
Maintaining brain health is crucial for your overall wellbeing, but this need can sometimes fall by the wayside in the business of daily life. The good news is it’s not hard to nurture your brain when you have the right resources and knowledge.
In addition to good food and supplements, you might be surprised to learn that technology can play a big role in brain health. Here’s how:
The internet makes vast knowledge available
The foundation of technological advancements really lies in the internet. Without the internet, most people wouldn’t know what’s possible, what’s available, or where and how to get what they want. All the amazing technology available around the world is condensed into one database inside a search engine, like Google, where everyone has access to that information. It’s simple technology that has been around for decades, but it’s powerful.
A great example is how the internet makes it possible for anyone to research information, find solutions, and discover new therapies designed to support brain health. It also makes it easy for people to find legal help when they’re facing serious issues, like traumatic brain injury (TBI), which requires direct medical intervention.
Apps support brain training
If you don’t keep your brain engaged, you can end up with cognitive issues over time, but how you stimulate your brain matters. Many people find that cognitive training applications are an excellent way to keep their brain healthy. These apps offer personalized brain training exercises that automatically adapt to each user’s performance level. These apps target cognitive function, like memory, attention, problem-solving, and processing speed through fun activities and games.
Wearable devices make brain monitoring easy
Brain monitoring is often part of a person’s medically-necessary protocol, but sometimes people want to monitor their brain activity for other purposes. Either way, wearable devices make it easy to track and monitor detailed brain activity patterns. For example, these devices are used during sleep studies and to manage stress levels.
During sleep studies, a sensor is connected to a person’s scalp to monitor brain waves with an electroencephalogram (EEG). It’s also common for people to wear an electrocardiography (EKG) sensor on their chest to monitor heart activity at the same time.
Brain monitoring helps relieve stress
One of the most popular brain monitoring tools designed to help people reduce stress is the Inner Balance Coherence Plus sensor made by the Heartmath institute. This sensor is used along with a mobile app to help people train their brains into a coherent state.
The idea behind this tool is to give people real-time feedback on their brainwaves so they can train themselves into a state of coherence, where their brain and heart are in sync, which is a state of peace and calm. While this state can be achieved through meditation, it helps to have a visual because it gives people real-time feedback regarding how their brain is responding as they breathe deeply, relax, and employ other various techniques to get into different states.
There are all kinds of reasons to monitor your brain activity, and depending on what your goal is, there is likely a device and/or app to make it easy.
Apps help people with ADHD
There are a lot of apps that help people with ADHD train their brain into more functional states. People with ADHD have a reduced amount of beta brainwaves and a higher amount of theta brainwaves, which makes cognitive processing difficult.
ADHD (which now includes what was formerly ADD) is a neurological disorder typically characterized by a lack of energy and the feeling of being burned out too easily, not to mention a lack of executive functioning and poor working memory.
Apps designed to help people with ADHD work by entraining the brain into the alpha brainwave states required to form stronger memories and support learning. They also help people stay focused for longer periods of time and reduce stress and anxiety.
AI enhances diagnostic tools
Artificial intelligence algorithms can analyze brain scans and medical data much faster and more accurately than humans. Scans and brain data are now being given to these AI-powered algorithms to detect early signs of neurological conditions, which supports early intervention and a more accurate, effective treatment plan.
Technology will continue to support brain health
As technology continues to evolve, its role in supporting brain health will only grow stronger. While the tools mentioned in this article offer great benefits, they work best as part of a comprehensive approach to brain health and wellness that includes a healthy diet and lifestyle.