THE NOT SO HAPPY HOLIDAYS: DEALING WITH HOLIDAY DEPRESSION

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These are the best weeks of the year: Spending quality time with our families in beautifully decorated homes and stores, dreaming of a gourmet dinner, and that moment when the kids will run down the stairs to gifts wrapped and sitting around…

Talking to Children About our Changing World

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The plethora of tragic events in the news combined with the pervasive nature of the Internet and today's continuous flow of media, parents are more and more finding themselves in the position to discuss difficult situations with their children.…

PLAY YOUR WAY TO BETTER THINKING

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We have known for a long time that the best way to stay mentally sharp is to keep thinking. The “use it or lose it” principle is pretty sound – firing the electrical and chemical connections in your brain helps keep: brains healthy and functioning…

BRAIN HEALTH, DIVIDED ATTENTION & THE ONGOING DEBATE OVER MULTI-TASKING

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At the end of 2011, the media was buzzing about the harmful effects of multitasking and the evils of divided attention. True, according to a study done at Stanford, when we do multiple things at once, we don’t filter and sort information as…

Executive Functioning: The Command Center Part 1: Planning

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Thinking and functioning well involves a set of pretty complicated processes that are usually lumped together under one big, overlapping, confusing, and somewhat wishy-washy label: Executive Functioning. Simplifying and separating tasks might…

FIVE STEPS TO BETTER PROBLEM SOLVING

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Every day we face situations and challenges that make us use multiple brain processes, all at once, to find answers. Those tasks often involve a set of Executive Functions collectively known as Problem Solving. When you problem solve you must: Pay…

BUILDING COGNITIVE RESERVE: LETTING GO

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Cognitive reserve is that little bit of extra brain power, saved for when the brain is under attack. It is the well of support that kicks in when anything, traumatic or routine, drains all your mental energy or closes a neural pathway and leaves…

Shiitake Mushroom Seaweed Soup

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Try this delicious combination of seaweed and shiitake mushrooms to add an extra boost of minerals to your Healthiest Way of Eating. Enjoy! Prep and Cook Time: 30 minutes  6 whole dried medium shiitake mushrooms 6 cups warm water 4 medium-sized…

We are All “Fat Heads”

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The brain is made up of 60% fat…. Add to that, the coating that protects our nerve fibers (axons) that are a crucial part of the brain’s communication system called myelin, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myelin) is 70% fat! Adequate intake…