Improve Memory And Focus With Alpha Lipoic Acid And Other Supplements
Author: Darrell Miller
Although it is true that as we age, we find that we can’t walk quite as fast or play sports quite as hard as we could in our twenties. A healthy diet, regular exercise, and the right dietary supplements can make a huge difference in our health, strength, and mobility. Similarly, we find that we may not think as quickly as we used to, misplacing our keys occasionally and experiencing more losses of words. Although this is an ordinary problem with aging, in a small number of cases, these mental slips can be the first sign of a serious disease of aging such as Alzheimer’s disease. Just like our physical health, we can improve our mental health by eating healthy foods, taking the right supplements, and regularly exercising our minds, we can significantly increase our mental endurance, improve our memory, and increase our ability to focus. Research has proven that specific herbs and vitamins, especially Ginkgo biloba, Bacopa monnieri, folic acid, vitamins B6 and B12, and alpha lipoic acid, have powerful effects on memory and focus. They have been scientifically proven to reduce age-related changes as well as the risk of developing more serious problems like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, or other brain diseases later in life.
As we age, our nerve cells need more time to connect, which slows the process of bringing memories and events to mind. Almost everyone middle-aged and older notices this slowdown as memory decline and problems with mental focus are a normal part of aging. Although it is true that the older we get, the greater chance we have of developing Alzheimer’s disease, this illness is not a normal part of aging. Alzheimer’s which is an irreversible, progressive dementia occurs when nerve cells are slowly killed in areas of the brain where memory, learning, thought, and language take place. It first appears when people begin retirement, making the “golden years” a time of loss and devastation as memories vanish, relationships are erased, and independence is gradually lost. After Alzheimer’s disease, the second most common cause of dementia in elderly people is multi-infarct dementia, caused by a series of mini-strokes that damage or destroy brain tissue over time. Usually affecting people between the ages of 60 and 75, men are slightly more at risk, while high blood pressure is the most significant risk factor for multi-infarct dementia. Along with these, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, strokes, Huntington’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and alcoholism can cause progressive and irreversible dementia.
There are some types of memory and focus loss that are reversible. As women enter menopause, they often experience trouble remembering caused by hormone fluctuations, which can affect speech, thinking, and attention. Symptoms of memory loss and poor focus related to menopause include recognizing faces less well, missing scheduled appointments, and misplacing articles. However, once a woman passes through menopause, her ability to remember and focus usually improves. Some medications, including statins, can temporarily interfere with memory. Low vitamin B levels, artherosclerosis, and thyroid disease can cause disruption of mental focus and memory loss as well. There problems are usually resolved with treatment of the underlying problem. Transient ischemic attacks (TIA), which are a certain type of stroke, can cause memory loss that may be reversible. TIAs are brief episodes of stroke symptoms that come quickly and are often referred to as a mini-stroke warning stroke and are caused by a temporary interruption in the blood supply to the brain. Unlike a stroke, a TIA does not cause permanent damage. However, it is likely to occur again if it is not properly managed and can be a warning of a future, more serious, stroke.
If you or someone you know are concerned about your memory, you should contact a health care practitioner and be examined. Once the cause of your memory and focus problem is found, you can begin treatment. Although not all dementias can be cured, all cases of memory loss and mental focus disruption can be treated and slowed, even Alzheimer’s disease.
There have been several herbs and vitamins that have demonstrated improvement in memory and mental focus. Some of these supplements work now to improve memory and focus, while others work to prevent problems that might arise later. Ginkgo biloba, which has been proven to improve memory problems we are having now, has been shown to improve many brain functions such as speeding up memory recall, protecting brain cells from chemical changes and free radical damage, improving blood flow to the brain, and helping nerve cells communicate with each other better. Ginkgo has been proven to improve memory, attention, and clarity of thinking, as well as helping to restore memories lost in a TIA. Ginkgo also has shown effects in slowing down Alzheimer’s disease just as well as prescription drugs with no side effects.
Like gingko, Bacopa monnieri, which grows in India, works on the memory and focus problems that we are experiencing now. A recent study proved that bacopa is able to improve the ability to remember new information in people.
Alpha lipoic acid (ALA), a vitamin-like coenzyme which prevents memory and focus problems we might have later on, is an incredibly powerful antioxidant which works especially well with other antioxidants. Alpha lipoic acid has great antioxidant action in almost all the tissues of the body, helps generate energy from food and oxygen, can get directly to the nerves, and plays an important role in the antioxidant network. Research has proven that ALA prevents the free radical damage that occurs in Alzheimer’s disease, as well as regulates protective chemicals in the brain that help to improve symptoms. What makes ALA unique among antioxidants is that it can neutralize free radicals in both the fat and the water of cells. Since ALA is easily absorbed, enters cells and tissues in a highly useable form, performs a variety of antioxidant actions, and is both fat and water soluble, it is labeled as the “ideal antioxidant” by many researchers.
Vitamin B6, an essential nutrient in the regulation of nerve transmissions, is required by the nervous system for normal brain function and may also help with mood. Similar to ALA, vitamins B6 and B12 help prevent memory and focus problems later on. Vitamins B6 and B12 also reduce homocysteine levels, which irritates blood vessels, making it easier for blood to clot and causing cholesterol to become more harmful. Because people with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementias have elevated homocysteine levels, reducing these levels may prevent the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease, or other brain diseases, and improve the symptoms of those already afflicted.
For a long time, folic acid has been recognized as a vital nutrient for the brain and spinal cord. Recent research has shown that folic acid also has significant importance in Alzheimer’s disease, as it lessens brain damage from the disease.
Besides taking these nutrients, if you are having memory and focus problems, you may want to have your health care practitioner measure your B vitamin level in your blood, because many people do not know if they have B-vitamin deficiency. However, this type of lab work is fairly expensive. Because supplements do not replace the need for a healthy diet, make sure to eat more of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and omega-3 fatty acids to keep your brain and body healthy. Research has also shown that people who seek opportunities to keep mentally active, have a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, make sure to read books, newspapers, magazines, solve crossword puzzles, and play card games with family and friends. Great supplements like alpha lipoic acid and B-6 along with herbs for memory can be found at your local or internet health food store.
About the Author:
Visit VitaNet Health Foods, VitaNet sells high quality supplements like Alpha lipoic acid to strengthen memory and focus. Please link to this site when using this article.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Improve Memory And Focus With Alpha Lipoic Acid And Other Supplements
Improve Memory Loss — How to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease
Author: Susan Nickerson
Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic, degenerative and fatal neurological disease that destroys the memory and mental capacity of sufferers. Although medication can slow its progress, there is no cure. At a certain point in the disease, there is no way to improve memory loss.
Fortunately, Alzheimer’s is not an inevitable result of aging. The good news is —there are practical ways to prevent Alzheimer’s Disease.
Dharma Singh Khalsa, MD, President of Tucson’s non-profit Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation or ARPF, believes prevention is actually the best treatment.
“We have to realize that the era of the magic bullet — drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease — is over,” asserts Dr. Khalsa. “We need to take an integrative approach, like they do for heart disease.”
The ARFP works tirelessly to educate the public and the medical profession about ways to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Khalsa has created a holistic memory loss prevention program that combines the best of Eastern and Western medicine to improve the memory loss that can progress to full Alzheimer’s.
Here are Dr. Khalsa’s Four Pillars of Prevention:
Pillar 1 — Diet and Vitamins. A diet rich in vegetables and fruits reduces free radicals that damage brain cells. Dr. Khalsa recommends avoiding red meats, as they induce swelling that releases free radicals. He also recommends ‘superfoods’ for the brain, such as blueberries and spinach.
Pillar 2 — Stress Management. When the brain is under chronic stress, stress hormones like cortisol remain constantly high. The chance for memory loss grows, because cortisol blocks blood flow to the memory regions.
Pillar 3 — Physical and Mental Exercise. Performing physical exercise 20 minutes a day, three days a week lowers your Alzheimer’s risk by 50%. Mental exercise in the same amount can reduce Alzheimer’s risk by 70%.
Pillar 4 — Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Khalsa believes that Western pharmaceuticals such as Aricept, Exelon, Namenda and Razadyne may play a necessary role in a holistic prevention program and improving memory loss.
The ARFP promotes these Four Pillars of Prevention — proper nutrition, stress management, mental and physical exercise, and medication to improve memory loss — as a major breakthrough in how to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
About the Author:
Now I would like to invite you to visit the non-profit Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation website at www.alzheimersprevention.org to discover even more strategies on how you can improve memory loss and prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Improve Memory Loss — How to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease
Improving Memory Loss – How to Help the Aging Brain
Author: Susan Nickerson
Most of us assume that improving memory loss as we age is difficult, if not downright impossible. In fact, we fully expect our brains and our memories to decline in our later years.
However, the truth is that we can improve memory loss — and help our aging brains.
In this article, we’ll uncover how you can improve memory loss – even reverse it – and see how your aging brain can actually get better with time.
So how can you your improve memory loss and help your brain get better with age?
First, you must release the idea that being forgetful and having a slower mind is simply part of getting older. That just isn’t true.
Next, you must take a proactive approach to the strength and vitality of your brain.
According to Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., President and Medical Director of the non-profit Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation or ARPF: “Just as your body needs physical exercise, your brain needs mental exercise as well. You must make mental activity part of your regular exercise regimen”.
Brain aerobics are a specific example of vigorous mental exercise. And here’s some good news: brain aerobics reportedly reduce your chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease by up to 70 percent!
But what are brain aerobics? In order to be considered brain aerobics, an activity must:
1. Engage your attention
2. Involve more than one of your senses
3. Break a routine activity in an unexpected way
Brain aerobics improve your memory by regrowing brain cells, increasing the size of your brain and the number of brains cells you have.
Dr. Dharma says, “You can take it a step further by combining physical exercise with various brain aerobics. This is an innovative way to take advantage of the regenerative phenomenon of various brain aerobics”.
Here is Dr. Dharma’s weekly program that combines mental and physical exercise to improve memory loss. You can use these suggestions for the next four weeks to improve your memory loss and help your aging brain:
Week 1:
Start each day out with a crossword puzzle. Later, go for a nice walk and sing your favorite song. Volunteer some of your time.
Week 2:
Start each day with a brisker walk with a companion. While you walk, discuss current events and sing three of your favorite songs. Memorize shopping lists and shop by memory.
Week 3:
Sing the national anthem as you jog. Do a jigsaw puzzle and spend a couple hours each day on a hobby. Read a book and discuss it with a friend.
Week 4:
Read a book while riding an exercise bike. Discuss it with a friend while exercising. Work on learning something new, like using the computer, a foreign language or a musical instrument.
In just 4 weeks, you can easily improve your memory loss. According to Dr. Dharma and the ARPF, everyone should spend at least 20 minutes — three times a week — doing mental exercises.
These are simple and effective ways to make brain aerobics a regular part of your life. Using brain aerobics is a scientifically proven and fun way to strengthen your aging brain — improving memory loss.
About the Author:
For more free tips, suggestions and advice on brain aerobics and other memory building tools you can use to improve memory loss now, see the Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation website at http://www.alzheimersprevention.org
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Improving Memory Loss – How to Help the Aging Brain
Improve Your Memory – Some Memory Exercises To Aid You
Author: Abhishek Agarwal
For students preparing for different testes and examinations, struggling hard, would always need assistance with tricks to make their preparations and studies easier. Several students of different ages take advantage of knowing memory exercises. Teachers often make it a point to help students by telling them about various memory exercises they themselves implement since they began teaching.
Apparently, every person should use whatever appeals them the most. Methods working for one may not essentially work for the other. This could be demonstrated by a simple act of showing a child to tie up his laces. The child’s concentration may go askew and end up in frustration when a new method of learning is suggested. Probably, one parent shows one way and at times grandparents disagree on best methods.
Distinctive methods
Young children with disabilities in learning need to know constructive methods to improve memory and have it tailored to one’s own distinct capability. A struggling mind may need to associate few things with similar colors everyday for remembering. There would be shapes that helping them not to forget or even fragrances and odors. Children with bit of impairment might learn associating through scent or touches. For an instance grandparents may have selective perfumes or colognes worn daily.
Maintain consistancy
Quite many times teachers have varied methods of teaching when compared to that of parents. When kids ask parents for assistance in their homework, arguments might develop as the parents’ way to achieve a result would vary from the methods teachers use. If the child is taught to be silent and not to argue, by the parent, it could result in inefficient marks on whatever is turned in. Hence one should maintain the cooperation and consistency in a parent-teacher relationship.
Healing music
Have you tried making a silly and funny song about people who have offended you? This of course is a great exercise to your memory, though labeled as mean. Music is a great assisting substance essentially when it comes to teaching young kids about memory improving. This however must be reduced using is a disparaging manner. Many a time, comedians joke with impolite songs resulting in audience remembering the specific comedian just because the song acted as a substance to fortify the person into one’s memory. You may not even recall the wordings, but just the tune as the results are all the same.
Games which rhyme are helpful tools for your memory. Millions of people have been brought up learning to enjoy antics the characters in stories of Dr. Seuss. Most of the words there don’t make any sense and hardly mean anything in reality. However they provided the needed help to a person to remember the tale simply due to the rhyming effect.
Repetition
Repetition is the entire key to every memory exercise. Ensure to teach yourself to enact the actions every other time. For an instance, put your car keys inside the purse so that they are safe there. If you think your kids are late to school every day simply because they take time searching for their shoes or backpack, make them to learn to keep items in the allocated place every evening. Such minor memory tricks ascertain to keep your boss glad when you get to office everyday.
About the Author:
Abhishek is a Memory Power expert and he has got some great tips on Improving Your Memory . Download his FREE 75 Pages Ebook, “How To Boost Your Memory Power!” from his website http://www.Positive-You.com/47/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Improve Your Memory – Some Memory Exercises To Aid You
Improve Your Memory by Arousing Your State of Mind
Author: Martin Mak
Being mentally alert is a state of mind and we are obviously not always alert. Our mood and general level of physiological arousal will tend to range from deep sleep through drowsiness to a normal waking state; occasionally we experience a state of high agitation or excitement, and under extreme conditions, terror and panic. High arousal tends to be accompanied by changes in the electrical activity of the brain as recorded by electroencephalogram (EEG), and by an increase in heart rate, palm sweating and electrical conductivity of the skin. Arousal can also be altered by manipulating the environment or through drugs. Hence loud noises will tend to increase arousal, whereas the deprivation of sleep will tend to decrease it. Amphetamines or the caffeine in a cup of coffee will tend to lead to higher arousal, while a tranquilizer will tend to reduce it. Other drugs such as alcohol have more complex effects, initially increasing but then decreasing arousal.
Do our state of arousal influence our memory? Clearly in an extreme case, it has a profound effect; a subject who is asleep has a very limited performance repertoire. It has been suggested that we are able to learn when we are asleep. Unfortunately objective tests of the effectiveness of sleep teaching suggest that nothing is learned except the few bits of information that are registered during the occasional periods during the night when we approach a waking moment, in between long periods of deeper sleep. If you wish to learn, it is advisable to be conscious at the time.
Any individual can have a very wide range of levels of arousal at any moment, and there is no doubt that performance is sensitive to arousal level. In general, performance improves as arousal increases up to some peak, beyond which it deteriorates, a relationship known as the Yerkes-Dodson law after the two people who first pointed it out Taking the two extremes, neither the moment prior to falling asleep nor the moment of blind panic are likely to be particularly efficient states of mind for the performance of any task. Different tasks are optimally performed at the different levels of arousal. For example, the level at which you are likely to run fastest or hit hardest will be higher than that which is best for knitting a sweater or solving a crossword puzzle.
How can we determine the optimal arousal level for memory? Like much else in human memory, this is not an easy question to answer. It depends crucially on when the learned material is subsequently recalled. If recall is immediate, then performance is best when level of arousal is relatively low; higher levels of arousal lead to poor initial performance, but in the long run they produce better learning.
This was shown most clearly in a series of experiments conducted by Kleinsmith and Kaplan in 1963 in which subjects were presented with the task of learning to associate numbers with words. The words were selected as being either relatively neutral (swim, dance) or as having emotional overtones (rape, vomit). Three groups of subjects were tested, the first recalling after a delay of two minutes, the second after a 20-minute delay, and the third after a delay of one week. The low-arousal words were initially well recalled but showed marked forgetting. Recall of the high-arousal words actually improved with time. Kleinsmith and Kaplan argue that high levels of arousal help the memory trace to consolidate, but that during the early stages of consolidation they make retrieval difficult. The high-arousal items therefore have a short-term they benefit from good consolidation.
Taking these findings a step further, we can therefore remember things better with we attached vivid imagery to it. For example, if you want to remember a dental appointment at 10 in the morning, you can picture a bowling ball coming towards your mouth and your teeth become bowling pins (10-pins – 10 am). Memory strategies have come up that can help people improve memory, learn complex mathematical formula, foreign languages etc. Such memory techniques and memory training are useful not only for school work, but also in our daily and professional lives to help us cope.
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
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Improve Your Memory by Arousing Your State of Mind
Don’t be Stuck With a Bad Memory, Train It!
Author: Martin Mak
Have you been forgetting things lately? Do you feel that your memory lets you down now and then? Then perhaps you need to learn new memory skills. Boosting your memory will make your life a whole lot easier and it can be fun.
Where did I put the car keys? Where is the TV remote control? What was I suppose to pick up from the store today? Most of us know all too well that memory lapses make life inconvenient and can cause embarrassment. As the years go by, we also worry about becoming more and more forgetful. You start to wonder if your occasional memory lapses are perhaps the first signs of the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. Does this mean you have suddenly become elderly? You start to have haunting thoughts like these as you find yourself in positions where you cannot remember even the simplest of things.
You can improve your memory with simple memory techniques. One of the most popular techniques is the Roman Room system (the Romans developed their own mnemonic technique based on Greek research). It’s helpful because, after names and faces, forgetting objects is one of the biggest categories of forgetfulness. The idea is to use the rooms in your house or sites in your neighborhood – anything you know really well, as links on which to mentally hang things you want to remember.
If your memory suddenly refuse to do what you have asked it to recall, there is no cause of alarm. A bad memory is usually one which is untrained. If you can exercise the smallest of discipline, like brushing your teeth in the morning, you can find that you will have an excellent memory. All it takes is a bit of ingenuity and a lot of imagination and a bit of discipline.
There are some very effective ways to train your memory and your concentration. Let’s start with a simple technique. Let’s say you don’t want to forget three things you need to pick up: rice, egg and bread. Picture walking through your front door and there’s rice thrown all over the front welcome mat. Proceed to your living room and imagine eggs smashed on your floor and TV. Continue down the hall and picture slices of bread glued to the walls. The more ridiculous the images, the quicker the recall. Once you’ve done this, take a mental walkthrough of your home to help with the memorization process. Since these elaborate pictures, which you create in seconds, have sprung from your own imagination, they are much harder to forgot.
Elizabeth Gray, a 31-year-old senior project manager for a Toronto company that designs business software, took her memory for granted until she agreed to develop and promote a new piece of software. Used to excelling at whatever she did, Gray suddenly found herself forgetting major marketing points during presentations to clients and unable to recall their suggestions for product modications. She also forgot what she planned to follow up on, back in the office. “I thought there was something wrong with me. “ She didn’t want to seem unconfident by taking notes, which would also create awkward dead time during presentations while she reached for a pen and paper and jotted things down.
Instead, Gray signed up for a two-day memory workshop, and after learning applying the association-imagination principle, she immediately saw positive changes. Now she can easily remember ten to-do things by creating images. For example, to remind herself to mail out a follow up survey after a presentation, she uses the image of a peppermint stick; peppermint-lick-envelope-mail-survey. It might not work for somebody else, but it does for her because she’s the one who made it up. The benefits have been measurable for Gray. “I speak more confidently now because I can remember the points,” she says. “I’m also able to use my humor since I’m not worrying about remembering everything.”
While there are many causes for a bad memory, a healthy person can usually expect the cause to be a lack of concentration or attention for the matter at hand. Whether you are a student struggling with bad grades, a professional seeking to stop embarrassing moments during a presentation or just someone seeking to stave off Alzheimer in old age, you should consider some form of memory training. Any student can excel in school with proper study skills and almost any healthy individual can boost his or her memory with proper memory training or memory techniques to improve memory. Any good technique should not take more than a weekend to learn and it should be fun to learn!
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
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Don’t be Stuck With a Bad Memory, Train It!
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
Memory – Essential Function Of The Brain
Author: Stephen Campbell
The concept of Memory is in the present times the center of research and debate amongst the experts in Cognitive Sciences. This is most probably due to the fact that it is impossible to describe a cognitive, biologic or artefactual system of organization without understanding the true principles behind memory. Two major theories are currently opposing researchers in the domain of Neuroscience. Whereas one school of thought considers long-term memory to be a unified functional system, another school of thought believes that memory is a psychological system that should be broken down further into several specialized subsystems so as to understand it better.
But a fact which remains undeniable are that memory is an essential function of our brain. It is continuously solicited in almost every single activity we perform throughout our daily existence. Some of our daily activities require minimal memory input – for instance, remembering to add sugar to our coffee or remembering to take some prescribed medication. Other activities require heavier memory input, as for example, learning by heart telephone numbers that we would be using regularly. Hence, it is absolutely necessary that we preserve as well as perpetually develop our memory. All in all, we will need our memory for as long as we will live. In fact, our memory can even take us a long way – just think of winners of Who Wants to be a Millionaire! Who wouldn’t want to be a millionaire, after all?
In most cases, a decrease in intellectual performance and memory are mere results of underutilization of the brain. In other words, if you are experiencing mild and temporary memory losses, if you have difficulties in recalling names or in remembering faces, if words don’t come to you so easily, if you have no idea what you had for dinner last night, chances are that your memory is, under normal circumstances, not solicited enough! When used sparsely, the brain regresses.
The monotonous activities and routine occupations that we perform in our daily life mobilize the same cerebral regions. As a result, the other regions fall asleep. Of course, there are other factors which may be causing temporary poor memory and amnesia as well. Examples of such factors are excessive, accumulated stress and tiredness, lack of sleep, and deficiency in amino acids – symptoms of which, unfortunately, a majority of people present – severe depression or emotional shock.
Indeed, intellectual stimulation contributes to preserve capacities of reflection as well as memory. Very often, mental illnesses like amnesia and Alzheimer are associated with old age. In truth, they may not always be directly related to old age itself, but rather to the growing latency of the memory due to underutilization of the brain. It is hence important that you keep your neurons active all the time.
It is true that, since birth, we lose neurons that are not replaced, contrary to the other body cells. However, there is no need to panic. At birth, our grey matter is made up of billions of brain cells. Even if we lose 100 000 of them each day, we will still have enough of them to live autonomously for 120 years. Besides, our brain alters permanently. When some neurons die, others reconstitute themselves and replace the former.
Playing scrabble and crosswords, watching quiz shows on television and trying to play along, or engaging in any other type of intellectual game of logic or strategy, not only effectively keeps the brain cells alive and active but also helps improve their retentive capacity. Those who are retired or whose profession does not require constant intellectual input can also engage in creative activities such as writing songs or poems, or even painting; all of which effectively stimulate the right brain. Indeed, such intellectual activities effectively improve memory as well as develop memory capacity further.
However, more complex methods to activate the memory also exist. Researches in Neuropsychology have resulted in more scientifically accurate techniques to improve memory through stimulation of the brain. Some of these scientific techniques are stimulation of neurons, training to improve photographic memory, as well as memorization techniques. On an ending note, we would like to remind you that the more the brain works, the better it works. Gymnastics of neurons are as beneficial as gymnastics of the body. But of course, there is a big difference between working and overworking!
About the Author:
Stephen C Campbell (Master NLP Practitioner) has published more information on Developing Memory and mastering your life at
http://www.memorydevelopmentmastery.com
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Memory – Essential Function Of The Brain
Exercise Your Brain And Improve Your Memory
Author: Jeff Wilson
Everyone knows that the key to a healthy body is diet and exercise. Many people obsessively work out every day to keep in tip top shape. So, if we’re so concerned with exercising our bodies, why do we often neglect to exercise our minds? Our brains are just like our muscles: use it or lose it. If we don’t do daily activities to help keep our brain in top order, we lose important skills; particularly the skill of remembering. So if you want to remember your mother’s phone number, your grocery list, or where you left your keys; start exercising your brain.
So, how exactly do you exercise your brain? There’s no brain gym you can get a membership to with “memory classes”, but there are things you can do on your own. Here are some things you can try to keep your neurons limber.
* Open a newspaper.
Sure, reading the paper might expand your knowledge, but if you really want to get your brain in shape, turn to the crossword puzzle. You can also try solving other puzzles that require using your language skills. These help you remember things by making you regularly access simple memories (i.e. certain words)
* Try the latest puzzle craze.
Go to a book store, go online, or look in the paper; you’re likely to find Sudoku puzzles. These are number puzzles that are becoming increasingly popular. They help exercise your brain’s deductive reasoning skills. Plus, they’re fun and incredibly addictive.
* Learn something new.
You’ve probably heard people say that learning something new pushes old information out of your brain. This is not only wrong, it’s just plain silly. The capacity of your brain is only determined by how much you want to put in it. Try learning a new skill or how to play a musical instrument. Learning a skill and continue to use it will keep your memory accessing skills limber.
* Books, games and services.
While there aren’t actually gyms you can go to, there are ways to get exercises specifically designed to improve memory. You can find these in book stores, online, and even in video game stores.
While it’s great to exercise your brain cells, don’t skip out on your trips to the gym. Keeping your body in good physical shape will help keep your brain healthy too. While cardio is the best work out to keep you healthy, you can still keep your memory if you can’t perform a strenuous workout. Even a simple walk for an hour a day can help prevent or slow memory loss. So get up and go as much as you can to keep your brain going.
Most people don’t worry about memory loss until they start to notice it slipping away, but the best time to start is while your mind is still sharp. You may not be able to bring your memory back, but you can keep it from fading. Regularly working your mind has even been shown to ward off Alzheimer’s. So if you want to keep your mind sharp, be sure to eat right, get enough rest, and exercise regularly.
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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Exercise Your Brain And Improve Your Memory
