Author: DynamicBrain Inc.
Publication: Monthly Newsletter
Published Date: January 23, 2024

If you’re one of those people who sets New Year’s resolutions, scientists are offering helpful advice. They believe the number one mistake we make is setting unrealistic goals and then feeling bad if we don’t meet them. Our Dr. Mahncke thinks the biggest issue is that we tend to see goal setting as a moral issue—we’re good people if we succeed and bad if we fail. He says, “You want a resolution as small as you can get it and your brain gives you that hit of dopamine and that starts to rewire the brain to build the habit.”

If you’re curious about the brain side of goal setting, listen to Dr. Merzenich’s 3-minute podcast. Rest assured that BrainHQ can help you, and we have the science to back it up. If you still don’t have full access to BrainHQ, join now.

Kind regards, Frieda Fanni President DynamicBrain Inc. DynamicBrain Inc. is the Canadian partner of Posit Science Corporation since 2010 providing brain fitness program BrainHQ in English and French.

Synaptic connections
Thanks to a small, transparent fish, scientists have been able to learn more about a little-understood junction, or synapse, between neurons and non-neuronal cells in the brain. The zebrafish has transparent skin, which means that scientists can observe the inner workings of its central nervous system in real time. This is the first investigation of its kind to examine the important brain cell junction using this method. Read what scientists found out about this synapse’s importance.

Balancing order and chaos
A new, multidisciplinary study questions the notion that sleep simply replenishes the body’s chemicals and presents a compelling theory for the essential role of sleep in our lives. Bridging physics and biology, the study focuses on criticality—a state that optimizes thinking and information processing by balancing order and chaos in brain activity. Learn how sleep plays a fundamental role in criticality and how we can’t live without it.

Brain space, sleep, and autism
A groundbreaking study has uncovered a link between enlarged spaces in the brains of infants and an elevated risk of developing autism. The same enlarged spaces may also be linked to sleep problems later down the road. With the latest data indicating an increase in autism rates among American and Canadian children, this timely research sheds light on the importance of identifying early markers for autism. Read the full findings of the study.