Memory:

The human brain sucks at remembering lists. Think about it: When you go to the grocery store, how many items can you manage before you have to write them down? Three? Five? For most of us, if there's any more than that, we're going to get back home and find out we forgot the milk (which by the way was the whole reason we went to the store in the first place).

That's weird because there are other things in life we have no problem with. For instance, we don't have much trouble remembering the locations of a hundred different spots around town, even if we don't know the addresses (do you even know the street address of your favorite coffee shop?), or the locations of a thousand items around the house. Sure, you couldn't write them all down, but if a friend asks you where they can find a flashlight, you're probably going to have an answer. If only there was a way to exploit this strength to overcome the other weakness ...

You're able to find your way around because a whole lot of your mental horsepower is devoted to spatial memory -- learning the layout of your environment. And there is totally a way you can tap into it as a way to remember long lists. So-called memory champions have been doing it forever. They call it creating a memory palace.

Here's how it works: You pick a familiar place that you know well and can imagine without much problem -- the inside of your house, the layout of your neighborhood, whatever. You then imagine yourself walking along a specific route in that place and associate an item on your list with each location.

So let's say you're trying to remember a long grocery list, and you choose to use your neighborhood to mentally visualize it. You could imagine the first item on your list -- condoms -- scattered willy-nilly along your driveway. The next thing on your list might be beer -- you could picture your neighbor passed out drunk on his lawn. Next up is frozen pizza, so you picture pizza pies replacing all the windows at your drunk neighbor's house. Let your imagination do the hard work for you -- the more ridiculous/striking the image, the easier it'll be to remember.

It all sounds like a ridiculous extra step, but you soon realize how incredibly easy it suddenly makes it to recite a list. You're simply forcing the spatial memory part of your brain to help out. And you can start doing it at any time -- the memory palace (or method of loci) memorization technique isn't something that requires years of practice. In one 1968 study, college students were asked to memorize a list of 40 items by associating each item with a specific location around campus. Not only were the students able to memorize an average of 38 of the 40 items, but the next day they were able to name 34 of the original list.

In another study, German senior citizens were also asked to memorize a list of 40 words by associating each word with Berlin landmarks. Before using the method, they could only recall an average of three words. After associating the German word for "father" with the Berlin zoo, for example, participants could remember an average of 23 words from the list. Oh, and you don't have to have one location for each list item, either. In yet another study, subjects just took their imaginary walk twice and were still able to remember 34 of the 40 items. Seriously, go try this.

Personal Power

Personal Power

What do affirmations do?

  A good analogy of how affirmations work would be to draw on a chemical principle called super saturation.  This principle explains that the more substance you add to a solution the closer it approaches a state of super saturation where crystals start forming out of the solution.  In the process of loading your brain, repeatedly exposing it to a series of affirmation; new life-enhancing behaviors and circumstances will precipitate into your reality. Input equals output. It is important to use them frequently in the loading phase of the first 30 days and then occasionally to keep the new neural networks strong and active.

Magnesium is regarded as an essential mineral for humans and functions as a cofactor in upwards of 300 biochemical processes throughout the body.  For example, magnesium is implicated in: ATP production, blood pressure regulation, bone development, glucose modulation, heart rhythm normalization, muscle and nerve function, plus protein synthesis.  Knowing that magnesium is essential for optimal biological function, professionals strongly emphasize meeting the recommended daily allowance (RDA) via dietary intake and/or supplementation.

Scientists have discovered that certain brain wave frequencies (especially the Alpha and Theta) may which are prominent in a trance state:

1. Relieve stress and promote a lasting and substantial reduction in people prone to anxiety states.
2. Facilitate a deep physical relaxation and mental clarity
3. Increase verbal ability and also the performance IQ, verbal.
4. Better synchronize the two hemispheres of the brain.
5. Recall mental images live and spontaneous imaginative and creative thinking.
6. Reduce pain, promote euphoria and stimulate the release of endorphins.

Abstract

The use of neurofeedback as an operant conditioning paradigm has disclosed that participants are able to gain some control over particular aspects of their electroencephalogram (EEG). Based on the association between theta activity (4-7 Hz) and working memory performance, and sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) activity (12-15 Hz) and attentional processing, we investigated the possibility that training healthy individuals to enhance either of these frequencies would specifically influence a particular aspect of cognitive performance, relative to a non-neurofeedback control-group. The results revealed that after eight sessions of neurofeedback the SMR-group were able to selectively enhance their SMR activity, as indexed by increased SMR/theta and SMR/beta ratios. In contrast, those trained to selectively enhance theta activity failed to exhibit any changes in their EEG. Furthermore, the SMR-group exhibited a significant and clear improvement in cued recall performance, using a semantic working memory task, and to a lesser extent showed improved accuracy of focused attentional processing using a 2-sequence continuous performance task. This suggests that normal healthy individuals can learn to increase a specific component of their EEG activity, and that such enhanced activity may facilitate semantic processing in a working memory task and to a lesser extent focused attention. We discuss possible mechanisms that could mediate such effects and indicate a number of directions for future research.

Meditation promotes the production of Melatonin
    A key to good mood and restful sleep, melatonin is a hormone manufactured by the pineal gland, with levels in the blood peaking just before bedtime. Melatonin is known to prevent cancer, strengthen the immune system, slow down aging, and has been linked to helping prevent over 100 different diseases.

Luckily there is a very effective, all natural solution. Rutgers University researchers discovered that melatonin levels for meditation practitioners were boosted by an average of 98%, with many participants having increases of more than several hundred percents.  Incorporating meditation, into your life can be your much needed biological re-balancing tool.

Growth hormone and meditation!
   The key state where our brains release the most growth hormone, “Delta” is a key brainwave frequency found during meditation and the deepest stage of hypnosis and sleep. Perhaps meditators naturally elevated growth hormone levels are why they tend to look so young and healthy? Scientists seem to think so. Meditation effectively turns back the clock.    audinova.ca