Nigel Bartram’s found something that’s helped boost his brain

I’ve got primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) and over the years have read countless articles, studies and blogs giving great practical advice and suggestions on how I can live as well as possible with my MS. However, relatively few focus on cognitive abilities. Given that more than half of all people with MS develop cognition problems, I think the balance needs to be redressed. So, I’d like to share something I do to keep my marbles in as good a condition as possible.

As my MS progressed, I became increasingly aware of deteriorating memory, speed of reaction, spatial awareness and cog fog, of course. This, despite me still working full time running my business, learning another language and being fully engaged with life, every bit as before. I was further alarmed to read that  people with MS on average lose grey matter at about five times the rate of a healthy person of the same age. I rate not losing one’s mental capacities to be every bit as important as trying to hang on to physical ones.

I discovered ‘BrainHQ’ co-founded by Dr Merzenich, a neuroscientist and long-standing pioneer of research into neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to reorganise itself by forming new neural connections and new neurons to compensate for injury and disease). Merzenich fervently maintains we all need a personal cognitive gym to exercise our memory, attention capability, brain speed, and so on, every bit as much as a gym for physical exercise. Especially as we age, and even more if we have a neurodegenerative condition.

Six years ago, I tried BrainHQ on free trial and rapidly concluded it was just what I needed so I took out a subscription. There are the six main exercise groups, and within these, a total of 29 individual exercises, each with multiple levels of difficulty. The exercises have all been designed by experts in their field of cognition. BrainHQ has been subject to many independent scientific studies to test and prove its efficacy across a range of population and patient groups.

It has been adopted by such diverse groups as those with neurodegenerative diseases to professional athletes, NASA, the US military, educational facilities as well as many tens of thousands of individuals worldwide.

When I started, my aggregate score across all exercises put me slightly below average for a person of my age. Six years later, having worked for about 90 minutes a week I’m now in the top 20% overall. However, my level in the individual exercises ranges from below average in one of the ‘memory’ groups, to being in the top 3% for an ‘attention’ exercise. So, still a work in progress!

Much more important than my scores, though, are the real-world improvements. My reaction to visual stimuli is much quicker. I’m much more observant and have improved my attention span. I focus better and have a much better working memory. In everyday terms it means that when I’m driving, for example, I’m far more alert to everything around me, and quicker to spot potential hazards. I can concentrate on tasks better and for longer. I’m far better at holding phone numbers in my working memory. And there’s a heap more of benefits besides. As for brain fog, that’s been consigned to the dustbin of history.