(San Francisco, CA) – Posit Science, the maker of BrainHQ online brain exercises, is working with the Canadian Football League Alumni Association (CFLAA) to help address the brain health of retired Canadian football players. CFLAA will be offering BrainHQ to its members — at a special discount.
The collaboration is an outgrowth of the Canadian Sports Concussion Project, in which a number of CFLAA members are participating, as well as normal concerns about the impact of aging on cognitive abilities.
Recurring blows to the head, including both concussions and asymptomatic sub-concussive events, can lead to decline in cognitive function and increased risk of dementia. Even among people who never played football, cognitive function — such as speed, attention and memory — typically peaks in a person’s late twenties, followed by a slow but continuous decline that becomes increasingly noticeable over successive decades.
“We’ve drawn on the expertise of researchers we work with, and on the experiences of our members, to launch this brain health initiative,” said Leo Ezerins, the Executive Director of CFLAA and 10-season veteran, who played linebacker for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. “Studies show a modest amount of BrainHQ training can significantly improve abilities and quality of life.”
“We are honored to have been approached by CFLAA,” said Dr. Henry Mahncke, CEO of Posit Science. “Their evidence-based selection of BrainHQ underscores the value of our ongoing commitment to advance the science of neuroplasticity-based brain training.”
BrainHQ is unique among commercially-available brain training because of the scientific evidence behind the product. In a systematic comparison — published in the journal Neuropsychological Review — experts found that most brain training targeting older adults had no studies showing efficacy, and that only BrainHQ exercises are backed by multiple high-quality studies.
There are more than 100 peer-reviewed studies on benefits of BrainHQ. Those benefits include better performance at standard measures of cognition (e.g., speed, attention, memory), at standard measures of quality of life (e.g., mood, confidence, health-related quality of life), and at real world activities (e.g., balance, driving, everyday cognition). Studies also show structural changes in the brain, indicative of more efficient operations and better brain health.
Members of CFLAA, and their fans, are able to get a discount on BrainHQ subscriptions at www.brainhq.com/cflaa. BrainHQ is contributing a portion of the proceeds from each new subscriber at that site to CFLAA.