Reading list:

The Mind & The Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force, by Jeffrey M. Schwartz, M.D. and Sharon Begley

Train Your Mind Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, by Sharon Begley

Keep Your Brain Alive, by Lawrence C. Katz, Ph.D. and Manning Rubin

The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Care for Persons with Alzheimer’s Disease, Related Dementing Illnesses, and Memory Loss Later in Life, by Nancy L. Mace M.A. and Peter V. Rabins M.D., M.P.H.

Visiting Mom: An Unexpected Gift (A guide for visiting elders with Alzheimer’s) by Sherry M. Bell, Ph.D.

The Alzheimer’s Sourcebook for Caregivers by Frena Gray-Davidson

New Hope for People with Alzheimer’s and Their Caregivers by Porter Shimer

Mom, Are You There? Finding a path to peace through Alzheimer’s by Kathleen Negri

Web Resources:

A WiserMind:   www.aWiserMind.com

Alzheimer’s Association:   www.alz.org

Alzheimer’s Foundation of America:   www.alzfdn.org

National Parkinson Foundation:   www.parkinson.org

Parkinson Disease Foundation:   www.pdf.org

National Multiple Sclerosis Society:   www.nationalmssociety.org

National Stroke Association:   www.stroke.org

Disclaimer, please read:

The body of knowledge of dementia and dementia-care changes on a daily basis.  Approach all sources with an openness and awareness that there are likely alternative views available and more current research that might change views or statements contained in any publication.

The preceding is a list of resources that you may wish to review on the subjects of cognition preservation, Neuroscience, and Alzheimer’s care.  These resources have been suggested by a variety of sources and, as such, A WiserMind does not endorse any of the views or statements contained therein.  This list is not intended as a substitute for qualified medical and expert advice.  If you feel you need medical advice, you should consult a doctor immediately.

Our Sense of Balance

Our sense of balance comes from our ears, eyes and brains.  In youth, our inner-ears provide the dominant sense of balance.   But for many of us, as we age, our vision plays an increasing role in our overall perception of balance.  The impact of vision on balance can be seen in the dizzying sensation of vertigo that some experience in high places.  Over time, however, many of us begin to rely more and more heavily on our eyes to give us confidence about our balance and we trust and use our inner-ears less.  So it is, that changes in our vision–or poor lighting–become contributing factors in falls.

As mentioned, our chief source of balance is our ears.  It originates in three semi-circular tubes inside the ear and two other small organs.  These three structures provide information to the brain stem and cerebellum, the parts of the brain at its base and connected to the spinal cord.  These parts of the brain are not part of your conscious awareness, so you can make small changes to your posture, to your limb position and even make changes to eye movement to help manage balance without being aware of it.

When our sense of balance is thrown-off we can feel dizzy, disoriented or nausea.  There are some diseases that permanently affect our balance, but temporary balance changes can be from something as simple as a new medication, an inner-ear infection, a bad head-cold, or dehydration.

Join us next week for Part 2 Fall Factors: Our Bodies

Go to the previous post in this series: Fall Cause and Survival–Introduction

At A WiserMind, we strive to help maximize quality of life.  That’s not just limited to the brain and emotional health therapies that we specialize in, but also in all aspects of quality of life.  Helping to reduce falls and their consequences can have a huge impact on improving quality of life and overall fitness.

In this multipart post, we’ll look at the internal and external causes of falls and we’ll provide simple suggestions to reduce your chances.  In later posts we’ll provide some suggestions to help improve your chances of surviving a fall should you have the misfortune of taking a spill.

To learn more, click here to go to, Part 1, Fall Factors: Balance.

Time: 1:00 – 2:00 pm

Location: Garden Plaza of Aurora, 14221 East Evans Avenue, Aurora, Colorado 80014

This is a free event open to the public.

Refreshments will be served.

Because these events fill up quickly, RSVPs are highly suggested.  Call 303.750.0820 to reserve your seat.

This event is part of the monthly educational series presented by A WiserMind and hosted at Garden Plaza of Aurora.

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Dr. Small, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and the author of “iBrain,” worked with 24 cognitively “normal volunteers” aged between 55 and 78.   Before beginning the study, half the participants used the Internet daily, while the other half had very little experience. 

After an initial fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) brain scan, volunteers practiced Internet searches an hour every other day for two weeks.  The practice searches involved using the Internet to answer questions about various topics by exploring different websites. After the study period, volunteers then received a second brain scan using the same Internet search task but this time with different topics.

Study volunteers with little Internet experience showed brain activity in regions controlling language, reading, memory and visual abilities as well as areas of the brain known to be important in working memory and decision-making.

Teena D. Moody, the study’s first author and a senior research associate at the Semel Institute at UCLA, concluded that, “the results suggest that searching online may be a simple form of brain exercise that might be employed to enhance cognition in older adults.”  Moody further proposed that performing Internet searches required the ability to hold important information in the brain’s working memory and to extract the important points from competing graphics and words.