Brain health recognized with special week
By Priscilla Castro
The Collegian
A series of events over the next few days will attempt to raise awareness about one of the body’s most vital organs and the many things that can go wrong with it.
Brain Awareness Week was started in 1996 and is designed to promote the brain and brain research, according to organizers.
“The purpose of Brain Awareness Week is to advance public education and understand the progress, benefits and promise of brain research, individually and to a society as a whole,” Barbara Best, director of member relations for the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, said.
The brain is important because it controls and integrates most of our systems, Tom Breen, psychology professor said.
Many diseases start in the brain including such well-known illnesses as Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s Disease.
“The brain is like the central clearing house,” Breen said.
According to the Dana Alliance, college students should be interested in Brain Awareness Week because some of today’s students will be tomorrow’s neuroscientists.
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