Two important factors of brain health in older adults that have to be considered when discussing plans for overall wellness are neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. These two processes are directly related to the success or decline of an older adult’s mental and physical health. If an older adult’s wellness is to be maintained or ideally improved, both of these processes must be stimulated and sustained.
Resilience
By definition: neuroplasticity refers to the human brain’s "ability to form and reorganize synaptic connections, especially in response to learning or experience or following injury." This process is essentially the adaptability of the brain, a quality necessary for a healthy life and one that tends to decrease as a person gets older. Logically, this makes sense: if a person has lower neuroplasticity, they cannot recover from injury as easily and they may begin to have difficulty learning, encoding, and recalling new information.
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Fountain of Youth
Paired closely with the concept of neuroplasticity is the process of neurogenesis. This is the process whereby a human brain generates new neurons. Until the 1990’s, it was thought that this process only occurred in the brains of infants, and younger humans, but discoveries in the last few decades suggest that adult neurogenesis does occur in several zones of the brain. It has also been speculated that physical exercise can help accelerate this process.
Brain Race
Given the information that doctors now have concerning these two processes, a premium has been placed upon any technology or therapy that can somehow increase and/or accelerate these functions within the brains of older adults. We at Blue Goji believe that our Infinity System and accompanying program EverCare, can accomplish this exactly. By utilizing our patented treadmill, original game designs, and the latest in VR technology, we hope to offer older adults and patients with physically limiting conditions avenues for engaging in worthwhile exercise for both their body and mind. If our hypothesis is supported, patients that employ the use of our Infinity System would see an increase in both neuroplasticity and neurogenesis, thereby improving their overall physical and mental health. The side effects of this will hopefully be far reaching, potentially mitigating fall-risk, depression, and the worsening of chronic conditions associated with a sedentary lifestyle.
We are on the verge of launching a pilot program with the VA Hospital in Los Angeles, where we will test this theory and gather data on just how effective the use of our platform can be. If physical activity and cognitive exercise can be used as a catalyst for increased neural processes, Blue Goji will develop and implement such strategies on the widest possible scale.
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