Lets Have The Real Brain Training

http://memory-methods.blogspot.com/2010/11/lets-have-real-brain-training.html

We have had enough of what you do? How you start? And, how you take your learning process to optimize your memory? But wait, memory centre is like a rubber band, the more you stretch, the greater its size will be, until it has reached its limit. Now, the question is how can you stretch your memory center? How can you optimize its size? The answer is as simple as the question…..through practices.

How can you exercise your brain? Well, it’s not like holding dumb bells for your arms but it definitely is easy and efficient. All you need to do is come across the situations where you need to utilize your brain to its most. Play mind games in your computer and in your cell phones, solve brain teasers and yes do them sincerely!(Read More)

Try Remembering in Chunks

Are u having difficulties remembering long numbers like phone numbers, your bank account numbers????

Then a simple process called “chunking” can help u a lot in remembering stuffs like this. Chunking is a simple yet effective memory improvement method. The chunking process includes breaking down of long units into small easily remember able groupings or chunks. It will be much more convenient if the chunks contain no more than 7(±2) separate items of information due to the reason that a normal person’s mind can retain only 7(±2) items of information at a time in the short-term memory.(Read More)

Chew Gums to Charge Your Brain

What is your favorite chewing gum?

Juicy Fruit? Spout? Orbit? Double mint? Or, may be any other. Well I am fond of Spout. Ever since my childhood, I have been fond of chewing gums. I chew gums in every once in a while, especially when I get stressed and at the times of my exams. Believe it or not, chewing gums are one of the best exercises for our brain.

Researches show that chewing gums can boost memory power by 35%- 40%. They further conclude that chewing gums help the brain tackle the stressful situations more efficiently.(Read More)

Smokers' Brain- What Researches Say?

Think about the greatest scientist ever, Albert Einstein. Think about the person with more than 1300 patents in his name, Thomas Alva Edison. Think about famous American astronomer, Edwin Hubble; the inventor of telephone, Alexander Graham Bell; the founder of Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. Can you tell the similarity between all these brilliant heads? Let me help you, all of them were smokers, in fact all of them had an addiction to it. Who might forget the famous picture of Albert Einstein with his inseparable pipe and his saying “Smoking Helps Me Clear My Mind”.(Read More)

Stress!

How do you feel when you get a promotion at your job? Or when you top your class? Or when you get detained for not doing your home works? Or when you have fever? Or when you get a new house as a reward from your company? Or when you are about to propose a girl (or a boy)?

It is true that you will feel differently at each of the situations, but Dr Steve Burns, a renowned psychologist defines all these as the causes of stress. That is to say, the word stress no longer means something that you need to worry about.

Psychologists, today, define stress as the human response to the changes going around them. The word stress was coined in 1930 by an endocrinologist Hans Selye. A bit of stress is always good. It makes your life exciting and worth living with the joy it demands. But too much of stress not only cause impairments to your memory and creativity, but also you social life and your health too. Here I present a stress measurement chart that will help you find out the level of your stress. The stress quiz given below is taken from the Academy Resource Centre of Sweet Briar College.

To each of the questions given below, rate yourself as to how you typically react in each of the situations listed below. There is no right or wrong answers.

1 = Never

2 = Sometimes

3 = Frequently
4 = Always

Top of Form

Enter a number in the box for each question. When you complete the questionnaire, add up you total number of points and match your result with the range given to know your stress level.

1. Do you try to do as much as possible in the least amount of time?

2. Do you become impatient with delays or interruptions?

3. Do you always have to win at games to enjoy yourself?

4. Do you find yourself speeding up the car to beat the red light?

5. Are you unlikely to ask for or indicate you need help with a problem?

6. Do you constantly seek the respect and admiration of others?

7. Are you overly critical of the way others do their work?

8. Do you have the habit of looking at your watch or clock often?

9.Do you constantly strive to better your position and achievements?

10. Do you spread yourself "too thin" in terms of your time?

11. Do you have the habit of doing more than one thing at a time?

12. Do you frequently get angry or irritable?

13. Do you have little time for hobbies or time by yourself?

14. Do you have a tendency to talk quickly or hasten conversations?

15. Do you consider yourself hard-driving?

16. Do your friends or relatives consider you hard-driving?

17. Do you have a tendency to get involved in multiple projects?

18. Do you have a lot of deadlines in your work?

19. Do you feel vaguely guilty if you relax and do nothing during leisure?

20. Do you take on too many responsibilities?
Ø If your score is between 20 and 30, chances are you are non-productive or your life lacks stimulation.
Ø A score between 31 and 50 designates a good balance in your ability to handle and control stress.
Ø If you tallied up a score ranging between 51 and 60, your stress level is marginal and you are     bordering on being excessively tense.

If your total number of points exceeds 60, you may be a candidate for heart disease.

Method of Loci

In the previous two memory improvements techniques, the name of the techniques could help you figure out about the technique to a greater extent. I guess the situation is not the same today. Before getting into what "Method of Loci" actually is, I am going to tell a story, a story of an amazing memory man. This story was covered by the BBC and the man in this story is, in fact, the world memory champion 2002. His name is Andi Bell.

Once Andi Bell was given ten shuffled packs of playing cards and given 20 minutes to memorize every single card. When he was tested, he correctly remembered the position of all 520 cards in the pack and also the value of every single card.

Andi explained, "When I memorize a deck of cards, I turn each card into a picture and this is the colorful animal or object that I associate with the particular card to memorize it."

He called this method of his "Location Method". In this method he created a bizarre journey with a cost of colorful images and characters. He imagined taking the journey and associated the pictures and images passing by with the cards to memorize them. He said "As a child I had a conventionally good memory. But once you learn a technique like the location technique, it takes everything beyond what you can do naturally."

If analyzed minutely, Andi’s method of location is, in fact, a variation in an ancient method called the "Method of Loci". Method of Loci was first described by Greek Scholar Simonides in 500 BC in which memory power is drastically increased by using a well known location to place things that you wish to remember. This method was initially used by the orators to remember their speech.

To use this technique, you must identify a common path that you can easily remember. This can be the one from your school to home or from your kitchen to your room. The path that you chose needs to be familiar to you. Once you have determined your path, imagine yourself walking along it and identify specific landmarks that you will pass (your door, the bus stop etc.). Then associate each piece of the information that you wish to remember with these landmarks. At the beginning, this might be a bit difficult but trust me, this method is the most ancient and the most efficient method ever devised.