MemoryZine is dedicated to increasing people’s understanding of memory fitness across their entire life-span: what memory training is; understanding their current memory fitness; and how to improve their memory fitness in easy, practical steps.
Research shows that ‘healthy behaviors’ can save lives and reduce healthcare costs. Most psychology professionals agree that the lack of brain health knowledge is a risk factor for poor brain health outcomes. Therefore, it is crucial that people know the best neuroscience-based Alzheimer’s prevention strategies before it too late to do much about it.
At MemoryZine, under the direction of our Practical Memory Institute Scientific Advisory Board, we seek science-based products and services that can be useful to you in your efforts to improve your memory fitness and cognitive vitality at any age and every stage of life. For example, we now know that there are many more factors that impact on our memory fitness than simply doing crossword puzzles or brushing your teeth with your “other” hand. From the scientific research in new fields of neuroplasticity and epigenetics we know that virtually everything that you do can influence your memory health and fitness – short and long term. It can affect attention, memory improvement, how the brain works, That’s why its so important to get a handle on your areas of strength and perhaps more importantly your areas of weakness – especially if brain injury is involved.
An important part of knowing where you’re going is knowing where you’re coming from. So, it is wise to have a basic assessment of your everyday memory fitness level. Once you have that information, you can make better decisions about where you want to be.
When we find appropriate, science-based products that impress us, we arrange to make them available directly from the producer to you. After all, who is better to service a product than its original producer.
We have found an assessment tool that can be very helpful in this regard. Unlike conventional lengthy, cumbersome and costly cognitive assessments that require you to go to a clinical setting where a trained psychologist will supervise a series of tests and issue reports that might be much more than you may need for a basic starting point, NeoCorta has developed a science-based assessment that can be done in less time and with less expense than conventionally prescribed by a primary care physician —in the privacy of your own home or office.
Of course, if you feel that you are in need of a full psychological battery, see your physician. But, if you are interested in simply improving your memory fitness, please take a look at this exciting home-based brain fitness assessment program from NeoCorta as a good place to start.
NeoCorta’s Home-Based Self-Assessment Program
As many of us grow older we begin to notice that our mental acuity is not the same as it was when we were young. As adults it sometimes seems that we are not as sharp or as focused. So just as we try to thwart outward appearance of aging we need to make the same attempts on the inward signs as well. Lots of us choose a healthier lifestyle through exercise, nutrition, and preventative care to aid the inner functioning of our bodies to be well and live longer. However, how many of us stop and consider the brain, it is the body’s central processing unit and if it is not functioning properly then the whole system crashes. So what are many doing to keep their brain and memory fit and in good health?
Many have turned to a company called NeoCorta. The company was founded in 2008 with a mission to empower adults with tools to optimize their brain’s memory fitness. The company uses scientifically designed assessments to develop an individualized report so you can begin to enjoy a more productive lifestyle through a better insight into your memory fitness.
You begin the process with a quick check-up questionnaire. It takes into normal information about your gender, age, social economic status, and education which will be important in seeing how you compare with others like you.
The questionnaire consists of eight self-report sections including cognitive ability, emotional well being, psychosocial factors, lifestyle and behaviors, brief medical history, functional mobility status (how well you can move around), activities you do and products you may use, as well as goals and preferences. The questions are subjective to your personal views of yourself, and you are asked to rank statements from good to poor or from agree to disagree. If you want your assessment to be useful then it is important to make sure you answer the questions honestly. Also make sure you read the questions carefully and watch the scale, it will change directions and this could throw off your answers if you are not aware of this.
The assessment is completely private to you and completely confidential. The questionnaire will ask for detailed medical information so be prepared to share some personal aspects of your physical health including medications and mental health such as disorders like depression, bipolar disorder, etc… Some people may find it difficult to share this information with non-medical personnel. You will also be asked for your normal blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, and glucose levels. Unless you are monitoring these for a specific health condition most people do not know these numbers off hand. Here is a little help: normal blood pressure is “120/80” (120 systolic and 80 diastolic). The normal ranges for total cholesterol are 140-200 mg/dL, LDL is -130 mg/dL, HDL is 40-75 mg/dL, and glucose is 70-110 mg/dL. (?) Because its good for you to be aware of these data points about your health, you can call your doctor’s office and ask for a copy of your last blood test results or simply ask them for the answers to the specific questions you are asked to provide. Once you finish answering all the questions and submit them directly to NeoCorta, you’ll receive a notice that your report will be available, typically in about two weeks. And since you will be dealing directly with NeoCorta, PMI and MemoryZine will have no knowledge of your assessment details.
So, now that you know why you should see how you compare with others like yourself, you might be interested in learning more about this helpful memory assessment program. We highly recommend it as the first step to better memory fitness.
