One way to measure how much age has fatigued an individual is to measure the length of their telomeres. Since telomeres naturally shorten with time many researchers use telomere length to determine cell age, and give a picture of overall brain health What are telomeres? They act as protective caps on the end of chromosomes […]
How Exercise Can Train the Brain and Even Compensate for Genes
Have you ever had a patient who, when trying to excuse some behavior or condition, blamed it on their genes? We tend to see genes as the determining factor for everything from our weight to our propensity to develop certain neurological diseases and while genes can play an important role in many areas of health, […]
Improve Your Brain Health: Eat Curry
I have to admit, I didn’t grow up eating curry. It just wasn’t a mainstay in the New England diet, and my parents still aren’t much into trying new foods. And while this follows the whole “you can’t teach old dogs new tricks” thinking, anyone who doesn’t at least try curry, or more importantly, turmeric, […]
Saving Lives With Business Savvy
In our last blog post I wrote about the amazing chain of events that occurred when one man, Rick Ruzzamenti, decided to donate one of his kidneys. His selfless donation led to 29 other kidney donations and linked together 60 donors and recipients in a long chain. But there is another hero in that story […]
How Altruism Can Change the World
I recently read a story that amazed me so much I wanted to share it with you. It started when Rick Ruzzamenti, a New Yorker, decided to donate a kidney after hearing a story about organ donation at his local yoga studio. The result? One altruistic act started a chain of events that linked 60 […]
An Ethical Dilemma: Our $37,500 Donation in Action
You may remember just over a month ago, when we promised to donate half of the registration fees from our Holiday Package to charity:water. We sent in $37,500 to be exact. The Holiday Package charity is an annual project that the staff chooses. (I don’t vote, since I get to choose the other charities that […]
The Science of Altruism: A Daily Act of Kindness
I recently read about a new blog started by a man who wanted to do one act of kindness a day for the entire year in celebration of his daughter’s birth. So far, he has done things like buy lunch for firefighters, put change in vending machines, compliment strangers, and let people go ahead of […]
The Benefits of Exercise for the Brain
I was just reading about the abnormally severe winter that folks in Europe are currently enduring. Last year at this time, my house was surrounded by six-foot snow piles and topics of conversation were about how to shovel snow off the roof. At any rate, my exercise regiment had fallen by the way-side, with snow […]
The Now Effect
Mindfulness practices can make such a profound impact on the seemingly small, everyday interactions in life – and this can add up to major positive changes for patients. That’s why I asked my friend Elisha Goldstein, PhD to share some insights on using mindfulness in clinical practice. Elisha is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice, […]
Mindfulness Taught via Internet?
I am always amazed when I read about innovative new technology for things that ten years ago I would never have imagined. Video games that help surgeons improve their skills, iPhone Apps for measuring happiness. I could go on and on, but you get the point. I recently read an article in BMC Psychiatry that […]