Do you think clearly? This may seem like a strange question but put another way, are your thoughts easily distracted by other things? If you answered yes to this question, then you are not alone. The majority of people are unable to fully focus on an idea or concept without getting distracted somewhere along the way.
If you struggle to hold a particular idea in your head for too long, then chances are that when you complete a given task, you also lose focus part way through it. Getting distracted is very easily done and even harder to change. When you are in the right frame of mind, work comes easily to you and you get on with the topic at hand.
When you are stressed or worried or have other matters pre-occupying your time, then being able to concentrate becomes near impossible. The result? You will nearly always under perform or achieve less than you could have because your thoughts have distracted you from it.
Enter brain training. Being able to train your brain to focus on one thing at a time is a skill that can be acquired with consistent practice and patience. Anyone can do it and the results are nothing short of phenomenal.
Once you have mastered clear thinking and focus, you can apply it to any area of your life and really supersede everything else. Nothing will help you gain a better insight into your own potential than brain training can, and when you realize the benefits, you will never want to stop!
Clear thinking can change your life because of the simple principle of having mind over matter. Every area of your life from your personal aspirations to your relationships will benefit as well as increasing your ability to learn and recall the information you have learned.
When you think about all the daily tasks you do that involve thinking clearly without distractions such as studying and work, you will understand how profound brain training can be. It can enhance every aspect of your life and make success possible for everything. Why? Because you will have nothing to distract you from your goals.
Brain training allows you to hone your skills to a fine art and this makes you faster and more efficient at what you do because you are not procrastinating or thinking about other things. You will simply get on with it to the best of your ability and really apply yourself.
Brain training has other benefits too. For example, it can lower your brain age and stave off age related memory loss. It can also make your mind sharper than ever and keep it that way for years to come. Whatever the benefits, brain training can seriously alter your life for the better.
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5 Signs of Alzheimer’s
As posted at Denverchannel.com
LOS ANGELES — Most of us know at least one person who is living with Alzheimer’s. In all, more than 5 million Americans have it, and doctors diagnose a new case every 70 seconds.
Could you or someone you know be next? There are five warning signs of Alzheimer’s you need to know.
Shannon Seitz watched her mother fall victim to Alzheimer’s. Now, she’s worried about losing her mind.
“Every time I forget someone’s name, or if I change rooms and I forget where I was going, I’m terrified for an instant that I have Alzheimer’s,” Seitz said.
Here are five red flags. First, do you ask the same question over and over again?
“If it’s worrying you … If other people are commenting on it…. That might be a time to check with your doctor,” Gary Small, Ph.D., a geriatric psychiatrist from the UCLA Center on Aging in Los Angeles, said.
Do you put things in unusual places? That’s another sign.
“If you’re forgetting everyday things that you really should remember,” Small said.
Another sign is struggling to remember the words you want to say. Warning sign number four: genetics. The National Institutes of Health reports you have a 40 to 60 percent increased risk of Alzheimer’s if your parents have it.
Number five: if you suffer from obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol, you have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s. All of these affect blood supply and reduce oxygenation to the brain.
“Don’t overeat. If you’re carrying around too much weight, you’re at increased risk of high blood pressure and diabetes, which are weight-related illnesses that can affect your memory,” Small said.
Small says stress and fatigue are the main causes of temporary memory pauses in adults under 60. It’s been proven in mice and humans that the more stress you’re under, the less memory cells you have.
5 Signs of Alzheimer’s — Research Summary
WHAT IS ALZHEIMER’S? According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder named after Alois Alzheimer. Alois Alzheimer first described the illness in 1906. There are approximately 5.3 million Americans who live with this disease on a daily basis. Alzheimer’s causes brain damage along with the breakdown of brain cells and memory loss. It is the most common form of dementia. Dementia is a very serious illness that affects ones ability to think and perform daily life functions. Alzheimer’s is the leading cause of dementia. It accounts for approximately 50 to 80 percent of all Dementia cases. Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s disease gets progressively worse over time and the end result is fatal. The Alzheimer’s Association says it has become the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. Although there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, there is treatment for the illness. According to the National Institute on Aging, there is no one single cure or preventative for Alzheimer’s, however, the FDA has approved four different medications that can be taken to help maintain cognitive abilities and better control behavioral activities. These medications are: Donepezil, Rivastigmine, Galantamine and Memantine. These drugs work by regulating neurotransmitters, the chemicals that transmit messages between neurons. “They may help maintain thinking, memory, and speaking skills and may help with certain behavioral problems,” as noted on the National Institute on Aging’s website.
WARNING SIGNS OF ALZHEIMER’S: In the daily blog of Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D., Dr. Weil notes the five main warning signs of Alzheimer’s. The first and most important warning sign is memory loss, such as forgetting important dates and recently learned information. The second most common warning sign is challenges when trying to solve a problem. The third warning sign is when familiar tasks start becoming unfamiliar. In this case, routine tasks such as remembering how to get to get to a certain location or remembering phone numbers becomes difficult. The fourth warning sign is being confused about time and location. The fifth and final most important warning sign for the onset of Alzheimer’s is trouble understanding pictures and other visual images. It is at this point that colors seem non-existent and the ability to differentiate between distance and physical objects becomes intricate.
Adult Brain Games – Why You Need To Play it
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It’s official. Humans are getting smarter as time goes on. Or are they? Compared to previous generations like the Ancient Egyptians who built the pyramids without the advent of computers and calculators, it would be safe to assume that we are not any smarter than our ancient counterparts.
Using the same example of the pyramids, with all the modern technology that we have, scientists have come to the conclusion that rebuilding the pyramids today would be almost impossible. Are we missing a trick here?
Take other great civilizations: the Greeks, the Arabs, and the Aztecs. All round us are monuments from the ancient world that remind us of how smart we once were. There is a current debate that humans are actually ‘dumbing down’, despite the Internet and the plethora of resources we have at our fingertips.
One reason for this could be that we rely on modern mechanisms far too much and rely less on our brains. After all, the Egyptians had pi correct to seven decimal places, and all without a calculator.
The Arabs invented algebra and could do complex calculations using nothing more than heaps of stones and basic writing implements. The Moguls of India were responsible for the most amazing of palaces and the world famous Taj Mahal. And each of these wonderful things came from nothing more than the use of the human mind.
With all this in mind, how do we humans fair in the future? How will our brains evolve as time goes on? Or simply put, what is the future expectation of the human brain’s capabilities? Well, this all depends on what we humans do to try and expand our brains. Using calculators and computers to do everything for us is NOT going to help.
What WILL help though is relying on good old-fashioned brain power to complete many tasks and skills. One such example is the current revival of mental arithmetic, most notably using the Indian Vedic system. This time-honored practice uses base 10 and simple tips and tricks that even a child could learn and could enhance your brain power.
It is a known fact that the brain is like any other muscle in the body – used correctly and often, it will stay strong and grow. Left to sit, it will simply waste away. However, unlike our body muscles which can only grow so much, our mental muscles have the ability to grow exponentially.
The more we learn, the stronger our brains and our memories become. Learning a new skill or a new language is just one of the many ways that you can develop your mental muscle. The other side to this is correct nutrition to support healthy brain function, as well as targeted exercises that enable users to become smarter over time.
Relying on calculators or machines of any kind to replace the way that the mind would work can only teach our brains to do less and learn less. Consequentially, future generations could well suffer in terms of brain development, as children stifle their natural ability to learn by relying far too much on the PC than their own brain.
A good solution to this problem is to expose people to as much natural learning as possible and to try and complete brain training exercises daily to boost your brain power. Carry this on and the future brain can be sharper, more focused and better overall than the current brain.
Music Therapy for the Mind & Body
Music has the power to evoke so many emotions within us. When you are sad and you listen to something upbeat and happy, it can make you cheerful. When you are happy and listen to something sad, it can make you feel down and depressed. Although the connection between music and our emotions is well established, did you know that music can be used as therapy to help the mind and the body?
Using music as therapy is not new. Many studies have been done looking at the effects of music on your heart rate and on your breathing. It is well known that rhythm has the ability to alter your brainwaves and that certain beats can either lower or raise your pulse so that your heart rate mimics that of the music beat.
Music is also well documented in helping to lower blood pressure and ease the pressure off the heart. Doctors and consultants are now prescribing music sessions as therapy to help patients recover quickly from illness and depression.
In fact, the mind and body benefits from listening to music are so powerful that patients with heart problems and anxiety who listened to classical music for 30 minutes daily were found to have the same effect as taking 10 mg of the anxiety drug valium.
It has also been found that music therapy can be of real benefit to migraine sufferers, reducing the severity and intensity of migraine attacks and keeping attacks under control.
But health is not the only thing that benefits from music therapy. It has also been found to help enhance learning. Students listening to classical music before sitting exams were found to have higher scores than those students who did not. It is thought that listening to classical music puts your brain in an alpha state which is optimal for learning and accessing learnt information.
Alpha waves are a type of brainwave which puts the body into a relaxed state so that learning and creativity is enhanced. This state is known as the ‘super learning’ state. In this state, you often have that ‘eureka’ moment when something comes to you as a flash of inspiration.
It is said that music can tame the wildest beast and this is certainly true of our inner emotions. Music has been used for therapies to heal and to help soothe and calm fractious nerves. Women in labor can benefit from slower breathing and a reduced heart rate making it easier for them to relax through the pain.
Music has also been shown to benefit patients with mental health problems such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. With regards to brain health, depression can also be healed by listening to the correct type of music daily.
The mind is a powerful influence over our daily lives and music therapy is one such factor that enhances the mood, and heals, soothes and boosts mental performance. You can buy specialist music CDs which act as drug-free therapy and can help to treat a variety of symptoms.
Remember, music therapy works because our minds respond really well to the rhythms and beats of certain types of music. There are very few people who do not respond to some sort of music therapy.
The early years of a child’s life are crucial to the development of his or her intelligence. The more a child is exposed to stimulating activities in the early years, the easier children find learning, and the more they want to learn.
It is a fact that 80% of learning is done in the first five years of a child’s life. A child must learn to talk, walk, feed themselves, read, write, count and of course all the other skills necessary for their survival. Guided early learning can seriously impact a child’s ability to learn in the later years of their life.
As a parent, you will no doubt want your child to do well at all times and want your child to excel in all areas of life. A dedicated brain training program will ensure that your child has all the tools necessary to succeed in life as well as develop a lifelong love of learning.
Research has proven that teaching children from as young as birth has a positive and significant impact on the long term IQ of a child. Children exposed to early learning from birth have remarkably higher IQ’s and overall intelligence than those children not exposed to early learning from birth.
One such brain training method is known as ‘hot housing’. An early form of brain training developed by psychologists, hot housing is popular because it works. It involves using a series of flash cards containing simple images and showing these to a baby for a second at a time. Done daily for a few minutes, it helps children with recognition and accelerates learning in later years.
The same hot housing techniques can be used to teach babies to read. Children who completed a progressive reading course from the age of birth were able to read fluently by the age of two, and were able to read longer and more difficult words than children who were twice their age. Examples of reading courses for children include the ‘Your Baby Can Read’ and monkisee.com.
In fact, this reading method has proven so successful, that even brain injured children with mental retardation and other social and cognitive challenges were able to read fluently through this technique when all other attempts at teaching them how to read failed.
Other ways that parents can help children expand their brain capabilities include giving children correct nutritional foods which are aimed at supporting healthy brain function. Eating at least three portions of oily fish a week such as tuna is excellent at helping maintain brain health, as is eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Food aside, encouraging children to explore the world around them is a great way to enhance learning. Take children on outings and encourage them to think about sights, sounds, tastes and textures. There are so many resources available both on and offline that can give you the tools necessary to further your child’s development.
It is important to remember however, that regardless of how well you want children to do in life, you should always lead by example. Play with your children and make learning fun. This is the best way to advance your children’s natural abilities. And of course, when learning is fun, you are helping to promote learning for a lifetime.
The Early Signs of Alzheimer’s & How it Can be Reversed
Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating degenerative condition that affects the brain and your cognitive abilities – especially your memory. A form of dementia, Alzheimer’s can strike at any time over the age of 55.
The brain contains billions of cells and these help us to function on a daily basis, learn new things and remember information. Alzheimer’s occurs when there is a notable deterioration of the cells and structure of the brain. Visible shrinkage can be seen and this has a dramatic impact on the patient.
Unlike other forms of dementia, Alzheimer’s can lead to a loss of cognitive ability which interferes with almost every aspect of a person’s life and personality, and can cause many different health implications such as incontinence. Sufferers of this condition find it hard to relate to others and their behavior can be seen as odd and eccentric even. Eventually, the body systems fail leading to death.
There are many risk factors associated with Alzheimer’s and it is worth remembering that the onset of the disease is accelerated by an unhealthy lifestyle as well as genetics. A family history of Alzheimer’s puts you at risk of developing the disease yourself.
There are several differences that uniquely identify Alzheimer’s from other forms of dementia and this includes:
- • Loss of memory
• Problems doing familiar tasks
• Language difficulties
• Changes in mood, behavior and personality
• Unable to think logically
• Misplacing things
• Routinely forgetting simple things
• Decreased judgment
• Poor spatial awareness
• Poor concept of time
• Problems with abstract thinking
These are the early warning signs of Alzheimer’s which slowly progress over time so that almost every aspect of a person’s life is taken over or affected.
In the later stages of Alzheimer’s, relationships and personality is affected, as is the loss of the ability to look after oneself. Hallucinations become common as patients often become delirious.
Patients with the latter stages of Alzheimer’s cannot physically look after themselves and completely rely on others to care for them. Infections and pneumonia is common and death can quickly follow as the body shuts down.
It does not have to be this way though. With the right lifestyle changes, Alzheimer’s can be prevented and slowed down. An improvement in memory and cognitive function can be achieved and in some cases, the symptoms of Alzheimer’s can be reversed or erased completely.
Diet plays a huge role in maintaining brain health and apart from eating healthily and taking regular exercise, it is important to consume at least three portions of oily fish a week, as well as take supplements and drink beverages such as matcha tea and rooibos which are both full of antioxidants.
Antioxidants are what is required to counteract the cell damaging properties of Alzheimer’s. Apart from diet and regular exercise, studies have shown that brain training programs can seriously help prevent long term problems with memory and brain function as well as increase concentration and learning abilities.
Brain training has been found to reverse brain aging and keep your brain razor sharp. Having Alzheimer’s no longer means that you become steadily worse.
With the right dietary approach and a long term commitment to brain training, you can slow down the natural degeneration process and speed up the body’s ability to improve its overall brain function.
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