Memory Tips, September 2014 Back Issue

This is the September 2014 back issue of my Memory Tips email newsletter. To learn more about this free newsletter or to start receiving it in your email, please visit the Subscription Page. A list of back issues is available on the Back Issues page. I send out the newsletter once a month, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Welcome to the SEPTEMBER 2014 issue of my free Memory Tips email newsletter. Below are powerful strategies for improving your memory. Ready to boost your brain power?

Below are powerful strategies for improving your memory. Plus I've included links to free online brain games that can strengthen your thinking skills.

In this issue:

You Have an Amazing Memory
An Apple a Day... Protects Your Brain!
20-Minute Power Naps Boost Memory
FREE Brain Games: Short-Term Memory

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My goal is to help you learn faster and remember more. That's why I created Memory-Improvement-Tips.com and this email newsletter.

The secret to a more powerful brain is two-fold: 1) improve your brain health, and 2) learn memory techniques. This can lead to more success and fulfillment in life!

You Have an Amazing Memory

You might find this hard to believe, but research proves the average person has an incredible memory - at least for visual items. You can use this to your advantage to memorize all kinds of information.

Consider the study by Dr. Tim Brady at MIT which asked subjects to watch 3,000 objects flash by for 5 and a half hours.

When they were tested on their memory of the pictures, they remembered 90% of what they had seen!

Here's how amazing your brain really is:

"To give just one example, this means that after having seen thousands of objects, subjects didn't just remember which cabinet they had seen, but also that the cabinet door was slightly open," Brady said.

The researchers concluded that most of us have an excellent memory for visual images. So how can you tap into this to remember everyday information?

As I never tire of advising, become familiar with the visualization-based Memory Systems. Learn the Keyword, Link, Peg, Face-Name, and other methods. Then leverage your brain's amazing ability to recall images by using these memory techniques at school, work, and in everyday life.

As the researchers point out, other factors that strongly influence success at remembering are attention and motivation.

Attention is how intently you concentrate on the material. Motivation helps keep your energy and desire to be attentive at a high level.

To motivate the participants, the researchers offered a small cash prize to whoever could remember the most pictures. Motivated by the desire to win the prize money, the participants were very attentive to the images.

According to Dr. Brady, "We can remember most things we put our minds to, if we invest enough attention and effort into trying to store them in the first place."

So what are the take-away lessons here for improving your own memory?

Use visualization when possible.
Focus and concentrate intently on the material you want to remember.
Set up a rewards system - not necessarily money, but recognizing the value of remembering the information at hand.

References:
Live Science: Humans Have Astonishing Memories
Brady, et al (2008). "Visual long-term memory has a massive storage capacity for object details." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 105 (38), 14325-14329.

An Apple a Day... Protects Your Brain!

According to the old saying, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away". That apple might also keep memory loss away.

As we age, the cells in our nervous system accumulate damage from naturally occurring substances called "free radicals". This oxidative damage causes our cells work less efficiently. In brain cells this can lead to loss of memory including Alzheimer's disease.

The challenge is to protect your body against oxidative damage, and heal existing cell damage if possible. Eating brain foods that contain "anti-oxidants" is an affordable, powerful, and effective way to do this.

One study at the University of Massachusetts reveals that apples can help provide this anti-oxidant protection. According to Dr. Thomas Shea,

"This new study suggests that eating and drinking apples and apple juice, in conjunction with a balanced diet, can protect the brain from the effects of oxidative stress."

Aim to eat several apples a week. Not only are they full of vitamins and fiber, apples can help your memory stay strong as you age.

References:
Eurekalert.org: Age-related memory improvement linked with consumption of apple products

20-Minute Power Naps Boost Memory

For many people, their job makes napping during the week impossible. If that's true in your case, you can skip this memory tip.

But if you are lucky enough to have a few minutes of free time each afternoon, consider taking a nap to supplement the restful sleep you may be missing at night.

If a daily nap was good enough for Churchill, the world's most famous and productive napper, this habit is good enough for the rest of us.

"Don't think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That’s a foolish notion held by people who have no imagination." - Winston Churchill

Naps are not just for kids. They can boost mental performance.

According to SmartSet.com, "The body is on a basically 24-hour body clock that winds down once in the afternoon and once in at night.... A daytime nap can boost learning and memory by helping us tune-out interfering information."

Research by Dr. Andrei Medvedev at Georgetown University Medical Center reveals that during napping the brain's hemispheres communicate differently than when awake.

"The brain could be doing some helpful housecleaning, classifying data, consolidating memories," Medvedev says. "That could explain the power of napping."

All you need is about 20 minutes of quiet rest to feel refreshed and more alert the remainder of the day. So if you can, fit a nap into your schedule. You may just enjoy a more focused and productive day, as Churchill knew.

References:
Prevention.com: The Weird Benefit of Power Naps

FREE Brain Games: Short-Term Memory

There are 242 free online brain games on my website, Memory-Improvement-Tips.com. You can play them online anytime. No restrictions, no logging in. Just pick a game, go to the game page, and start playing.

Below are links to three of the online games that train short-term memory, a very important brain skill. Play them now to give your brain a quick boost.

Short-term memory is used to hold a few items of information in mind for a brief time. You use this type of memory, for example, to remember a phone number long enough to dial it.

Most people can juggle an average of 7 items in short-term memory. Information in short-term memory not transferred to long-term memory is rapidly forgotten. The stronger your short-term memory, the better you'll perform on complex tasks and projects.

Simon Memory. Watch the computer click the colored buttons, then repeat the same sequence using your memory. The pattern changes each round, and it gets longer each time you correctly input the sequence.

Shopping List Memory. This shopping list memory game is ideal for practicing the memory techniques used to recall lists. First memorize the grocery list. Then quickly find the items in the store without looking at the list.

Copy Cat Jack. A variation of the Simon memory game, with farm animals. During each round, repeat the pattern of sounds played by Jack. He adds another sound to the pattern every round, so this game becomes more difficult rapidly.

That's all for now, and thanks for reading. For lots more tricks and strategies to improve your brain, visit the Get a Better Memory page on my website.

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