title: Non Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancers - Current Perspectives.
abstract: Cognition refers to the mental processes involved in thinking, knowing, remembering, judging, and problem solving. Cognitive dysfunctions are an integral part of neuropsychiatric disorders as well as in healthy ageing. Cognitive Enhancers are molecules that help improve aspects of cognition like memory, intelligence, motivation, attention and concentration. Recently, Non Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancers have gained popularity as effective and safe alternative to various established drugs. Many of these Non Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancers seem to be more efficacious compared to currently available Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancers. This review describes and summarizes evidence on various Non Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancers such as physical exercise, sleep, meditation and yoga, spirituality, nutrients, computer training, brain stimulation, and music. We also discuss their role in ageing and different neuro-psychiatric disorders, and current status of Cochrane database recommendations. We searched the Pubmed database for the articles and reviews having the terms 'non pharmacological and cognitive' in the title, published from 2000 till 2014. A total of 11 results displayed, out of which 10 were relevant to the review. These were selected and reviewed. Appropriate cross-references within the articles along with Cochrane reviews were also considered and studied.
authors.affiliation: Senior Resident, Department of Psychiatry and Drug De-addiction, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital , New Delhi, India .
authors.forename: Ankur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sachdeva
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjang Hospital , New Delhi, India .
authors.forename: Kuldip
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Professor, Head of the Department, Department of Neurology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital , New Delhi, India .
authors.forename: Kuljeet Singh
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Anand
keywords: Ageing; Cognitive impairment; Dementia; Neuro-psychiatric disorders