Tag Archives: Brain health

The Brain-Immune Connection

The Brain-Immune Connection: How Attention Impacts Neuroinflammation and Brain Aging

The Brain and the Immune System

The human brain is the seat of human function, the body’s control center, and the organ responsible for processing sensory information, coordinating actions, regulating automatic functions, and enabling cognition, language, and behavior. The brain is linked to movement, memory, emotions, and thoughts, as well as body temperature and involuntary processes like breathing and heart rate. Now, the link between the brain and the immune system is being more closely examined, as scientists explore whether focusing attention allows the brain to influence how the immune system responds to inflammation.

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XPRIZE Healthspan Finals

XPRIZE Healthspan Finals: The Latest in the Race to Extend Healthy Aging

Imagine reaching your 70s or 80s with the strength to keep moving, the clarity to stay engaged, and the independence to continue living life on your own terms. For too many people, the later decades of life are marked not by vitality, but by impaired muscle function, cognition, and immune function.

But what if we could change what it means to grow old? As populations age and age-related conditions continue to rise worldwide, improving healthspan has become one of the defining scientific and public health challenges of our time. It’s a challenge the $101 million XPRIZE Healthspan competition was created to address. As XPRIZE announces the 20 finalist teams advancing to the next stage of the competition, we’ll look at what XPRIZE means to the global race to transform how we age – and, more importantly, what the competition has decided to measure.

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Cognitive Health and Brain Longevity

Cognitive Health and Brain Longevity: Protecting the Aging Brain

It’s the holy grail of longevity science: a healthy body that continues to function at optimal levels well into old age. But even as scientific advances continue to extend lifespan, it’s cognitive health — clear thinking, ongoing learning, emotional regulation, and the ability to remember and process information — that helps make a longer life meaningful.

Aging naturally brings changes in the way the brain functions, but cognitive decline is not necessarily inevitable. Incorporating strategic lifestyle changes, early assessment, and proactive therapeutic approaches may help preserve brain health and support cognitive function throughout life.

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