WASHINGTON, April 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Just days after the White House's launch of its new BRAIN Initiative, a new how-to guide is shedding much-needed light on a practical approach to preserving and optimizing brain health and performance at any age, tackling this complex topic with refreshing new guidance and personalized lifestyle and brain training tips.

Featuring a foreword by Misha Pavel, Ph.D., Program Director at the National Science Foundation, the new "SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness: How to Optimize Brain Health and Performance at Any Age," cuts through the misconceptions, superficial and conflicting media coverage, and aggressive marketing claims with a common sense approach that empowers readers to take control of their own brain health. The book is available today in paperback and e-book in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

"In today's increasingly high-demand, fast-paced world, we all need to process information faster, boost working memory and resilience and delay age-related problems," said Alvaro Fernandez, CEO of SharpBrains and co-author of the guide, who was also named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2012. "Instead of waiting for the elusive 'magic pill' for cognitive enhancement or Alzheimer's treatment, we need to pay more attention to lifestyle and research-based brain training tools. This book provides an easy-to-follow guide to understanding and harnessing the natural properties of the brain so that more readers can thrive in the 21^st century."

The NSF's Pavel called The Sharp Brains Guide, "An important read. A great start for making sense of new brain science and for taking active steps toward smart health at the individual level, and Smart Health at the societal level."

Personalized, Practical Tips for Better Brain Health

By providing personalized, practical strategies that are easy to implement for even the busiest person at any age, The SharpBrains Guide offers a groundbreaking new approach for self-assessing current brain fitness needs and identifying the most relevant and evidence-based methods to preserve and enhance brain function throughout life.

The SharpBrains Guide combines a user-friendly tutorial on how the brain works with advice on how to choose and integrate lifestyle changes and brain training exercises to improve brain fitness. The book ranks some of the leading brain training options based on how well they meet the five specific guidelines required to translate the training into real-world benefits. It also uncovers the impact of stress and emotions on brain function—a critical factor that's often ignored—and how learning to cope more effectively with inevitable factors of daily life can enhance lifelong brain health.

"[This is] one of those books you cannot ignore," said Tobias Kiefer, Ph.D., Director Global Learning & Development with global management and consulting firm Booz & Company. "Insightful, to the point, actionable.  A book for leaders, innovators, thought provokers and everyone who wants to act and live smarter and healthier, based on the latest neuroscience."

Cutting Through the Clutter of Conflicting Research

Offering an independent, engaging analysis of hundreds of scientific studies published over the last decade, The SharpBrains Guide shows readers how to become smarter consumers of both media and clinical research reports, and provides a unique window into the research and thinking of dozens of leading neuroscientists who often question conventional wisdom and prevailing brain health care while providing unique perspectives on groundbreaking new approaches to help readers navigate the media's sound bites.

Published by SharpBrains, the leading market research firm tracking brain health innovation, the new SharpBrains Guide is a greatly expanded edition of the 2009 guide that AARP named a Best Book on Brain Fitness and Highlight Health called, "an essential reference on the field of brain fitness, neuroplasticity and cognitive health." This new and much-expanded 2^nd edition is based upon extensive investigation of consumer habits and needs and of the latest applied science in brain health research discussed at three annual SharpBrains Virtual Summits and other sources, including hundreds of peer-reviewed studies published over the past decade.

To learn more about the SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness, or buy the book now, visit www.sharpbrains.com or any book retailer such as Amazon.com.

About SharpBrains: 
Sharp­Brains is an inde­pen­dent mar­ket research firm and think tank tracking health and productivity applications of cognitive and affective neu­ro­science, with special emphasis on non-invasive neurotechnology and the growing needs of an aging population. The company maintains a biannual state-of-the market report series, produces an annual global and virtual professional conference, and maintains a consumer-facing guide, The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness. SharpBrains.com, the company's edu­ca­tional blog, is one of the most pop­u­lar brain & innovation blogs with 100,000+ monthly read­ers and 45,000+ eNewsletter subscribers. To learn more about SharpBrains' work, visit www.sharpbrains.com.

SOURCE SharpBrains