Here’s how to protect and nourish your brain and boost your memory:

• Good sleep is necessary for memory consolidation.
• Smoking heightens your risk of vascular disorders that can constrict arteries that deliver oxygen to your brain.  Reduce or stop smoking.
• Eat loads of dark coloured berries such as strawberries and blueberries which contain high levels of antioxidant molecules which fight free radicals which can harm brain cells.
• Feast on folic acid (wholegrain food, broccoli and peas) to help your brain recall information.
• Snack on pumpkin seeds for zinc which is essential for enhancing your memory and thinking.
• Do one thing at a time as your brain will process information better if you focus on the task at hand.
• Avoid too much mental demand, such as information overload.  This triggers stress which over long periods may cause the release of brain chemicals which can temporarily impair your memory.
• Omega-3 fatty acids are concentrated in your brain and are associated with cognitive function. Best sources:  salmon, herring, tuna, halibut, mackerel, walnuts and walnut oil, flaxseed and flaxseed oil. 
• Relate information to what you already know. Connect new data to information you already remember, whether it’s new material that builds on previous knowledge, or something as simple as an address of someone who lives on a street where you already know someone.
• Organize information. Write things down in address books and datebooks and on calendars; take notes on more complex material and reorganize the notes into categories later. Use both words and pictures in learning information.

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One of the most commonly over-looked factors in hindering people’s weight loss is the consumption of water – or lack of it. Unfortunately most people do not realise the importance of ensuring they consume plenty of water each day. Not only does water encourage your system to flush itself out, it also prevents dehydration – a symptom of which can be a feeling of hunger.  In general terms, most weight loss plans are based around consuming fewer calories than we use each day. This appears to be a simple enough concept doesn’t it? So how does water come into significance?

Water contains no calories so you can literally consume as much water as you wish without putting on weight. For most people there are also no health considerations to consider when consuming water – except perhaps if you have a water retention issue. In relation to other drinks though you do not need to think twice before drinking water. Hopefully it is already part of your daily diet but for many people it is not.

Water helps to flush out your system and is one of the best liquids you can drink. If you are attempting  to shed weight, then ultimately you should totally remove any sugar based drinks from your daily diet. Carbonated drinks such as coke are good examples of such drinks – though diluting juices can also contain lots of sugar too. Such drinks contain nothing of substance and are crammed with artificial ingredients, not to mention sugar and calories. If you consume two cans of fizzy drink per day, those extra calories could be the difference between gaining and losing weight. Exchanging these with water can eliminate the cause of your weight gain. How easy is that?

Admittedly some people don’t like the taste of water. Water lovers don’t understand this, but it’s a fact. In all likelihood, people who say they don’t like water are referring to plain unfiltered tap water. Tap water can vary in taste depending on where you live and even on a house by house basis – I hated the water in my old house but love it where I live now. If you’re a person who hates the taste of water based on what flows out of your tap then you should try buying spring water. Even the taste of spring water can change by brand, so if you don’t like the first the keep trying them all until you find one you enjoy. 

Although water is a critical component of weight loss plans, keep in mind that water is not a substitute for food, but it should simply complement your daily diet. Instead of a fizzy drinks or sugar fruit juice at dinner, have a glass or two of water. It is also recommended to begin the day off with a refreshing glass of water to rehydrate from your nights sleep and encourage your brain to get active. Drinking water and maintaining body hydration will also enhance brain function and keep you alert – you might just find it works better than your coffee which dehydrates you.

To conclude if you don’t currently consume plenty of water on a daily basis you are not only harming your health, you could also be hindering any weight loss goals. Water is an amazing natural substance that we all need. In the developed world we are fortunate enough to have freedom of access to it. There are no excuses for not taking your daily allowance.

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The long-term effects of suffering from stress are well documented. They include cardiac disease, peripheral vascular disease, stroke, diabetes, heart attack, immune mediated diseases and more. In order to be able to reduce stress it is important for individuals to recognize the symptoms of stress in their lives. Only by recognizing the symptoms of stress will people be able to identify causes because without a symptom you won’t look for a cause.

Researchers believe that 12 million people in Great Britain suffer from mental health problems which include anxiety and depression and those numbers are even greater in the United States. Many of these mental health problems are related to the long-term effects of experiencing stress in your life. Psychologists believe that it is important to recognize early symptoms of stress in order to decrease the likelihood that there will be physical or psychological damage.

Physical symptoms of stress will include headaches which are repetitive and nature and different from the variety which we all experience now and then. In other words, it is following to have the occasional headache but getting them most days is important to take note of.

Other physical symptoms of stress can include muscle and back problems as well as general aches and pains and even skin issues. Acne is often the result of a change in hormonal balance which will be affected by the amount of stress and individual suffers. Weight gain is another warning sign of stress because many people are "stress eaters". This means that is when under stress people turn to food in order to comfort themselves. Unfortunately, most of these foods include cakes, chocolate, sugar and high processed snacks. All of these things will pile on the pounds.

Other physical symptoms include grinding teeth, heartburn, irritable bowel syndrome, and nausea, increased pain, frequent illnesses and increased sweating. Stress will negatively impact an individuals immune system which will cause them to become ill more frequently. Individuals who are stressed may also breath more shallow which results in frequent yawning as they are starving their body of oxygen.

Stress will also become evident in the emotional irritability and heightened sensitivity. This means that a person may find themselves crying more easily and more often than usual or may suffer from a general lumpiness that is unusual for them. In other people stress may cause them to withdraw or make less of an effort to keep up with their friends. Stress can also cause an individual to take less effort with their personal appearance and feel less bothered by their home environment as well.

The final type of symptoms are behavioural and psychologists believe that these are more likely to be noticed because they are more obvious. Some of these behavioural symptoms include the inability to make decisions, even trivial every day tasks which would normally be executed without hesitation are suddenly mind-boggling. Stress will also decrease the persons natural confidence and may results in a person who wavers on unimportant and important choices.

Other behavioural symptoms include breathlessness, irritability, frequently bored, worrying, nightmares, apathy and sexual problems or loss of libido. Individuals who find themselves getting angry easily and experiencing mood swings or having more problems in their relationships should consider the likelihood that they are feeling the physical and emotional results of stress in their lives.

It is important for people to identify the symptoms of stress that they are experiencing in their lives in order to recognize the necessity of identifying a cause. By decreasing stress people can improve their productivity, their time management skills and decrease the risk of experiencing any long-term physical effects which may place their life in danger.

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To use games to improve your memory you first have to have an understanding of what memory is. If your understanding of memory needs improving then check out our post from yesterday – ‘What do You Know About Your Own Memory’. It will give you a very basic insight into what memory is and how it affects us to help you make the most of games!

There are ways of improving your short-term memory ability by using games. One game to improve your memory is storytelling. Storytelling is a way to remember the information you need committed to long-term memory. The story connects the ideas and facts making them easier to recall. It also a way to increase participation which increases memory – as opposed to the use of a laundry list of items.

For instance, when you are storytelling you make up images of what is happening. This is also a very powerful technique to achieve your goals. Set your goal, tell it in a story of your life and ‘see’ yourself in the story. Use that story each day to commit this memory to long-term memory and increase the possibility that it will happen.

This can be a fun game to improve your memory when done with a group. Practice by laying out a group of items on the table and try to remember them. Each member takes a turn adding the object to the story. Once the objects are included in the story the objects are taken away and everyone sees who can remember the most objects.

Go Fish is another game to improve your memory that is fun to play alone or with friends. Use a standard deck of playing cards and remove 2 of the 4 suits. Leave yourself with 2 of each number and picture card. Now, with the 24 cards (making sure all have a match), place them face down on the floor or table. Move them around so you don’t know where each is located. One at a time pick up a card and then another trying to find the match. If there is no match put them back where they were and try again. This helps to improve your short-term memory. Time yourself to see how much faster you can do it each time.

Another inexpensive game to improve your memory is using a puzzle – but put it together without referring back to the picture on the box. Look at the picture first, giving yourself a couple of minutes; mix up the pieces and work on putting them back together.

In March 2007 Reuters news bureau reported that using computer games that are designed to help memory and cognitive function may be better than classic games at delaying age-related mental decline. There is a new group of games designed for older adults from Nintendo and Mattel, based on studies that show older people can improve their brains.

In a study at the University of California researchers studied 45 patients who had diagnosed mild cognitive impairment using either the Posit Science Brain Fitness program by Mattel or comparable computer-based tasks. The group using the Posit program had a significant improvement in visual spatial memory and a trend toward short-term and long-term memory improvement.

More research is showing that our cognitive abilities are not stagnant and that like a muscle if we don’t use it we lose it. Exercise your brain power and play some games to improve your memory!

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There are actually several types of memory. There is the picture you hold in your mind of your first home. There is the knowledge that New York is called the ‘Big Apple’. There is the ability to ride a bike or knowing the face of the people you love. And there is the telephone number you learned just five minutes ago. Amazingly all of these processes depend upon memory.

When a person memorizes a phone number that they dial and promptly forget they are using working or short-term memory. This type of memory is fragile and unless you commit the data to long-term memory the information is quickly gone. Researchers believe that you have the ability to easily remember 7 bits of data quickly but more than that is difficult. This is why you can remember the telephone number but need the credit card in front of you when you order online.

Long-term memory happens when you attach a new memory to another that has already been committed to memory. For instance the cell phone number of your neighbour is ‘attached’ to the memory of the face of your neighbour.

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