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Ten Ways To Improve Health & Wellness Based On Latest Brain Science And Neurotechnologies

How can we begin building better bridges between existing brain science and neurotechnologies and the real-world health challenges we're facing, such as ADHD, depression, and Alzheimer's Disease? These click here are 10 priorities to consider, based on the author's participation in the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China.

These are 10 priorities to consider, if we want to improve health & wellness based on the latest neuroscience and non-invasive neurotechnology:

Transform the mental health framework, from a constellation of diagnoses such as anxiety, depression, ADHD…to the identification and strengthening of the specific brain circuits ("cells that fire together wire together") that may be deficient. This is what the Research Domain Criteria framework, put forth by the National Institute of Mental Health, is starting to do.

Bring meditative practices to the mainstream, via school-based and corporate programs, and leveraging relatively-inexpensive biometric systems

Coopt pervasive activities, such as playing videogames…but in a way that ensures they have a beneficial effect, such as with cognitive training games specifically designed to prolong cognitive vitality as we age

Offer web-based psychotherapies as first-line interventions for depression and anxiety (and probably insomnia), as recommended by the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Monitor the negative cognitive and emotional side-effects from a variety of medical interventions, to ensure unintentional effects from the cure are not more afflictive than the treated person's original condition. Given that the US Food and Drug Administration just cleared an innovative mobile brain health assessment, what prevents wider use of baseline assessments and active monitoring of cognition as an individual begins a particular treatment program or medication?

Combine pharmacological interventions (bottom-up) with cognitive training (top-down) such as the CogniFit - Bayer partnership for patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Update regulatory frameworks to facilitate safe adoption of consumer-facing neurotechnologies. Start-up Thync just raised $13 million to market transcranial stimulation in 2015, helping users "alter their state of mind." That's not a medical claim per se…but does the technology need to be regulated as a medical device?

Invest more research dollars to fine-tune brain stimulation methods, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, to enable truly personalized medicine.

Adopt big data research models, such as the newly-announced UCSF Brain Health Registry, to leapfrog the existing small clinical trial model and move us closer towards delivering personalized, integrated brain care.

And, last but certainly not least, promote physical exercise and bilingual education in our schools, and reduce drop-out rates. Improving and enriching our schools is perhaps the most powerful social intervention (and the original non-invasive neurotechnology) to build lifelong brain reserve and delay problems brought by cognitive aging and dementia.

If we want every citizen to adopt more positive lifestyles, especially as we face longer and more demanding lives, it is imperative that we better empower and equip ourselves with the right cognitive and emotional resources and tools. Initiatives such as those above are a significant start to view and treat the human brain as an asset to invest in across the entire human lifespan, and to truly maximize years of healthy, functional and meaningful living.