News

Published Nov. 4, 2022 9:44 AM

Would you take a simple brain health test to learn about your risk of developing a brain disease if you could? According to the Global Brain Health Survey, 91 per cent of those questioned would.

We asked this question to over 27,500 people in the Global Brain Health Survey conducted by the Lifebrain project. The survey is led by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in collaboration with the University of Oslo, and the Lifebrain consortium.

Published Aug. 30, 2022 11:24 AM

The conference “Your brain – for life! Closing conference for the Lifebrain Consortium” took place 29th June, 2022 at the Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford. The local host of the event was the University of Oxford.

At the closing conference of the Lifebrain Horizon 2020 consortium, Lifebrain scientists discussed their findings regarding the effect of these factors on cognitive and mental health throughout life, with invited keynote speakers setting the international context.

Published July 4, 2022 2:18 PM

Dear national brain councils, brain foundations, patient organizations, researchers, clinicians, research registries, research participants and others, in Europe and elsewhere,

The Lifebrain project officially ended on June 30, 2022. The project produced important new knowledge about risk and protective factors influencing brain health. It also brought new insights on public perceptions of brain health, and this would not have been possible without your help.

Published June 20, 2022 10:42 AM

A central aim of the Lifebrain consortium is to optimize the use of European brain imaging cohorts, by enabling their combined use in research, and to reveal consistency as well as heterogeneity of factors related to brain and cognition.

The Lifebrain findings provide support for some established associations, but also challenge some tenets of lifespan cognitive neuroscience. 

Published May 27, 2022 9:51 AM

If you really want to improve lifestyle, you probably have to personalise it. You have to measure several factors on an individual level across the life course,’ he said. ‘Our best chance of fighting cognitive decline and dementia will come from early preventative measures using this lifespan data approach.’. 

Lifebrain has been featured as an inspiring project aiming to prevent cognitive decline in older adults, in the Horizon magazine of the EU.

Click here to read the article.

Published Mar. 8, 2022 8:53 PM

Researchers from the University of Barcelona (UB) have found that some people feeling lonely over time may have declining verbal memory. The study is part of the Lifebrain consortium led by the University of Oslo.

Published Feb. 24, 2022 10:05 AM

The prospect of experiencing symptoms of cognitive or mental decline was a key motivation to undertake lifestyle changes, even more so than having been diagnosed with a brain disorder – an important finding from the second public report of the Global Brain Health Survey.

Published Nov. 11, 2021 11:11 PM

In brain scans of almost 1500 people throughout Europe, researchers of the Lifebrain consortium found that people with “older-looking” brains had both lower birth weight and genes for smaller brains, compared with those with normal ageing brains.

Both these factors are present early in life, indicating that your “brain age” is mostly related to early life influences and not so much on events that happen later in life. 

Published Sep. 13, 2021 1:10 PM

“Keep dancing!” says Lifebrain researcher Sara Pudas at Umeå University, Sweden. She is studying how the length of your telomeres — the bits at the end of your chromosomes — relates to brain volumes and lifestyle factors. Preliminary results suggest that older individuals with longer telomeres appear to have larger brain volumes.

Published Aug. 31, 2021 10:46 AM

People want clear, evidence-based information about exactly which lifestyle changes can improve their brain health, according to a new report from the Lifebrain consortium at the University of Oslo.

Published Apr. 6, 2021 4:11 PM

We are happy to announce a new member to the Lifebrain team! Researcher Nanna Fredheim, with a background in media and communications, will be working with stakeholder engagement and on public perceptions of brain health. In a recent interview, she said;            “The scope and ambition of the Lifebrian project impressed me.” 

Published Mar. 10, 2021 4:18 PM

15-21 March is the International Brain Awareness Week in 2021, an educational initiative aiming to raise awareness of the importance of brain research and brain health. 

Published Feb. 10, 2021 8:48 PM

“Everything that helps keep the heart healthy seems beneficial to brain health later in life, so keeping your heart and circulation system healthy has multiple benefits.”

The Lifebrain consortium highlights several Lifebrain researchers in order to showcase the research done in the project. The researchers talk about their work on the project, what they enjoy the most and what challenges them. Importantly, they share how the outcomes of Lifebrain will impact the wider field of brain research.

Read the interview here.

Published Feb. 1, 2021 3:54 PM

Study on aging and Alzheimer’s published in Nature Communications:

Left and right-brain age differently – linked to Alzheimer’s Disease

Parts of the brain decline faster from age 30, researchers at the University of Oslo, Department of Psychology find. These brain changes are accelerated in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

  • Researchers discover a new aspect of how the brain ages, replicating the results in  5 of the largest longitudinal MRI datasets in the world.
  • They find the cerebral cortex thins asymmetrically as we age.
  • Important parts of the brain that have thicker cortex at age 20 – usually on the left side – thin faster
  • These brain-changes occur gradually from 20-90 years, but happen faster in people with Alzheimer’s Disease. 

These new findings, published in Nature Communications, shed new light on our understanding of how the brain ages, and demonstrate a possible link between healthy aging and Alzheimer’s disease. 

Published Sep. 1, 2020 10:08 AM

Between June 2019 and August 2020, Lifebrain conducted the Global Brain Health Survey to collect data on people’s perceptions of brain health and willingness to take care of their brain by adopting new lifestyles. The survey was conducted online and translated into 14 languages to reach as many people as possible. In total, it collected 27,590 responses from people in 81 countries. Read more about the survey here.

Published Dec. 6, 2019 3:04 PM

In the beginning of November, the Lifebrain consortium met in Berlin to discuss the progress of our project. The meeting was followed by a common session with another consortium, and a jointly organized public conference. The Max Planck Institute for Human Development hosted the events in the historic Harnack House, located in Dalem, the center for academic research in Berlin.

Published Sep. 30, 2019 5:11 PM

Last week Lifebrain participated in the Oslo Science Expo for the second year in a row. The aim of this event is to make science and research available to the public. The sun was shining and curious school classes, tourists and families visited our tent.

Published June 12, 2019 3:07 PM

Almost 200 people turned up for the public lecture “Good brain health is important” at the Literature House in Oslo 4th June 2019, filling the venue to the brim.

Lifebrain organized the event together with the Norwegian Brain Council. Four speakers gave short talks on topics related to brain health.

Published Apr. 4, 2019 4:42 PM

The Lifebrain consortium met in Cambridge to discuss paper ideas and some of the very first results of the 11 Lifebrain studies. MRC Cognitition and Brain Science Unit, Lifebrain partner at the University of Cambridge hosted the event in the ultimate academic city of Cambridge, 25-26th March, 2019.

Published Sep. 28, 2018 11:30 AM

Lifebrain exhibited at the Oslo Science Expo last week (21st-22nd September), as part of the National Science Week in Norway (Forskningsdagene). This is a nationwide event held every year to make science and research available to the public.