Memory

During student and early working years improving our skills of memorization can be a huge boon - perhaps meaning the difference between average grades and top ranking.

As we grow older it is imperative to be aware of how well our mind's ability to recall is and there are lots of things we can do to keep our brain in top shape. It's well worth the effort.

Do read on.

Guest article on Memory (edited)


4 Ways In Which "Remembering" Occurs

1. Registration: The type of information you're receiving determines which region of your brain is active. For example, words are initially processed in the language regions of the brain, pictures initially in the visual regions. This is where your memories are “registered.”

2. Immediate memory: When information comes into a region, it comes in as a pattern of nerve cell activity. This nerve cell activity normally persists for just a short period of time - seconds or less. This is of course what we deem “Immediate” memory.

3. Permanent (long-term) memory: If the information in this temporary pattern of activity is to be permanently stored (and most is not) it will be saved within the same regions of the brain. Saving the patterns of activity consists of changing nerve cell connections so that the pattern of activity can be called forth again, at some later time. To do this, some nerve cell connections are strengthened, while others may be weakened. These changes are relatively permanent, although the changes may take weeks or months to completely solidify.

Even though the solidification occurs in the regions of the brain that contained the original activity, the signal to make the solidification occur came from other regions. The best known of these regions with such signaling functions are the hippocampus and the thalamus. The hippocampus is on the inner side of the temporal lobe; the thalamus is located deep within the center of the brain.

4. Memory access: Remembering what you've learned may be a simple matter of just reactivating a latent memory - for example, by seeing a picture again and recognizing it as familiar. In this case, the memories get reactivated in the region of the brain where they were first stored. The measurement of familiarity - the sense of how familiar something is, or how recently you learned it - seems to be done in parts of the temporal lobe, particularly in or near a structure called the amygdala, which sits just in front of the hippocampus.

This simple retrieval operates very quickly. You can decide that a picture is familiar to you or not in less than one-half a second, measuring from the very start of the time you see the picture to the start of when you say "yes" or "no." Once the picture has been registered in your brain (which takes about two-tenths of a second), it takes you about two-tenths of a second to actually make the decision, and about another two-tenths of a second to say your answer. The total time it actually takes you is a little less than the time you spend on each stage, because some of these stages can overlap. You start deciding a picture is familiar or not while the image of the picture is still developing within your mind.

A Glimpse Into The History Of Memory Training

Memory systems date back to antiquity. In the ancient world, a trained memory was of vital importance. There were no handy note-taking devices, so that it was these techniques and systems that enabled bards and storytellers to remember their stories, poems, and songs. Early Greek and Roman orators delivered lengthy speeches with unfailing accuracy because they learned the speeches, thought for thought, by applying memory systems.

What they did, basically, was associate each thought of a speech to a part of their own homes. These were called "loci," or "places." The opening thought of a speech would, perhaps, be associated to the front door, the second thought to the foyer, the third to a piece of furniture in the foyer, and so on. When the orator wanted to remember his speech, thought for thought, he actually took a mental tour through his own home. Thinking of the front door reminded him of the first thought of his speech. The second "place," the foyer, reminded him of the next thought; and so on to the end of the speech. It is from this "place" or "loci" memory technique that we get the time-worn phrase "in the first place."

Although Simonides (circa 500 b.c.) is known as the father of the art of trained memory, scraps of parchment dating back a thousand years or so before Simonides state that memory techniques were an essential part of the orator's equipment. Cicero wrote that the memories of the lawyers and orators of his time were aided by systems and training and in De oratore he described how he himself applied memory systems.

It's important to realize that oratory was an important career during those early days. "We should never have realized how great is the power of a trained memory," wrote the philosopher Quintilian, "nor how divine it is, but for the fact that it is memory which has brought oratory to its present position of glory."

The ancients also knew that memory training could help the thinking process itself. From a fragment dated about 400 b.c. we learn that "A great and beautiful invention is memory, always useful both for learning and for life." And Aristotle, after praising memory systems, said that "these habits too will make a man readier in reasoning."

If Simonides was the inventor of the art of trained memory, and Cicero its greatest early teacher, St. Thomas Aquinas was to become its patron saint, instrumental in making the art of trained memory a devotional and ethical art.

During the Middle Ages, monks and philosophers were virtually the only people who knew about and applied trained-memory techniques. The systems, whose use was mostly limited to religion, were basic to some religions. For example, memory systems were used to memorize Virtues and Vices, and some priests and philosophers taught that memory systems showed "how to reach Heaven and avoid Hell."

Cells & Memory: A Science Lesson

The memories that concern us in everyday life, whether they are explicit memories or implicit memories, are far removed from nerve cells, just as our everyday world of food, cars, and people is far removed from the atoms that make them up.

Activity is electrical, nerve cells communicate with each other by releasing chemicals. This chemical release is a heritage of our past. When our ancestors were all just single cells, the only way to communicate was by releasing chemicals into primordial oceans. Later, as collections of multiple cells organized into primitive animals, the easiest way for cells to get messages across to one another was still to put out chemicals into the fluid that bathed them all.

When nerve cells developed, it appears that they adopted this existing transmission system for their own use. In some cases, these chemicals have retained some of the functions that they once had. In others, the functions have been modified beyond recognition. For example, the chemical people commonly know as adrenaline is actually a neurotransmitter as well. But it can get released into the blood when a special gland, the adrenal gland, gets stimulated. Adrenaline signals all the cells of the body to get ready for an emergency. It forces sugar into muscle cells, and slows down the digestive system. But adrenaline also operates deep within the brain, in the connections between some sets of nerve cells.

Memory at the nerve cell level is thought to involve changes in the strengths of connections between nerve cells. These changes can be both increases and decreases in the strength of connections. Since neurotransmitters are the major Way nerve cells communicate from one to another, changes in the way neurotransmitters are released, and changes in tie way neurotransmitters are received or interpreted by the nerve cell at the other end, must clearly be important in the formation of memory.

However, because we are concerned with the memories that come into our conscious experience, it is important to place our current knowledge of "memory" at the nerve cell level in the proper context. The memories that we are conscious of are not discrete files or pages inside our heads. Instead, they are a product of the electrical activity of an enormous number of nerve cells and nerve cell endings.

Some of these nerve cells and nerve cell endings are probably clustered together, and we identify them as specific regions of the brain. Other nerve cells involved in what we feel is a single memory probably are scattered widely all over the brain. The firing of the nerve cells is also probably spread out over time, as well. A single nerve cell takes about one-thousandth of a second to fire. However, the memories we see with techniques such as direct electrical recording seem to occupy a period of time at least two hundred times longer than this.

Does Everyone Have Equal Brain Power?

Are all memories created equal? It is virtually certain that different people have different brain abilities for different things. One of these differences must be in memory. But most of the differences in memory abilities that we see in everyday life do not seem to be due to differences in the brains we are born with, but to differences in how well we use the brains we are born with.

Our brains are probably somewhat like our muscles: everybody is born with different amounts of muscle. And this is probably particularly true of the muscle that is your heart. So it is likely that some people have bigger, stronger hearts than others do at birth. But it is also true that many people can take whatever amount of heart they are born with - large or small—and train themselves up from couch potato to marathon runner. The differences we find in everyday memory probably are comparable. They are probably still mostly based on how much we exercise what we have, not how much memory we are born with.

This is not to minimize the fact that different people may be born with different memory abilities. We know or suspect that there are genetically-based differences in brains. Some of the evidence comes from identical twins. Identical twins are almost exactly alike in their genetic composition. And identical twins show remarkably similar intelligence and memory abilities, even when they have been separated at birth and reared by different parents, in different environments. They even show remarkably similar patterns of how those intellectual abilities develop childhood and adolescence. These similarities suggest that there is a genetic program for intelligence and memory, that partly determines the intelligence and memory that we have in later life.

At the brain level, less is actually known about actual individual differences in the brain, and even less is known about individual differences in nerve cell connections. But these also certainly exist. One known example: an area of the cortex of the brain - the gray matter - is the first stop for information coming from the eyes. This area of the brain is clearly important in vision. Species with good vision have more of it; species that lose their vision (such as some that live in caves without light) lose this brain region. In humans, on the average, this brain region is three to four times larger than it is in monkeys - some reflection of our superior brain power, we would hope. But we also know that in some people, this area can be three times larger than it is in other people.

Improving Your Attention

If you want to remember something, you have to pay attention to it. This may sound simple, but the most common reason healthy adults forget is because they fail to focus. Distractibility can account for memory lapses no matter what your age.

Attention is the most sensitive aspect of intellectual functioning. It is therefore quite vulnerable to being disrupted. In order to acquire information so we can later remember it, we must be mindful and focus on what we are trying to learn. In other words, the problem isn't that we forget, but that we don't "get" what we want to remember from the outset. Does this sound easy to you? It is. But think for a moment of all the things in your daily life that you really don't pay attention to. Consider the following questions about information we encounter every day:

* What color is at the bottom of the stoplight? * What word appears over the image of George Washingtonon a quarter?* What letters, if any, are missing from the telephone dial?* How many light switches are in your house or apartment?

How did you do? Chances are you don't know the correct answers to some of these questions, even though these are things that you come across, sometimes frequently, over the course of a typical day. Why? Because we are not always mindful of things we do or see every day. Only by focusing our attention can we adequately acquire information and have it later when we need to remember it.

Can we improve our attention? Absolutely. How? Here are two basic habits we can develop to improve attention and maximize memory fitness immediately:

1. Be Aware: If you are aware that you are hearing or seeing something you want to remember, you will be more likely to pay attention to it, to "get" it, and to "have" it later when you want to remember it. Increased awareness of the need to remember will increase your attention toward that information.

Have you ever lost your car in a parking lot? Or forgotten whether you turned off the oven? Well, imagine if you had been more aware that you needed to be mindful of where you parked or whether you turned that knob. If only you had thought to yourself, "Okay, I need to pay attention now so I will remember what I'm doing." Being more aware in those situations would have encouraged you to pay closer attention and made it more likely that you would remember that information later.

2. Make the effort: Next, you must try to focus your attention. Being aware that you need to pay attention without making the effort to do so is like sleeping with the unread text book under your pillow the night before final exams. It never worked, did it? Well, the same rule applies here. It isn't enough to know you must be mindful of something you want to remember: You must then do it. So when you park your car at the mall and want to be able to find it a few hours later, simply make the effort to look around and pay attention to where you are. Most likely there are some signs or other landmarks to help you remember where you've parked.

Increase Your Memory By Getting Organized: Part 1

Most memory training techniques involve exercises to improve linking objects to certain items or using numbering systems to stay on top of being forgetful. However, oftentimes the only thing that is needed to keep your mind on track is to get organized and to stay that way! Below are a few good tips that will help you:

Use a filing system effectively: Take the time to think through your filing system. Figure out what organization will work best for you - client files versus project files, color coding, and so on. Once you've worked out your system, make sure to use it. File all pertinent information in the appropriate file (not a desk pile). It's also helpful to attach blank sheets of paper to the inside right back flap of file folders. Then, you can take notes on relevant conversations, memos, and meetings right where you need them. And make sure you put your files away in an organized fashion.

Use a task list for projects: Overwhelmed by a complex project? Think through the project concretely, step by step. Then, make a list for all these steps, or tasks, to help you get them done. Here's another suggestion: Keep your task list stapled to the inside front cover of your project file. That way you can refer to the task list whenever you work on that project.

Avoid paper piles: Are you surrounded by a sea of papers at work? Is your dining-room table so covered with mail that you're not even sure it's still there? There are generally two things that happen to information buried in a paper pile - either it is forgotten or it can't be found when you need it. Paper piles are like the plague - they should be avoided at all costs. When you get a piece of paper, you should do one of three things: file it, write the information down elsewhere (such as in your scheduler) and toss it, or simply toss it.

Avoid constantly putting information on sticky notes and other small pieces of paper: If you need to write something down, put it on your Master Plan or on your to-do list. While it's okay to use a reminder such as a sticky note every once in a while, using such notes all the time will make them less noticeable and—as a result—less useful.

Organize your day according to your energy level: Most of us are at our best in the morning. Therefore, set aside time in the morning to work on projects that require your full focus and ability. Schedule less important meetings and other tasks for later in the day.

Increase Your Memory By Getting Organized: Part 2

Getting organized can be the most important information to help you boost your brainpower as a memory tool. It is so simple and obvious that many of use miss the importance that staying on top of our organization in life can be in boosting our brain power. Here are more great tips to help you get organized:

Help yourself avoid interruption: Ever had one of those days where nothing seemed to get done? Often we are unable to complete tasks because we get distracted. In order to get things done, you must protect your time. If possible, leave your phone on voice mail during times you have scheduled to work on projects. If you have a private office, close your door. You could even put up a sign saying something like "Hard at Work: Please Come Back Later." If you are interrupted, help keep the disruption brief by remaining task-oriented.

Schedule time to make phone calls and return e-mail: When you leave a phone message, include times that you will be available by phone. Ask the other party to do the same - it will save you both a lot of time that would otherwise be spent on everyone's favorite game, phone tag. Also, avoid checking your voice mail and e-mail constantly. Instead, review them at scheduled intervals during the day.

Schedule stress breaks during the day: Make sure you give yourself a break! Working to the point of total brain fatigue and muscle tension will never do you any good. Stretch, take some deep breaths, go out to get your lunch, call your kids - do something to give yourself a little break. If you'd like, you can schedule these breaks as a reward for when you've completed a specific task.

Appreciate your own style: Just as we are all different in other ways, we all have different organizational styles. Remember that you have gotten where you are today because of who you are and what you have accomplished. Use improved organizational skills to enhance your personal style, not change it. Getting organized should make you feel good, not burdened.

Stick to your plan: The best-laid plans often fall victim to their makers. While spontaneity is important, there is a fine line between it and simple procrastination. Once you've come up with a good strategy for tackling a task, stay with it. Only you can prevent yourself from dillydallying.

3 Tips Why Using A Scheduler Will Help You Remember What You Need to Do

Now that you know how important memory tools are, which ones should you be using? Schedulers are one of the best tools you can use to organize information so that you can get things done.

Scheduling aids, such as appointment books, calendars, and electronic scheduling devices, are the most essential memory tools around. They help us keep track of things we need to remember and without them, let's face it, we'd be lost. How can you maximize your use of a scheduler? Here are a few tried-and-true tips:

1. Use a scheduling aid that fits your lifestyle. Have you ever thought about how you keep track of your schedule? Do you buy the same appointment book year after year, without considering if it still works for you or looking to see if something better is now on the market? Perhaps you just take the book or calendar the bank sends you and use that. Yes, it may seem to work, but are you really sure it's what you need? Consider this: If someone sent you a pair of glasses in the mail, would you use them? Of course not. After all, they probably wouldn't be the correct prescription and might not be your style. Well, your scheduling aid is as essential a tool for your memory as glasses are for your vision. You should devote as much attention and thought to choosing a scheduler as you would to choosing new spectacles.

2. One of the biggest obstacles to using a scheduler that suits you is falling into the habit of always using the same one. Many people use the same kind of book or calendar for years, regardless of changes in their lifestyle. I was guilty of this myself. Years ago, while on maternity leave, I never changed my appointment book to something that better suited my needs as a mother at home with small children; I continued to use the book I had needed when working. This, of course, meant that I never used my book, since it was totally impractical to carry it around in a diaper bag! As a result, I often "double booked" play dates and forgot doctors appointments - all because I never thought about changing my scheduling aid. This happens with retirees as well. Retirement is a major life change, with concomitant changes in scheduling. Recent retirees understandably panic when they forget an appointment, but in most cases, their only memory problem is that they haven't yet adopted a good organizational technique suited to their new life.

How can you know if your scheduling aid fits your lifestyle? One clue is this: If you're not using it, it's probably not working for you! We tend not to use things that don't really suit us. The scheduler that you use should meet whatever your individual needs are for managing the information you need to remember daily.

3. Your Scheduler should have enough room for you to write down all your appointments clearly. You should be able to note the time of the appointment, the location, and the phone number of the person you are meeting or of the place you are going. That way you won't have to scramble for any information you may need at the last minute.

Internal Memory Techniques: How They Work

Internal memory techniques are very powerful ways to learn and remember information. Let's look at how they work:

* They force you to focus attention on what you are trying to learn. When you apply an internal memory technique, you are forced to concentrate. In fact, just using a technique makes it impossible not to pay attention. And we already know that we absorb something we want to remember more effectively when we attend to it.

* They give meaning to what you are trying to learn. Internal memory techniques are successful because they give meaning to something you want to remember. This works in two ways: In many cases, we can find meaning inherent to the information we are trying to learn. Or we can impose meaning on material that doesn't necessarily have that meaning to make it more memorable. And something that is meaningful is more memorable.

Some of you may believe internal memory techniques are simply too complicated for you. If so, think again. Chances are you already use some of these methods without even knowing it. Take a look at these examples:

1. What year did Columbus sail for America? Did you say 1492? That's correct. Chances are you got there by reciting the following rhyme: "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Rhymes such as these are a popular internal memory technique.

2. How can you remember the correct spelling of the word "stationery"? Well, if in fourth grade you learned the saying, "Stationery is for a letter," you were given a way of connecting the correct spelling of stationery with another word you already knew the proper spelling for. English teachers loved these connection techniques for learning proper spelling.

3. Here's one from the history books. Need to remember what happened to the wives of Henry VIII? Perhaps someone taught you the following rhyme for recalling their fates: Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived.

4. Trying to remember the colors of the rainbow? Consider the following first letter association, which my son learned in his kindergarten class: ROY G. BIV. This name is made up of the first letter of each color in the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

You can see from these examples that internal memory techniques are really part of our everyday world. So don't be afraid of these methods. They can be simple to learn and use, and can help you remember better. The goal of any memory technique is to help you learn an internal memory technique that you like and will use.

Internal Memory Techniques part 1: What They Are

Using a technique to help us learn something we want to remember is another way we can make the most of our memory. Internal memory techniques have been around for centuries, so long in fact that one researcher was prompted to call memory improvement "one of the world's oldest professions." The ancient Greeks wrote extensively about the use of internal memory techniques, many of which are the same methods employed today. Performers who demonstrate feats of memory use such techniques to wow audiences with their skill.

Why, then, have so many people found these techniques frustrating and, quite frankly, more of a hindrance than a help? Actually, the problem is not with the techniques themselves, but rather with the way in which they have been taught. Memory improvement experts in the past have offered memory systems that are difficult to learn and burdensome to use. Methods such as the peg or loci technique are great for people who want "super" memories.However, they really aren't that helpful for the average person. Most of us don't have hours to spend learning a complex internal memory system before we can use it. And let's be honest: Are you really that concerned with remembering absolutely everything?Probably not, if you're like me and most people I know. You'd just like to remember better.

If you've" struggled with memory improvement in the past, you will be relieved that the approach to internal memory techniques taught recently is quite different. A good program should not be about a special ploy for memory improvement. And keep in mind that there is no one best way to make more of your memory.

Do we need internal memory techniques to improve our memory? Not necessarily. You can improve your memory by being attentive to information you need to remember, by identifying and coping effectively with things in your daily life that limit your memory potential, and by practicing good organizational habits. However, it is often advisable to memory students to make at least one internal memory technique part of their memory fitness routine, since there are circumstances where they are useful. For example, you may need to remember something "by head," such as a license plate number, a cell phone number, or a PIN number.

Losing Spaces Of Memory

Memory is not just remembering the name of the President or what you ate for breakfast. It is remembering your train of thought, where you are, where you are going and why, and what you are doing at any given moment. It is remembering how to put a sentence together, spell a word, balance your checkbook, turn on your computer, and what someone has just said. But many men and women complain that they are sometimes unable to do these things. They are suddenly rereading things over and over in order to get the meaning, not finding things that are right in front of them, stashing their socks in the freezer, calling their sons by their husband or wife's name, and becoming clumsy, awkward, and, for lack of a better word, "ditzy."

You need memory to hold on to your thoughts and ideas long enough to organize them. But if they slip away like quicksilver before you have the chance to arrange them in a logical sequence, your ability to communicate your thoughts to others breaks down.

Does the following sound familiar? "I used to be able to store the whole task in my head from start to finish, with one thought progressing to the next. I could count on being able to have a thought and hang on to it while I was thinking the next thought and the next thought, and so on, in branches all over the place. That doesn't happen anymore. Now when I start thinking about a task, I have the original thought, go on to the next thought, and then branch out maybe into a few more, only to find that the original thought is gone. So then I have to go back and start with the original thought, but then I go there and lose it again. I keep going around in circles with my thoughts. It's very hard to think something through. I can't hold on to the thought long enough to get through a line of reasoning. It's like my memory span has been cut short."

Memory retrieval also slows down as we age, but this doesn't mean the memories aren't still there. We just need to work at it harder. Often, the information we are looking for is the name of someone or something - a place, a book title. As one woman puts it, "The lapse of memory gnaws at me for hours, sometimes days; it's like struggling to open a locked door. And then, when I'm not even trying to remember, the door flings open and the name pops into my head and I feel so relieved." Somehow, all that time our brains are trying to locate the memory.

Lost Your Keys Lately?

Sometimes we need help remembering where we put things. Most of us have at one time or another lost our keys, glasses, checkbook, or that piece of paper we had just a second ago. Have you ever stopped to think about why we misplace these items so often? Usually it's because we aren't paying attention when we put them down. We're distracted, and putting something down is not what we're focusing on. Misplacing things has nothing to do with how old we are—only with how busy.

Choose One Place

How can we prevent ourselves losing things we need and save ourselves the aggravation, not to mention wasted time, that goes along with it? The best way to remember where things are is to always put them in the same place, what I like to call a forget-me-not spot. Why? we can apply “over-learning” to help rev up our recall for where we put things. If we always put the items we need, such as our wallet, keys, and glasses, in the same place, we don't need to pay attention to where we put them, as they will always be in that forget-me-not spot. Here are some tips for using a forget-me-not spot:

1. Pick a convenient place. Your forget-me-not spot should be conveniently located so you will really use it. At home, I think the best place is near the door you use most frequently. At your office, the best place is most likely somewhere on your desk.

2. Make sure it can hold all your things. Your forget-me-not spot should be something that can hold the objects you want to put there. It can be a drawer, a shelf, a bowl on a tabletop, or a box. I once heard about a woman who had a table in her foyer painted with images of her keys, wallet, and glasses. While it probably worked well, it's not really necessary to go to so much trouble! Plain or fancy, make sure your forget-me-not spot can fit all the objects you need it to. It's also nice if there's extra room for small items you may need to remember to take someplace, such as a book you need to return to the library or dry-cleaning receipts.

3. Get into the habit of using your forget-me-not spot. If a forget-me-not spot is going to work for you, you really need to use it. This really is a case of use it or lose it!

Remembering Names

Most of us recognize faces. For example, did you ever hear anyone say, "Oh, I know your name, but I don't recognize your face"? It's the names we have trouble with. Since we do usually recognize faces, the thing to do is apply a system wherein the face tells us the name. That is basically what a good memory techniques accomplishes, if it is applied correctly.

The first problem is the name. Well, that one is easily solved - simply apply the “Substitute Word” system of memory. You won't need it for many names that already have meaning - names like Hayes, Howe, Carpenter, Fox, Paige, Coyne, Paynter, Gold, or Knott immediately create pictures in your mind.

Other names may not have meaning, but will still remind you of something tangible. For example, the names Hudson, Jordan, and Shannon will probably make you think of a river, and the name Ruth might make you think of baseball. The vast majority of names, however, have no meaning at all. They are conglomerations of sound, just like a word in a foreign language. That's where the Substitute Word system comes in.

Before we give you some examples, you should be aware of the fact that most people don't really forget names. They just don't remember them in the first place - often, they don't really hear them in the first place. Just think back and remember the many times you've been introduced to someone, when all you heard was a mumble. There's no way on earth to remember a mumble!

For some reason, people are usually embarrassed to simply say, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear your name." There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Since a person's name is one of his most prized possessions, it's flattering to make even the slightest fuss over it. Asking him to repeat it shows that you're interested enough in him to want to be sure you get his name right.

Then there are those who don't bother asking the person to repeat his name because they feel that they'll probably never meet him again, so what difference does it make? Of course, they often do meet that person again - which is why half the world seems to address the other half as Darling, Buddy, Fella', Mac, Champ, Honey, or Sweetheart. Not because "Honey" is so special to them, but because they don't know who they're talking to! Which is probably all right, because the chances are that "Honey" and "Buddy" don't know who they're talking to, either!

Anyway, if you would like to remember names and faces, there are three steps involved; the first step takes care of the name, the second takes care of the face, and the third locks the two of them together. What you have to do is associate the name to the face in some ridiculous way.

Remembering Your Lists By Using The First Letter Association Technique

The First Letter Association Technique is a method of memory training where you take the first letter of each word in a list of words you wish to remember and make a word or phrase associating to it. Abbreviations and acronyms are popular examples of first letter association.

Take a look at the following examples:

1. What does U.S.A. stand for? If you said United States of America, you're correct (and you thought these techniques were hard!)

2. What does TGIF mean? "Thank Goodness, It's Friday," a popular refrain.

3. Do you know the names of the five Great Lakes? Chances are you do, but it may be a bit hard to think of them. If you remember the first letter association HOMES, however, you'll always be able to think of them: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.

Why are first letter associations so popular? Most likely because they are such a powerful way for us to remember things. Let's look at why:

1. First letter associations get us to focus attention and give meaning to material we are learning.

2. First letter associations allow us to remember more by memorizing less. When we use a first letter association we reduce the material we must memorize. Since the technique takes the first letter of each item on a list and makes a meaningful word or acronym from those letters, it significantly shortens the amount of information you need to commit to memory. Take the above example of using the word HOMES to help recall the names of the five Great Lakes. When you recall that one word it reminds you of the five names you need.

3. First letter associations give us clues. It's always easier to recall information when you have a little help doing so. First letter associations give us the first letter for whatever it is we are trying to remember. That first letter acts as a prompt (or clue) which is a big boost to our memory.

4. First letter associations let us know when we're done. When you have a first letter association for a list, you know that if you match an item or word with every letter on that list you're finished. In other words, everything you need to remember is in that first letter association.

Now you can see why the First Letter Association Technique is so useful and so popular. Let's try a first letter association exercise using the list from the Link Technique exercise:

tablepenlocketumbrellasalt

To apply the First Letter Association Technique, I take all the first letters of the items on this list:

t p 1 u s

Next, I see if I can make up a word to help me remember these letters. "T-PLUS" is a rather obvious choice here. Another possible first letter association for this list might be "PLUST." When I later need to remember this list, I simply need to remember "T-PLUS" to jog my memory for table, pen, locket, umbrella, salt.

Of course, there are some drawbacks to the First Letter Association Technique. First letter associations require a bit of creative energy. In addition, these associations can be difficult to create in certain circumstances, such as when you have a list that has no words beginning with a vowel (try this with your next grocery list and you'll see what I mean). While there are ways around such problems, first letter association is not the easiest internal memory technique available. However, it possesses some unique characteristics that make it an effective way to boost your brainpower, especially if you enjoy a challenge.

Teaching Your Children Memory Games

Very young children have no trouble using their imagination and forming ridiculous pictures. They not only do it easily, they think it's lots of fun. If you have children, acquaint them with some of the ideas that you can find throughout our memory articles; you can harness that lively imagination and help them sharpen their sense of concentration - without their realizing what you're doing, of course.

For example, there is what is called a “link system” that helps strengthen memory in which you link objects to whatever it is that you want to remember easily. Make a game out of the Link system. For example, during an automobile trip, see who can remember a list of items faster, or who can remember the most items. It is fun and the children are learning a useful skill at the same time.

If you want to play the game of remembering items by number with a child who's too young to learn the phonetic alphabet, there's a way to teach him ten “Peg Words” almost instantly. They are easy to learn because they rhyme with the numbers, and most of them come from a song your children probably know. For example:

1. one—run 2. two—shoe 3. three—tree 4. four—pour 5. five—hive (picture bees) 6. six—sticks7. seven—heaven8. eight—gate9. nine—sign10. ten—hen

Some of the words from the song have been changed to words that are easier for a child to picture. Teach the youngster to picture the item running, for 1 (run); being poured out of something, for 4 (pour); in the sky, for 7 (heaven); and so on.

The number-word rhymes make it easy for a child to learn the words in minutes. Once he has been tested on them, and knows them, he can be taught to associate (don't use that word; the children won't know what you're talking about) any item to any of these Pegs. If you mention banana for number 6, the child will think sticks and, perhaps, see a bunch of bananas tied like a bunch of sticks. Give him a suggestion or two the first few times.

Here's another way to use the Link as a game. Place eight or so items on a tray and cover them with a cloth. First remove the cloth for a short time (a minute or so), then replace it and have everyone try to list all the items. Each player receives one point for each item listed correctly; the more a player lists, the better his score.

Or you can show the items for a moment, then remove a couple of them without letting the players see which ones have been removed. You expose the tray of items again for ten seconds or so. The first player who correctly lists the missing items wins.

The Effects Of Everyday Stress On Our Memory Another lifestyle factor that can really zap your memory power is stress. Feeling stressed is of course just another part of being human. But overwhelming stress can take a tremendous toll on our overall health, not to mention our memory.

How would you describe stress? For most of us stress is a feeling of pressure and lack of control. Yet formally defined, stress is merely the way you react to change. Stress in and of itself is not problematic. In fact, both "good" and "bad" life events are stressful. What distinguishes "good" stress from "bad" stress (distress) is the degree to which we feel we are in control. For example, most people would consider losing their job as more stressful than getting married. It is the sense of the former being more out of your control that makes it more distressful.

To understand how stress affects memory, let's look at what happens when we feel stress. When we experience stress, our body triggers a "stress adaptation" response, otherwise known as the "fight or flight" response. So what happens?

- Hormones, including adrenaline and glucocorticoids, are released- Heart rate increases- Breathing becomes more rapid and shallow- Stored sugar is released toy the liver- Senses are heightened- Muscles, tense to prepare for movement- Blood flow to digestive organs and extremities is restricted- Blood flaw to brain and major muscles increases

This response to stress is a remnant of our primitive past. After all, this kind of preparation was essential if we were faced with something life-threatening, such as an attacking bear. Rarely today do we find ourselves in such life-or-death situations. But our bodies can't tell the difference between such events and the relatively mundane pressures of modern living, such as being stuck in traffic or getting into an argument with your spouse. The stress-adaptation response kicks in, again and again, exposing us regularly to low levels of this stressed condition.

This unrelenting chronic stress has been associated with various medical and emotional conditions, ranging from cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal ailments, immune suppression; and endocrine changes. What about memory? Stress lowers memory performance secondarily because of its impact on overall health. Stress also makes us more distracted, which lowers our ability to acquire information we may want to remember.

There is growing evidence that stress may directly impair memory function as well. Research has linked excess stress to shrinkage of the hippocampus, the area of the brain associated with new learning. Evidence for this has come from animal studies as well as studies in human populations exposed to excessive stress, such as individuals suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. Scientists theorize that stress-induced increases of glucocorticoids are responsible for such changes. While more work is needed in this area, these findings suggest that stress is bad for memory in more ways than we previously understood.

Using Association Techniques For Better Memory

All memory, whether trained or untrained, is based on association. But that's stating it too simply. You will be taught many systems of association by doing your research on memory training, but it goes much deeper than that. You see, when people say, "I forgot," they didn't, usually - what really happened was that they didn't remember in the first place. How can you forget something that you didn't remember, originally? Turn that around, and you have the solution to remembering - if you do remember something originally, how can you forget it?

One of the fundamentals of a trained memory is what we call Original Awareness. Anything of which you are Originally Aware cannot be forgotten. And, applying a system of association forced Original Awareness - Observation is essential to Original Awareness - anything you wish to remember must first be observed. Using association will take care of that, too.

But how in the world do you associate something that's intangible or abstract? That question leads to another fundamental of trained memory. It is always easier to remember things that have meaning than it is to remember things that do not. You'll see that nothing is abstract or intangible so far as the systems are concerned. You will learn how to make any intangible thing, any abstract piece of information, tangible and meaningful in your mind. Once you've mastered that simple technique, all remembering and therefore all learning will be easier for you for the rest of your life.

Let's begin with association. First of all, you should realize that you've used association all of your life. The problem is that you have associated subconsciously, without recognizing the association for what it was. Anything you clearly associated, even if subconsciously, is sure to have been easily remembered. But since you have no control over your subconscious, association has been a hit-or-miss kind of thing all your life.

Here's a basic memory rule: You Can Remember Any New Piece of Information if It Is Associated to Something You Already Know or Remember.

When you took music class in school do you remember the lines on the music staff, the treble clef, E, G, B, D, and F? If your teacher ever told you to think of the sentence “Every Good Boy Does Fine”, then you do remember them. Your teacher was following that basic memory rule, probably without realizing it. He or she was helping you to remember new (and abstract) information, the letters E, G, B, D, and F, by associating them to something you already knew, or at least understood - the simple sentence “Every Good Boy Does Fine.” Obviously, it worked.

Teachers in the early grades have been telling their students for years that it's easy to remember how to spell piece if you think of the phrase "a piece of pie." Since most young students already know how to spell pie, associating that old knowledge to the new—the spelling of "piece"—solves the problem. Again in this example of association, the basic rule has been followed.

Using Association To Rid Being Absentminded

You are absentminded when your mind is absent; when you perform actions unconsciously, without thinking. There is a distinct difference between seeing and observing - we see with our eyes, but we observe with our minds. If your mind is "absent" when performing an action, there can be no observation; more important, there can be no original awareness. Absentmindedness is probably the most widespread of minor self-annoyances. Although it plagues most of us, it seems particularly to affect the elderly. The techniques we'll discuss here have succeeded in eliminating absentmindedness for countless people, including the elderly.

To some people, absentmindedness may seem to be a trivial problem. Perhaps they don't realize how much time, energy, and aggravation they spend on searching for items they "just put down for a moment," or on worrying about whether they have turned off the oven, locked the door, unplugged the iron, or on retrieving items they have left in trains, buses, cars, offices, and friends' homes.

The solution to the problem of absentmindedness is both simple and obvious: All you have to do is to be sure to think of what you're doing during the moment in which you're doing it, That's all, but obviously it's easier said than done. How can you be sure to force yourself to think of a minor action at the moment you're doing it?

There's only one way, and that is by using association. Since association forces Original Awareness - and since being Originally Aware is the same as having something register in your mind in the first place, at the moment it occurs - then forming an instant association must solve the problem of absentmindedness.

Let's use a quick example: You're writing at your desk and the phone rings. As you reach for the phone, you place the pencil behind your ear, or in your hair. The phone call is finished - that took only a few minutes - but now you waste time searching for the pencil that's perched behind your ear. Would you like to avoid that aggravation? Well then, the next time the phone rings and you start to place the pencil behind your ear, make a fast mental picture in your mind. Actually "see" the pencil going into your ear - all the way.

The idea may make you shudder, but when you think of that pencil, you'll know where it is. That silly association of seeing the pencil go into your ear forced you to think of two things in a fraction of a second: 1) the pencil, and 2) where you were putting it. Problem solved! Solved, that is, if you make an association each time you put down your pencil, wherever you put it. Just make it a habit. Keep the idea in mind the first few times, force yourself to form the associations, and after that it will become habitual.

Why We Need Memory Tools

Using memory tools are extremely useful. Below are 2 reasons why:

1. Memory tools get us to pay attention to things we need to remember. Using a memory tool, just like using any technique to boost your brainpower, will focus your attention more actively on information you need to remember. Why? When we work with information, we pay closer attention to it.

Let's say you're at a planning meeting for your office holiday party. You have just agreed to order the decorations. Of course, everyone has an opinion about the party decor, but your boss rules the day with her suggestion of green and red palm trees and silver reindeer candles. You, though, are so busy thinking how nice purple balloons would look that you aren't really focused on what she is saying. When the group agrees to her idea you have no idea what they're talking about. Tough luck. If you had been using a memory tool, you would have been paying closer attention to the discussion because you would have been taking notes, which you could review later at your own pace. Just by taking notes, you would have been paying closer attention.

2. Memory tools help us remember the things we need to remember but not memorize. We deal with three kinds of information:

A) Things we really need to remember. This category includes certain things we really must remember, such as our name, address, phone number, PIN numbers, e-mail address, cell phone number, and the names of people we work with closely. Committing this kind of information to memory is essential.

B) Things we don't really need to remember. Let's face it, there are some things we really, truly don't need to memorize. For example, if I need to call a restaurant for a reservation, I need to use that restaurant's phone number when I call, but I don't need to learn that phone number by heart (especially if I don't get a reservation).

C) Things we need to remember but not to memorize. This is information we need to remember for a brief period of time to help us function effectively. Such information includes appointments, errands, and phone calls we have to make. In general, however, we do not need to commit this kind of information to long-term memory.

Crossword Puzzles Are Great Mental Exercises

I love doing crossword puzzles. Every morning I rush outside to get my newspapers anticipating those puzzles. As I read through the local and national news, the business, lifestyle and theater sections, I look forward to those puzzles - saving them for the very end, like some great reward or delicious, tempting dessert. What? You don't do that?

Most newspaper crossword fans know that the difficulty level of a particular puzzle is distinctly related to the day of the week - as we get closer to the weekend, the puzzles steadily become more challenging. Crossword puzzles are a good example of mental aerobics, tasks or exercises that involve mental effort.

The goal of these exercises is to "shake up" our usual mental assumptions and force us to think of novel solutions. A successful brainteaser or puzzle often gives us a moment of pleasure and satisfaction when we stumble upon the solution - at that moment a "light bulb" of understanding and insight turns on in our brain. Some experts believe this process correlates with the actual "stretching and toning" workout we are aiming to achieve for our brain cells.

Don't Let Stress Zap Your Memory!

You return from a much-needed week's vacation in the tropics where you didn't take your laptop. You are relaxed, suntanned, and your wife's hero for making a hat out of palm fronds and ordering dinner in broken Tahitian. There is no way this serene and blissful feeling is going to wear off, even after going back to the grind at the office next week. You vow to rise above it, remember the tranquil waves of paradise, no matter how stressful the situation around you. And you do, until about noon your first day back at work.

The greatest hidden enemy of memory and quality longevity is chronic stress. High anxiety and stress levels often creep up on us without our awareness. Many of us lead tense and hurried lives, where even the mental and physical benefits of occasional rest and recreation disappear quickly and leave us as stressed out as before. Everyone has a different baseline stress level, depending on personality style, coping skills, degree of self-awareness, and other factors.

Food Allergies May Cause Forgetfulness

Food allergies or sensitivities can trigger brain fog and forgetfulness in a number of ways. A food particle may leak from the digestive system into the bloodstream without being fully digested, and the immune system sees this harmless food particle as a potential invader.

White blood cells, blood vessels, and even distant organs, such as the adrenal glands,respond to the intrusion by releasing a torrent of biochemicals, including histamines, which produce allergic symptoms. An allergic reaction and its brain symptoms can occur within minutes or hours of eating the offending food, as the chemicals build up in the brain and cause inflammation.

Allergies to foods can trigger a variety of other symptoms, such as headache, sinus congestion, runny nose, cramping, diarrhea, and skin eruptions. Lesser known reactions include edema, sore throat, heart palpitations, anxiety, fatigue, mood swings, joint pain, irritable bowel syndrome, and migraine. Many people who have food allergies can eat the food to which they are allergic, but no more than once every three days—this is called a rotation diet.

Forgetting Too Much?

Do you sometimes find yourself going to your refrigerator, opening the door, and then staring inside and wondering what it is you wanted? If you want this to stop then just simply make an association the moment you think of what it is you want from the refrigerator.

If you want a glass of milk, see yourself opening the refrigerator door and gallons of milk flying out and hitting you in the face! Try this idea, and you'll never stare into a refrigerator again. That's all there is to it. It's like grabbing your mind by the scruff of the neck and forcing it to think of a specific thing at a specific moment.

Force yourself to do it at first, and it will become habitual before you know it. Forming these associations may strike you as a waste of time. You won't feel that way once you've tried using the idea. You'll see, after a short while, that the ridiculous pictures are formed in hardly any time at all. Even more important is the time that you'll be saving.

Immediate Memory

What do we use our immediate memory for? The almost trivial use of this immediate memory is when you try to remember a phone number. Most people will notice that they have trouble repeating more than seven digits of a phone number they have just heard. This is the limitation of your immediate memory.

The major purpose of immediate memory seems to be that it is part of a scratch pad system that we use in our minds to keep track of what we are hearing and to try to understand it. This can be shown in several ways. In the extreme, there are people who have very poor immediate memories for words because of damage to the brain, where the damage is so limited that it only seems to affect this type of immediate memory. Such cases are uncommon. Usually, damage in this region of the brain is associated with damage affecting other speech functions.

People with this problem typically cannot repeat back more than one or two digits at a time. And they have problems with accurate comprehension of what they hear, because they cannot keep track of all the clauses and redirections we normally juggle in our minds.

Lifestyle Affects Memory Performance

Why does how we live from day to day affect our memory performance? Very simply, memory is part of who we are. It does not exist in a protected "black box" in our heads; rather, memory is an integral aspect of our physical and mental functioning. Therefore, if we are not taking care of ourselves - for example, not getting adequate rest, or feeling very anxious - we may see an impact on our memory ability. Many people are unaware that their lifestyle choices matter until they become concerned about how well they are remembering. But when they realize how those choices affect memory, they are motivated to change them.

How do these aspects of daily life affect our memory? In general, poor lifestyle choices compromise our memory potential by making it harder for us to focus our attention. Since attention is one of the most sensitive aspects of our intellectual functioning, it is quite vulnerable to influence from the ups and downs of everyday living. Attention is central to memory, and we must be able to attend to information in order to acquire it. Factors in our lifestyle, therefore, can make it harder for us to focus on information and acquire it effectively.

Remembering Speeches

Probably the worst mistake you can make is to try to memorize a speech word for word. First of all, it isn't really necessary. The assumption is that if you've been asked to deliver a speech on a particular subject, you know something about that subject. Secondly, memorizing the speech word for word will make it sound that way when you deliver it—memorized. And, finally, when you memorize a speech word for word, you're taking the chance of fumbling over one word you can't remember.

Reading a speech doesn't work either, because you want to hold the group's attention, and reading to them is likely to put them to sleep. Even if you occasionally look up at your audience as you read, it won't help much.

The best way to deliver a speech is to talk it in your own words, thought for thought. A speech is a sequence of thoughts; if the thoughts are out of sequence, the speech won't make much sense. First, write out or type your speech, including all the things you want to say about all the ideas you think are important. Read it over to get the gist of it. Now for that "other idea": Select a Key Word from each thought that will remind you of the entire thought.

This is easier to do than it might seem. There is rarely a thought, whether it is to be expressed in one sentence or two paragraphs, that cannot be brought to mind by one word or phrase. It is these Key Words (or Key Thoughts) that you Link - at which point you have the speech memorized thought for thought.

The Rhyme Technique

Many people like to help themselves remember information by making up a rhyme for it. While the Rhyme Technique requires a lot of creative energy and a certain talent, all students who like it really take to it. They find it fun to make up rhymes and, let's face it, if something is fun, you're more likely to repeat it. How does the Rhyme Technique work? Let's take the recipe list from above again, only this time let's try to learn it using this technique:

chickenchicken brothwild ricedried appleswalnutssaltpepper

Here's a rhyme to help you remember this list of ingredients:

“Oh, the chicken swam into the broth. The rice brewed wildly. The apples dried on walnut husks on the salt and pepper sea.”

If you are musically inclined, you may even find you like to give your rhymes a little tune. Some students who are musicians or composers enjoy the Rhyme Technique. While it may seem complicated, make sure to try it. Maybe you'll uncover an unknown talent!

Ward Off Aging Memory Problems With High-Impact Mental Aerobics

Several large studies have found a lower risk for developing Alzheimer's disease in intellectually active people compared with their mentally stagnant counterparts. And the mental activity can take many forms, such as reading, working jigsaw puzzles, woodworking, painting, knitting, and playing board games. Some studies have even found that people with mentally demanding jobs - professionals, managers, etc. - experience less memory decline as they age when compared with their counterparts who have less demanding jobs.

Dr.Joe Verghese and his associates at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York asked 469 older adults how often they participated in leisure activities like 'dancing, playing cards, or doing crossword puzzles. Over the years, the scientists kept track of who developed mild memory loss or full-blown dementia. They found that the people who were the most active mentally had a 63 percent lower risk of getting dementia compared with those who rarely played board games, read, or did similar activities. The people who played the most had the most productivity: doing crossword puzzles four days each week translated into a 47 percent lower risk of dementia compared with once-a-week puzzle solvers. For each day of the week that people exercised their minds, the researchers found nearly a 10 percent reduction in the risk for dementia.

Why Distraction Causes Memory Problems

As you may know by now, many of us forget things simply because we are unable to actively attend to information when we are getting it. This is true as well for things that we read or see. If we are not focused on something that we are reading or watching, we are not going to sufficiently acquire the information, and will not be able to have it later when we want it.

Distraction is an especially important concern in recalling information that is read or seen. When we are busy, we often try to do many things at once. Reading the newspaper, watching a TV show, or listening to the radio often happens in conjunction with other tasks, such as having a conversation, cooking a meal, or driving to work.

Rarely do we give ourselves the opportunity to focus solely on the material we are reading or seeing. It may be harder for us to divide our attention as we grow older, so that performing multiple tasks may make it harder for us to recall information we are introduced to during those activities.

The Damage That Alzheimer's Disease Has On The Brain

Alzheimer's disease seems to damage - and ultimately kill - many of the nerve cells in the brain. In the process of damaging or killing these nerve cells, it damages or weakens the connections between them as well. It does not damage nerve cells and connections in every region of the brain, at least not at first. For example, it does not usually first affect the basic sensory or motor pathways of the brain, nor the lower centers that control breathing, heartbeat, chewing, swallowing, eating, or walking and other basic movements. So these will not be affected in a person with Alzheimer's disease in its early stages.

But the damage to nerve cell connections and nerve cells in Alzheimer's disease usually does start first in the regions of the brain involved in memory, in the inner parts of the temporal lobes. As a consequence, in the typical patient with Alzheimer's disease, it begins with memory problems. These memory problems look in some ways like those of pure amnesia. The Alzheimer's patient often has trouble learning or remembering anything new.

Usually, the beginning of Alzheimer's disease is almost imperceptible. But then - over the course of a few years - the memory loss becomes more severe. The person forgets his keys, not just once a day, but all the time. He cannot remember why he walked into a room every time he walks into a room. He is introduced to people and cannot remember them a few minutes later. He loses his way while trying to drive to someplace a little new and unfamiliar. There may be a tendency for memories that still are preserved - old memories - to substitute for new ones. So the person with Alzheimer's disease may endlessly repeat conversations and events from the past, or drive to a familiar but incorrect address instead of the new one.

As the disease gets worse, old memories also suffer. The loss of nerve cells and connections begins erasing knowledge of even very well learned things, such as the names of grandchildren, or knowledge of familiar streets and routes. These erasures of old information, combined with the problems learning anything new, may cause sufferers to get lost driving in an otherwise familiar location. Damage in the language regions of the brain frequently results in problems with finding the right words.

In addition to these memory problems, damage occurs in other parts of the brain in early Alzheimer's disease, which creates other kinds of problems. The frontal regions of the brain orchestrate our behaviors and help us regulate and prioritize mental activities and keep some behaviors in check while letting others surface. Damage in those frontal regions shows itself as alterations in behavior. As a result, the patient with Alzheimer's disease may not be able to resist gambling or other vices. They may make inappropriate comments - ones we may normally think, but not normally say out loud.

The frontal lobes are also regions of the brain that seem important in providing motivation and direction. Damage to these areas can cause a patient with Alzheimer's disease to become Somewhat apathetic and lose initiative. They will sit all day, uninterested and unmoving. The mind's ability to find information and to link it together may also be damaged in Alzheimer's disease. The Alzheimer's patient may "not be able to put 2 and 2 together." You may explain to them why they shouldn't leave the gas burners on, and they may tell you they know not to leave the burners on - but they do it anyway.

Vitamin E: A Miracle Brain Food

Vitamin E is a very multi-talented nutrient that aids a healthy mind. As an antioxidant, vitamin E helps minimize free-radical damage. Since it is fat soluble, it is stored in the fatty parts of your cell membranes; thus, it is uniquely capable of preventing the fat molecules so abundant in brain tissue from turning rancid. Vitamin E protects both the fatty outer membrane and inner membrane of your nerve cells, thereby increasing your brain's ability to transmit messages from cell to cell, and create energy within the cells.

Vitamin E also reduces free-radical damage to your artery walls, helping to protect you against cardiovascular disease and its choking effect on blood flow to the brain. Numerous studies show that vitamin E supplements reduce the risk of stroke by 53 percent. It also reduces the inflammatory effects of pollution toxins, allergies, and infections, which can eventually reach the brain and wreak havoc there.

Autopsies have given us visible evidence that vitamin E deficiencies cause the delicate axons of nerves to degenerate. MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) studies show that low levels of vitamin E in the blood are associated with brain damage due to impaired blood vessels in the brain or free-radical assault. In these studies, subjects ranged in age from forty-five to seventy-five, and those with the lowest levels of vitamin E had seven times the damage of those with the highest levels. An amazing study of 341 patients with Alzheimer's showed that 1,000 IU of vitamin E slowed the progression of the disease in more than half the people who took it - the vitamin had even better results than the Alzheimer drug it was being compared to. In a Chicago study of 633 people sixty-five years or older, ninety-one people developed Alzheimer's. But none of the twenty-seven people who were taking vitamin E supplements (200-800 IU per day) developed it. Statistically, researchers would have expected four of them (15 percent) to have developed the disease by, the end of the four-year study.

It's no wonder so many brain researchers are taking vitamin E themselves. And it's no wonder that the American Institute on Aging believes vitamin E shows such promise as a brain saver that it has launched a study to investigate its effects. The study involves 720 Americans aged fifty-five to ninety who have what is called mild cognitive impairment (MCI); the study is designed to determine if vitamin E will delay further memory loss and prevent or delay Alzheimer's in these people. About 75 percent of those with MCI are expected to progress to Alzheimer's. Even if vitamin E supplements only cut this rate in half, it will be a significant step toward reining in the occurrence of this devastating disease. The best food sources for vitamin E are cold-pressed vegetable oils, whole grains, nuts, dark green leafy vegetables, and legumes.

Ginkgo Biloba: A Great Supplement For Your Brain Power

This ancient Chinese herb is an extract made from the leaf of the Ginkgo tree. It is the most well-documented plant extract used to support brain function - there are more than 1,000 studies of Ginkgo Biloba from all over the world. The consensus is that Ginkgo does help many people improve a variety of brain functions. It has been shown to minimize age-related memory problems (affecting learning, short-term memory, and recall), concentration problems, and absentmindedness. It may also help ease dizziness and vertigo, which often accompany forgetfulness, and tinnitus (ringing in the ears). A 1995 study found that high doses of Ginkgo helped Alzheimer's patients as well. Another very rigorous study published in 1997 in the Journal of the American Medical Association duplicated these results: Patients who took Ginkgo for one month enjoyed improved memory and attention span; this improvement was even more noticeable when patients took the herb for three months. However, many experts believe its more significant contribution may be as a preventer of cognitive decline than as a treatment. Ginkgo is very popular in Germany and France, where more than 10 million prescriptions are written every year; in the United States it is available without a prescription.

Ginkgo seems to accomplish its many miracles in several ways. In the first place, it increases the circulation of blood to the brain, which improves the supply of oxygen, nutrients, and glucose. This enables neurons to create the energy and other chemical reactions you need to think and remember. It also boosts circulation to the inner ear, thus explaining its power to help heal tinnitus and dizziness, a malfunction of the nerves in the ear. In the second place, Ginkgo protects against free-radical damage and reduces inflammation. This further improves circulation by keeping your cardiovascular system in shape, and also protects the nerve cells themselves.

It is recommended that you take an extract standardized to 24 percent flavoneglycosides and 6 percent terpenelactones, or capsules of the dried herb. For prevention take 40 mg of standardized extract, or 120 mg of capsules daily, in divided doses. You may take up to three times this dose if you have mild to moderate symptoms. Some people notice an improvement within two to three weeks of beginning treatment, but, in most cases, you need to take Ginkgo for at least three months before you enjoy the full benefits.

Gingko biloba is essentially devoid of any serious side effects. Some people have reported mild headaches for a day or two when starting the herb, and some people have reported mild stomach upset. Do not take Ginkgo if you are on a blood-thinning medication, including aspirin or ibuprofen, because Ginkgo can add to the blood-thinning effect. For the same reason, avoid taking Ginkgo for two weeks prior to any surgery, including oral surgery.

Ginseng's Power On The Brain

Ginseng is a root herb that has been used in China for thousands of years, and in America since the 1700s. Ginseng is a native to China, Korea, Russia, and America. Each variety has slightly different characteristics, but all act as an "adaptogen" - a substance that helps you cope with all kinds of physical and psychological stress. Chinese medicine says it balances "yang energy" and Western medicine says it improves the function of the adrenal glands.

As far as the brain is concerned, ginseng's power lies in its ability to control and lower the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which is deadly to the brain. Many studies confirm ginseng's beneficial effects on the brain: subjects taking this herb made fewer mistakes, had speedier reaction times, improved their scores on standard cognitive function tests (by more than 50 percent on average), and increased mental and physical stamina. Ginseng is popular as an anti-aging tonic used by many women during and after menopause to relieve symptoms of vaginal dryness, hot flashes, insomnia, and reduced libido. A recent study showed that women taking ginseng experienced an improved quality of life and less depression.

Panax ginseng is the most popular form used today, but Siberian ginseng is the type most often included in products geared to improve cognitive ability. Quality among all the varieties of ginseng varies widely. When buying panax ginseng extract, look for a product that is standardized for 7 percent ginsenosides; when buying Siberian ginseng extract, choose a product standardized for 1 percent eleutherosides E. Ginseng may also be purchased as a whole root from herbal pharmacies, broken into small pieces and chewed. This is the way it is used in China.

For prevention, take 100 mg of extract, or 500 to 1,000 mg of capsules per day. This dosage may be tripled if your symptoms are mild to moderate and/or you are under a lot of stress. Some herbalists advise that you follow a three-weeks-on two-weeks-off schedule.

Used in the recommended dosage, ginseng is generally safe. In rare instances it may cause over-stimulation or gastrointestinal upset. People with hypertension should not use ginseng. Long-term use has been reported to cause menstrual irregularities and breast tenderness.

Low Blood Sugar Reduces Brain Power

Low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, is an often overlooked but important metabolic culprit in poor brain function. It can cause a wide range of mental symptoms, including mental fogginess, lack of concentration, short-term memory loss, mental fatigue, depression, mood swings, physical and mental exhaustion, and the inability to learn or comprehend new information.

Hypoglycemia is epidemic because of the sugary diets we eat today. Your brain needs glucose to form the energy that fuels its processes. It gets glucose from the food you eat - mainly carbohydrates, which the digestion process breaks down into sugar. Researchers have found that too little sugar in the form of glucose hampers memory and learning. But before you reach for that candy bar, you should know that too much sugar does the same thing.

Hypoglycemia is one of the most undiagnosed conditions in America. Many people who suffer from it are totally unaware that they have this problem, and even their doctors confuse their symptoms with those of other conditions. Eating too much sugar and other simple carbohydrates is not a good idea for your overall health, but it is especially bad for memory. Sugar overload can cause hypoglycemia or "insulin resistance," in which your cells do not recognize insulin and thus sugar cannot enter them. According to the Merck Manual of Medical Information, prolonged hypoglycemia can permanently damage your brain cells.

Because the brain runs on energy derived mostly from carbohydrates, it is important to have the right kind of fuel available to promote optimum brain functioning. A healthy program will help you replace simple carbohydrates with healthy complex carbohydrates, such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, which can bring about remarkable improvement in your thinking and overall health.

One of my friends, Mandy, was a patient that went to her doctor with a host of health problems, but what bothered her most was that she had been fainting frequently, and, although she had been mentally sharp all her life, was now "losing it." She had been to many specialists and none of them could explain these symptoms. She found out she was addicted to sugar and often would have a piece of cake or a candy bar for breakfast. Her blood sugar would then roller coaster all day. When she switched her breakfast to oatmeal with a small amount of tofu or other protein food, not only did her cognition improve, but, much to the surprise of her physician, her fainting problem completely vanished.

Preparing For A Memory Specialist

Diagnosing a memory problem is often a detective problem. You can help yourself and help your physician help you, if you give him more of the clues. So I suggest that you, and if possible someone who is close to you and who knows you reasonably well (a spouse, good friend, or grown child) help provide the necessary information to your doctor.

What type of doctor should you go see? Sometimes people want to go directly to a memory specialist. But generally you should go to your primary care doctor first. Although your family practitioner or internist may not be an expert in memory itself, you will still need a basic medical check up, and assurances that there are no problems with the rest of your body that could cause memory loss, before you see a memory specialist.

How does the doctor check your memory for problems? How your memory is checked will depend upon what you complain about, and what problems your physician perceives. Memory checking should at least include an interview about what the problem is and if possible, from both your point of view and that of others close to you.

Testing of memory and related functions can take from five minutes to two hours or more. Not only should memory be checked, but also other mental functions as well. These may include vocabulary, arithmetic ability, your ability to draw a set of figures, and the like. These tests will give your doctor a sense of your skills, and can help determine if you have problems in areas other than memory. This is important for diagnosing conditions such as Alzheimer's, since Alzheimer's disease usually affects more than just memory.

Generally speaking, the longer the testing, the more reliable and accurate it is likely to be. In most clinics, you will find that a single visit that includes two to three hours of testing is usually both necessary and sufficient for giving an accurate clinical diagnosis, to the extent that is possible from a single visit.

Memory testing might be done through the offices of a neurologist, psychiatrist, or clinical psychologist with special expertise in neuropsychology. Medical interpretation of the results of memory testing, however, requires a physician. This could be your own primary care provider, specialist in geriatric medicine, a neurologist or psychiatrist. What matters most is whether the physician has experience with memory disorders in general and with the particular kinds of memory disorders that you might have. This may well be the physician who specializes in Alzheimer's (since serious memory loss can be Alzheimer's disease). Sometimes, it takes the concerted efforts of several physicians and other medical care providers, working together, to adequately understand an individual's case and give him or her the best possible advice.

No matter who you see, be prepared for the fact that it may not be possible to have a definitive answer on your first visit. Although the visit will undoubtedly give you more information about your condition, it may be necessary to wait a year or more to see if anything objectively changes with your memory (either up or down). Keeping track of changes is usually very helpful for diagnosing the specific problem you are having.

Without question this is important stuff - especially for baby boomers who are trying to ward off the effects of aging. Increasing the power of your mind by using your brain has long since been known to decrease the signs of aging.

You'll find some of the best products at Mind Tools for Success to help with Memory are worth checking out. There are excellent mini seminars to help you boost your memory.

These are great aids for children (great family games) and students of all ages.

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, hypnotherapy can be one of your greatest aids as well. After all, it's just another way of putting your brain to work.