Why checking out your brain is important?

Prioritizing Brain Health: Overcoming the Neglected Routine Measurement of Cognitive Well-being

Your brain is the most important organ in the body, managing every aspect of life, internally and externally. It is crucial to lead a healthy and interactive existence and is vulnerable to the same effects of ill health as the rest of the body.

Poor blood supply, reduced metabolism and poor nutritional intake all have short and long term effects, which are often experienced, e.g. brain fog, hangovers, grain brain etc. But we don’t measure our cognitive situation routinely, usually because these things are transient.

Why measure cognition?

But there are times when measuring cognition could be important. Two-thirds of stroke patients experience cognitive decline, a third going on to dementia. But cognition is not measured on stroke pathways. Could doing so introduce new methods of rehab?

55% of people have cognitive impairment after a heart attack. Though often mild, some impairments persist and given the risk factors for a heart attack and dementia broadly overlap, is this a group that should have their cognition monitored on a regular basis — especially if ApoE4 carriers. Up to 60% of people with traumatic brain injury have cognitive impairments, again some progressing to dementia.

This is a busy field at the moment, with more people having traumatic brain injury in the US than Alzheimer’s disease.

Make testing your brain available to all!

So why don’t we measure cognition more often. Mainly because it is perceived as difficult, costly, labour-intensive and so not cost effective on a larger scale. OptiChroniX have looked at this and included cognitive testing in their lifestyle coaching app, myAVOS. The purpose of the app is to improve or encourage personalised healthy lifestyle choices through individually created behavioural coaching programmes. It then collects information from wearables, nearables and direct input to measure significant changes. One regular measure is cognition, using a tool from Winterlight Labs with whom we partner. This involves describing a complex picture verbally in to the smart phone, from which speech bio markers can produce an assessment of an individual’s cognitive state. This is a very scalable option to meet the needs of the people described above.

myAVOS

This is only part of myAVOS Cognition. It coaches on nutrition, exercise, mindfulness and sleep; explaining how these can help maintain and improve cognitive well being. Linking all this together in one app gives people the chance to learn about their brain, do things to preserve it and understand why they have good and bad days. It also adds another dimension to the discussion with health care professionals, who may not even measure cognition routinely and if they do, not that frequently.

Expanding Access to Cognitive Assessment: Empowering Individuals with myAVOS for Brain Health

In the private sector, yearly medicals are starting to include cognitive tests, but they add to the cost. Not everybody has access to private medicine, but myAVOS is available on your phone and has not just results, but what to do about them. Improving your health using lifestyle techniques is usually inexpensive and often enjoyable. The research suggests 80% of chronic disease symptoms can be mitigated and that holds true even after more acute illnesses intervene. All of this serves to protect the brain and our ability to remain independent in the world.

Measuring cognition needs to become more common, especially if people want to live well, while they live longer!

Credits: Meet Roger Bullock MD, a highly accomplished geriatric psychiatrist with over 30 years of experience in the field of psychiatry. Roger completed his medical training at Keble College, Oxford University, and clinical medical training at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. He specialized in psychiatry, specifically geriatric psychiatry, and established the Kingshill Research Centre. With an extensive career, Roger has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, several books, and chapters. He also served as Clinical Tutor and Academic Secretary of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Faculty of Old Age Psychiatry for 8 years. Roger is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and has received awards and recognition for his contributions to the field of mental health.

If you’re between the ages of 40 and 65, now is the perfect time to focus on prevention and take control of your health! By using a digital health coach app like myAVOS, you can get personalized coaching and guidance on how to live a healthy and fulfilling life. So what are you waiting for?

Download myAVOS from the AppStore today and start your journey to better health and well-being!

A short impression of the capabilities of myAVOS can be seen here on our youTube channel.