Want a Better Memory? Give Your Brain a Tea Break
Author: Martin Mak
Scientists in Singapore have read the tea leaves, and found that a cup of the brew is good for the brain.
The study, taken over a period of four years, adds to the growing knowledge on tea’s long-touted virtues.
The main finding is that tea slows down brain-cell degeneration and thus keeps the mind sharp into old age, said Professor Ng Tze Pin from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) psychological medicine department.
It was found that catechins, a natural compound in tea, protect brain cells from damaging protein build-up over the years, maintaining the brain’s cognitive capability.
Moreover, the caffeine in tea unlike that in coffee, contains the natural protein theanine, which counters the normal side effects of caffeine such as raised blood pressure, headaches and tiredness.
Brain-cell degeneration, caused by a combination of loss of nerve cells, predisposed genes, small strokes and increased levels of harmful protein build-up, often leads to dementia.
There is still no cure for it. An estimated 24 million people worldwide have some form of dementia, an illness that affects memory, thinking ability and behavior.
In Singapore, about 5 per cent of those above age 65 and 13 per cent of those above 70 suffer from dementia. About 7,000 new cases are diagnosed every year and the number is expected to rise to 187,000 by 2052.
The NUS team studied the tea-drinking habits of 2,501 Chinese aged 55 and above, from September 2003 to December 2005. The team members were Prof Ng, Prof Kua Ee Heok, Dr Feng Lei and Dr Niti Mathew, as well as Dr Yap Keng Bee from Alexandra Hospital’s geriatric medicine department.
Participants’ health, attention span, language use and visual and spatial abilities are assessed. Their tea consumption – how often, how much and what type – was monitored.
About 38 per cent did not drink tea. About 29 per cent drank only one kind of tea. The rest, about 33 per cent, drank a mix of teas.
Two-thirds of the tea drinkers maintained their scores on the same memory tests tow years later.
Among the non-tea drinkers, 35 per cent saw a dip in their memory test scores by an average of two points, which signifies cognitive decline.
Age, education, level of physical activity and other drinks were taken into account.
Tea was the distinguishing factor keeping brain cells energized. Said Prof Ng : “Tea is cheap, non toxic and widely consumed.”
But tea alone cannot do the job. “It still means a lifetime of good habits and a balanced diet,” he said.
Behavioral scientists and psychologists have also added that constant use of the brain including brain-memory training techniques, memory-related games like Mahjong, an active social life and plenty of exercise can improve human memory and stave off age-related memory decline.
About the Author:
Martin Mak has developed a new program to help people enhance their memory and learning experience. Find out how with his free and popular ecourse at
http://www.mightymemory.com/memoryarticle.html
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Want a Better Memory? Give Your Brain a Tea Break
PMemory Lesson 4 – Exercises 1 – 3
During Lunch I completed the School of Phenomenal Memory Lesson 4 Exercises 1 through 3. That is approximately 10 minutes per exercise. Exercise 1 and 2 were simple, but I struggled a bit with linking familiar information to memorize places. One of the areas I always find I have trouble is finding (or realizing) an image that fits the situation. As a person that is normally not visual, I need to focus on building my image vocabulary. One method I’ve used in the past is the Google image labeler. A few minutes a day to describe images makes for good practice. I need to get back on that.
How do you build your image vocabulary? Does image visualization come naturally to you?
Learn About Mnemonic Tools To Get Better Memory
Author: Jasmine Stone
For those of you who may have never heard of the word, mnemonic means memory aid. It’s an adjective related to things that help memory improvement. Teaching tools, if you will.
If you are a movie buff, you may have heard of the one called ‘Johnny Mnemonic’, a 1995 feature involving a data courier. Keanu Reeves is the star of the film. He carries a large data package, 320 gigabytes in size, in his mind. If he doesn’t deliver it from Beijing to Newark, it will kill him. I suppose you could call this forced memory. It wasn’t his brain that developed this computer chip, this memory tool. It contains a cure for a nerve syndrome of the future and puts his life in danger.
Some mnemonics would seem to be horrible techniques for the person who would prefer not to remember. However, this may be their only solution to overcoming a tragedy, in order to heal them. So, once more, forced memory is put into effect. The person must relive the mentally or emotionally damaging event to be able to move on with their lives and put the worst of the trauma behind them.
A coach, psychiatrist, hypnotist, counselor, pastor, trusted family member, teacher, or close friend may be needed to help give you moral support for the courage to use mnemonic tools.
Hypnosis has long been used as a mnemonic tool. Memory is a process of reconstruction rather than retrieval. Often the mind must be forced through hypnosis to reconstruct events that caused the person to suffer and attempt to protect themselves by choosing subconsciously to forget. Therefore, hypnosis may at times be a dangerous, however necessary, mnemonic tool.
Hypnosis is also a lucrative field. It is often used to help people stop an unhealthy habit, such as chronic nail-biting, smoking, overeating. It can also be used as a form of pain control. No matter how it is used, it involves the subconscious memory.
Mnemonic tools can be a positive way to overcome small annoyances. Suppose your short-term memory loss is disrupting your life in such a way that you are in a constant state of frustration. Small annoyances can add up to one big problem.
You may have subconsciously used mnemonic tools to learn to avoid certain disturbing memories. Like associating an object with someone who used that object to cause you pain. You decide to avoid use of that object to force yourself to leave the memory in the past. Maybe a dreaded uncle always wore purple, so to avoid having to constantly be reminded of the uncle, you decide to never buy an object the color purple. It may become a habit that you do without really thinking about it.
People have used flash cards, music, games, and repetition as mnemonics. Remember the old saying about tying a string around your finger to recall something important? Or placing a rubber band on your wrist, to pop whenever you are faced with a temptation you are trying to overcome?
Whatever the case may be, mnemonics can be very productive in memory improvement.
About the Author:
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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Learn About Mnemonic Tools To Get Better Memory
