when it becomes apparent they are not meeting their developmental milestones.1 Sometimes though, the symptoms can be subtle and may not be obvious until school age or even later in life. In Australia, around 1% of the population has ASD1 with males being 4 times more likely to be diagnosed than females. The cause of Autism is not clearly understood but it appears to be a complex interaction of both genetic and environmental factors.3

This amazing video from The Allen Institute for Brain Research (<link to https://www.alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/brain-science/ > takes us a visually stunning view of the brain, all the way from the outside to the the tiniest cells (and smaller still) on the inside: https://youtu.be/Zj3RxtJ_Ljc

The Global Council on Brain Health (GCBH) is an independent collaborative of scientists, health professionals, scholars and policy experts from around the world working in areas of brain health related to human cognition. The GCBH focuses on brain health relating to peoples’ ability to think and reason as they age, including aspects of memory, perception and judgment. The GCBH is convened by AARP with support from Age UK to offer the best possible advice about what older adults can do to maintain and improve their brain health. GCBH members come together to discuss specific lifestyle issue areas that may impact peoples’ brain health as they age with the goal of providing evidence-based recommendations for people to consider incorporating into their lives.

This week is the start of International Brain Awareness Ween 2018 ! Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is the global campaign to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research, and the “brain-child” of The DANA Foundation (www.dana.org). The Perth Brain Centre is proud to be an official partner of International Brain Awareness Week 2018, and every day we will be sharing some of the amazing benefits of brain research.

International Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is the global campaign to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. The Perth Brain Centre is an official partner of International Brain Awareness Week, which starts on the 12 March this year.

Good quality sleep is vital for both general well-being but also especially brain health. While we sleep the brain “rests and repairs” helping to prepare us for the next day ahead. Studies show that sleep improves our cognitive function - Helping us to think better and faster, be more creative, make better decisions and solve problems, and improve our attention and memory.

In our last article we explored how having, growing and repairing a healthy brain can be and should be FUN! We talk about a healthy brain in the sense of what it is made of, how it is built and how it works. Most importantly it can be invigorating and enjoyable regardless of your age. 

Having, growing and repairing a healthy brain – healthy in the sense of what it is made of, how it is built and how it works – can be and should be FUN! Most importantly it can be invigorating and enjoyable regardless of your age.