The Brain Changers

The Brain Changers
Author: Maya Pines
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P
Total Pages: 1344
Release: 1973
Genre: Behavior modification
ISBN:

Brain Changer

Brain Changer
Author: Felice Jacka
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers Aus.
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2019-02-26
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1760785423

'This is a fascinating book, by a leading researcher, covering one of the most exciting areas of modern nutritional research - how what we eat impacts our gut and brain. The combination of personal stories and cutting edge science is a real winner.' Michael Mosley You feel how you eat. We accept that the quality of our diet affects the health of our heart and liver. So why wouldn't diet - good or bad - affect the health of our brain? This is the question that Australian scientist Felice Jacka set out to answer. Having suffered depression and anxiety as a young woman, she wanted to understand the role diet plays in our overall mental and brain health. What she found through her own research and that of other eminent scientists worldwide will revolutionise the way we think about what we eat and how we care for our brains. * Obesity and depression are two major causes of disease and disability across the globe, and each influences the other. *Food does affect mood: highly processed foods increase depression risk, while a balanced, whole-food diet can prevent depression and improve mood. *A healthy diet improves gut health, and in turn health microbiota (gut bacteria) promote brain health and keep our weight in check. *A healthy diet improves brain performance at all ages, from school-age kids to their work-stressed parents. *The Mediterranean diet is linked to lower rates of Alzheimer's disease and general cognitive decline in older people. Professor Jacka, who leads the field of Nutritional Psychiatry research globally, provides not just the most recent scientific evidence but also a range of simple, practical solutions for improving the way we eat on a daily basis, including meal plans and a range of delicious recipes. This is not a diet book. This is a guide to the good habits that will protect your most precious organ, improve your quality of life and optimise mental and brain health across your lifespan. PRAISE FOR BRAIN CHANGER 'Jacka is leading the way in providing evidence-based approaches that are rooted in cutting-edge science to transform how we think about mental health.' Professor John Cryan

Brain Changer

Brain Changer
Author: David Disalvo
Publisher: BenBella Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2013-11-12
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 193952900X

Let's be honest. You've tried the sticky-note inspirations, the motivational calendar, and the cute (but ineffective) “carpe diem" mug—yet your attitude hasn't changed. It's time to apply cutting-edge science to the challenges of daily life. While everyone desires self-improvement, we are quickly frustrated when trying to implement the contradictory philosophies of self-appointed self-help gurus. Too often, their advice is based on anecdote and personal opinion, not real research. Bestselling author of What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite David DiSalvo returns with Brain Changer: How Harnessing Your Brain's Power to Adapt Can Change Your Life. Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience, cognitive psychology, behavioral economics, communications, and even marketing, DiSalvo replaces self-help with “science help." He demonstrates how the brain's enormous capacity to adapt is the most crucial factor influencing how we feel and act—a factor that we can control to change our lives. Findings show our brains are fluid and function much like a feedback loop: stimulants from both our environment and from within ourselves catalyze changes in the brain's response. That response then elicits additional inputs that the brain identifies and analyzes to further tailor its response. DiSalvo shows that the greatest internal tool we have to affect the feedback loop is metacognition (“thinking about thinking"). Littered with relatable examples and tackling major aspects of our lives including relationships, careers, physical health, and personal development, Brain Changer shows you how to harness metacognition to enrich your life.

The Brain That Changes Itself

The Brain That Changes Itself
Author: Norman Doidge, M.D.
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 447
Release: 2007-03-15
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1101147113

“Fascinating. Doidge’s book is a remarkable and hopeful portrait of the endless adaptability of the human brain.”—Oliver Sacks, MD, author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat What is neuroplasticity? Is it possible to change your brain? Norman Doidge’s inspiring guide to the new brain science explains all of this and more An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable, and proving that it is, in fact, possible to change your brain. Psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, M.D., traveled the country to meet both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity, its healing powers, and the people whose lives they’ve transformed—people whose mental limitations, brain damage or brain trauma were seen as unalterable. We see a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, blind people who learn to see, learning disorders cured, IQs raised, aging brains rejuvenated, stroke patients learning to speak, children with cerebral palsy learning to move with more grace, depression and anxiety disorders successfully treated, and lifelong character traits changed. Using these marvelous stories to probe mysteries of the body, emotion, love, sex, culture, and education, Dr. Doidge has written an immensely moving, inspiring book that will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential.

Change Your Brain, Change Your Life

Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
Author: Daniel G. Amen, M.D.
Publisher: Harmony
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2008-06-10
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0307453332

BRAIN PRESCRIPTIONS THAT REALLY WORK In this breakthrough bestseller, you'll see scientific evidence that your anxiety, depression, anger, obsessiveness, or impulsiveness could be related to how specific structures in your brain work. You're not stuck with the brain you're born with. Here are just a few of neuropsychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen's surprising--and effective--"brain prescriptions" that can help heal your brain and change your life: To Quell Anxiety and Panic: ¸ Use simple breathing techniques to immediately calm inner turmoil To Fight Depression: ¸ Learn how to kill ANTs (automatic negative thoughts) To Curb Anger: ¸ Follow the Amen anti-anger diet and learn the nutrients that calm rage To Conquer Impulsiveness and Learn to Focus: ¸ Develop total focus with the "One-Page Miracle" To Stop Obsessive Worrying: ¸ Follow the "get unstuck" writing exercise and learn other problem-solving exercises

How God Changes Your Brain

How God Changes Your Brain
Author: Andrew Newberg, M.D.
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2009-03-24
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0345512790

God is great—for your mental, physical, and spiritual health. Based on new evidence culled from brain-scan studies, a wide-reaching survey of people’s religious and spiritual experiences, and the authors’ analyses of adult drawings of God, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg and therapist Mark Robert Waldman offer the following breakthrough discoveries: • Not only do prayer and spiritual practice reduce stress, but just twelve minutes of meditation per day may slow down the aging process. • Contemplating a loving God rather than a punitive God reduces anxiety and depression and increases feelings of security, compassion, and love. • Fundamentalism, in and of itself, can be personally beneficial, but the prejudice generated by extreme beliefs can permanently damage your brain. • Intense prayer and meditation permanently change numerous structures and functions in the brain, altering your values and the way you perceive reality. Both a revelatory work of modern science and a practical guide for readers to enhance their physical and emotional health, How God Changes Your Brain is a first-of-a-kind book about faith that is as credible as it is inspiring.

The Woman Who Changed Her Brain

The Woman Who Changed Her Brain
Author: Barbara Arrowsmith-Young
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2013-09-17
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1451607946

Previously published in hardcover: New York: Free Press, 2012.

Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain

Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain
Author: Sharon Begley
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2008-11-12
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0307492087

Cutting-edge science and the ancient wisdom of Buddhism have come together to reveal that, contrary to popular belief, we have the power to literally change our brains by changing our minds. Recent pioneering experiments in neuroplasticity—the ability of the brain to change in response to experience—reveal that the brain is capable of altering its structure and function, and even of generating new neurons, a power we retain well into old age. The brain can adapt, heal, renew itself after trauma, compensate for disabilities, rewire itself to overcome dyslexia, and break cycles of depression and OCD. And as scientists are learning from studies performed on Buddhist monks, it is not only the outside world that can change the brain, so can the mind and, in particular, focused attention through the classic Buddhist practice of mindfulness. With her gift for making science accessible, meaningful, and compelling, science writer Sharon Begley illuminates a profound shift in our understanding of how the brain and the mind interact and takes us to the leading edge of a revolution in what it means to be human. Praise for Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain “There are two great things about this book. One is that it shows us how nothing about our brains is set in stone. The other is that it is written by Sharon Begley, one of the best science writers around. Begley is superb at framing the latest facts within the larger context of the field. This is a terrific book.”—Robert M. Sapolsky, author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers “Excellent . . . elegant and lucid prose . . . an open mind here will be rewarded.”—Discover “A strong dose of hope along with a strong does of science and Buddhist thought.”—The San Diego Union-Tribune

Brain and Culture

Brain and Culture
Author: Bruce E. Wexler
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2008-08-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0262265141

Research shows that between birth and early adulthood the brain requires sensory stimulation to develop physically. The nature of the stimulation shapes the connections among neurons that create the neuronal networks necessary for thought and behavior. By changing the cultural environment, each generation shapes the brains of the next. By early adulthood, the neuroplasticity of the brain is greatly reduced, and this leads to a fundamental shift in the relationship between the individual and the environment: during the first part of life, the brain and mind shape themselves to the major recurring features of their environment; by early adulthood, the individual attempts to make the environment conform to the established internal structures of the brain and mind. In Brain and Culture, Bruce Wexler explores the social implications of the close and changing neurobiological relationship between the individual and the environment, with particular attention to the difficulties individuals face in adulthood when the environment changes beyond their ability to maintain the fit between existing internal structure and external reality. These difficulties are evident in bereavement, the meeting of different cultures, the experience of immigrants (in which children of immigrant families are more successful than their parents at the necessary internal transformations), and the phenomenon of interethnic violence. Integrating recent neurobiological research with major experimental findings in cognitive and developmental psychology—with illuminating references to psychoanalysis, literature, anthropology, history, and politics—Wexler presents a wealth of detail to support his arguments. The groundbreaking connections he makes allow for reconceptualization of the effect of cultural change on the brain and provide a new biological base from which to consider such social issues as "culture wars" and ethnic violence.