Your Brain at Work
In partnership with The Conference Board, the Alliance presents these resources, focused on improving cognitive fitness in the workplace through a brain-healthy lifestyle.

		Did you bring your brain to work today?  Your Brain at Work.org is an interactive web-based publication and resource, exploring topics such as how learning changes with age, learning better in the workplace, and how a brain-healthy lifestyle can support learning throughout life.
		We’ve all seen the news: we can affect how our brains work.  Neuroscience tells us that we can increase our chances of maintaining our mental edge and functional independence throughout our lives.  How?  By working to keep our brains fit the way we work to keep our bodies healthy. The booklet Your Brain at Work: Making the Science of Cognitive Fitness Work for You explores these topics. Download the PDF by clicking the link above or request a single complimentary printed copy by emailing sthompson@dana.org.

From the pages of Your Brain at Work: Making the Science of Cognitive Fitness Work for You

We’ve all seen the news: we can affect how our brains work.  Neuroscience tells us that we can increase our chances of maintaining our mental edge and functional independence throughout our lives.  How?  By working to keep our brains fit the way we work to keep our bodies healthy.

What you do everyday matters to your brain.  The choices you make, your level of physical and mental activity, your social life, diet, and sleep habits-all these things can affect cognitive fitness: a state in which we are performing well mentally, emotionally, and functionally.
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Multitasking has become a way of life — and work — for many of us. We check email while on a conference call. Review slides during a meeting. Or talk on the cell phone while we’re driving. Doing two or three things at once may have become so second-nature we don’t even realize we’re doing it. We may not be able to imagine how we would get through our day if not for this capacity to juggle.

It may surprise you to learn that multitasking is not the most efficient use of brain power. A series of studies in recent years has used brain imaging to understand how the brain handles discrete tasks that are performed simultaneously. The results suggest that multitasking has a cost in terms of efficiency, learning, and neural activity devoted to each task.
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Your Cognitive Fitness Strategy: An Action Plan for Brain Health

Write it down.
Putting your goals in writing makes them more meaningful. Adding why you want to achieve each goal is a real motivator.

Give yourself a timeframe.
And remember: That implies giving yourself enough time to work at and master your goals.

Physical Activity
How many minutes did I walk today, including around the office?
How did I work exercise into my day?
Did I “walk and talk” at work, rather than emailing or phoning?

Cognitive Stimulation
What did I learn today?
What routine task did I approach differently today?
Did I challenge my mind? Did I do anything just for fun?

Stress Management
How was my stress level today?
What caused me the greatest stress today? What triggered it?
How did I cope? How did I relax?
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To see the entire Action Plan, and more, request a complimentary copy of Your Brain at Work: Making the Science of Cognitive Fitness Work for You by writing sthompson@dana.org, or download the PDF.

About this partnership
One of The Conference Board’s goals is to convince business owners and employers of the benefits of recruiting and retaining mature workers. The Dana Alliance partnered with The Conference Board to identify the brain science issues that relate to the mature worker, produce materials to disseminate information about what the mature worker can do to maintain cognitive fitness, how employers can help their workers do this, and to raise awareness among both parties about the benefits of brain fitness.  

The Conference Board
The Conference Board is the world's pre-eminent business membership and research organization.  The Conference Board creates and disseminates knowledge about management and the marketplace to help businesses strengthen their performance and better serve society.  Working as a global, independent, not-for-profit membership organization in the public interest, The Conference Board conducts research, convenes conferences, makes forecasts, assesses trends, publishes information and analysis, and brings executives together to learn from one another.

Cognitive Fitness in the News
In a column on the Dana Foundation homepage, Guy McKhann, M.D., discusses how to maintain cognitive functions as you age.

A New York Times op-ed highlighted how physical exercise can have the best long-term impact on your mental health.