Memory exercises to memorise a person’s name.

The simplest and perhaps most valuable memory exercises rely on the fact that the more senses you use when you want to remember something and the stronger your focus on using these senses the stronger will be the memory!

The real secret to supporting your memory to do its job really well is to get all your senses involved. The more you use a mix of your eyes, ears and sense of touch when getting to know someone and the more you relate these perceptions to their name the better the memory of their name.

The first simple memory exercise to adopt to better remember people’s names I call ‘Controlled Attention’. To use this you must begin, when meeting someone for the first time, by appreciating exactly what it is you are going to take notice of. That is to say you must become far more aware of your perceptions of the person you are meeting.

Lets take an example to clarify this. If you typically forget people’s names soon after meeting them then it’s most probably because you easily get detracted or you do not place much importance on the name or on remembering it. Using controlled attention you simply say to yourself, I am going to remember this person’s name and then you pay more attention when being presented to someone by name. So how exactly do you do this?

Here is a very simple but highly effective memory exercise for you. When you meet someone and you hear their name for the first time. Stop, tell yourself I want to remember their name. Then get yourself focused, look at them and do a ‘fast take’. Notice what they’re wearing, what’s distinctive about them. Look at the colour of their hair and skin. Take an interest in them. by asking questions and then actively listen. Ask them about where they were born, what are their interests, do they have children etc. etc. Every situation will be different with its own scope to ask relevant questions.

Now don’t get worried! Remember people love to talk about their favourite subject, its themselves, so its not going to be difficult. Ask how their name is spelt, then take notice of it. Make interesting, vivid, even exaggerated, associations with it. Tie the name in with what the person is wearing and any distinctive personal attributes you’ve identified such as are they fat, thin, nice perfumed, freckly or what?.

Gaining success with memory exercises comes down to five factors: the intensity of your attention on the person; your level of creativity in developing mental associations using all your senses; taking a real interest in the person when you meet and actively engaging with them by helping them to come alive in your mind’s eye. If you start to use these memory tips then your name recall will blossom. Guaranteed!

If you want to learn more exercises to enhance your memory, click here: memory exercises . Here is a marvellous programme addressing many areas of memory; it will simply transform your life. No more making simple errors because of a failing memory, no more forgetting the simple basics; herein lies the key to a forget-free life.

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Smoking Is Bad For Your Memory.

A recent British study, presented in the American Journal of Public Healths, suggests smoking is bad for your brain. The latest study is part of a broader tracking of the health of thousands of people born in Britain in 1946. A sample of the study participants underwent tests of memory, concentration and visual speed at age 43 and again at age 53.

The study which is tracking the health of just under 2,000 British adults has concluded that heavy smokers have poorer memories in middle age than non smokers. Testing so far suggests that heavy smokers who survive smoking’s bigger threats, lung cancer & heart disease, may be at risk of serious cognitive decline,

This research comes on top of other research that has labeled smoking a risk factor for dementia. One cause of dementia is restricted blood flow in the brain, and smoking is linked to narrowed arteries and silent mini-strokes that choke that blood supply.

Heavy smoking, judged as smoking 20 cigarettes a day,  was associated with faster declines in verbal memory and visual speed, concluded researchers from University College London.

To help yourself to develop crystal clear thinking take a look here.

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The importance of lifestyle in fighting off Alzheimer’s

This post has a very powerful message that extends well beyond our normal focus on memory exercises. The message is this. Those who lead mentally & physically stimulating lives, through learning, occupation, social & leisure activities and physical exercise have the least risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

It seems that the sum of our lifetime experiences encompassing our occupation, social life, ongoing education and our leisure & physical activity have a major bearing on how we age and on the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s symptoms.

In summary it is now clear to researchers that firstly, engaging in stimulating activities, help us build up a level of mental protection or cognitive reserve; secondly that the earlier we start building this reserve the better; and thirdly, the more activities we engage in, the better will be the total cumulative effect and consequent cognitive beneficial result.

Many commentators over the past two years have reinforced the message that individuals who lead mentally & physically stimulating lives, through their occupation, education and leisure activities, have a 35 to 40% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s and that whilst the Alzheimer pathology may still occur they are able to cope with it far better; indeed some may not even know about their problem and certainly won’t be diagnosed simply because they don’t present any symptoms.

Looking further into this scenario, it seems that two further ideas are important and that these are complementary. The first idea suggests that some individuals have more neurons & synapses in their brains and that these provide a reserve which in of itself provides some protection against Alzheimer attack. The second idea suggests the interrelated importance of firstly developing a mix of social, leisure and physical activity capabilities, secondly of improving performance of these through practice, and thirdly of developing skills therein that are not easy to unlearn.

So what do researchers say are good “brain exercises? As best can be judged, because findings are not clear, is that at the highest level, stimulation based on ‘engaging in activities’ is very important to offsetting the advance or impact of Alzheimer’s. Furthermore, that engaging in nearly all activities, whether they be educational, social, recreational or physical activity based, contributes towards building a reserve of neurons & synapses and so providing protection.

Animal studies suggest that when exposed to a ‘rich’ environment as well as to enhanced levels of physical activity this gives rise to the creation of new neurons. This is exciting as it seems that regardless of one’s education, age or occupation, ‘participation’ has a significant and cumulative effect. The consequence, as one researcher stated it, the more things you do and the earlier you start, the better. And that whilst its better to start early the maxim, better late than never, applies very strongly.

What is also interesting from this area of research is that those leisure activities, which are seen to be the best are those that combine social, intellectual and physical elements are in fact very simple & to be enjoyed in everyday life . They include such things as going out for a walk or for a drive, visiting friends,swimming, reading a book, going to the cinema or simply taking a trip to the local restaurant.

Three important points are however clear: firstly ‘variety of activity’ is very important; secondly, some researchers suggest that with participation in each additional activity there can be be up to an 8% reduction in the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s symptoms; and thirdly, those who participate in the highest levels of leisure activity research suggests present a 38% less risk of developing Alzheimer’s, allowing for all other factors.

For those wanting to explore further ways to keep their mind sharp click here

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Humans have an innate ability to learn almost anything

We humans have an innate ability to learn almost anything imaginable be it learning to play the recorder to riding a bike to reciting the bible blindfold.

Have you noticed that if you hold a baby upright with her feet touching the floor, she will instinctively start making walking movements? But it will be almost a year before she has the muscle control to walk all by herself. During this time she gradually learns to control her movements, first creeping, then crawling, then grabbing & holding on and pulling and finally standing upright.

How is she learning to do this? Well it is during this process that she progressively establishes the necessary nerve links between the brain and the muscles.

Just as we all learn to walk upright we too have the mental skills to train our memory to perform astonishing feats.

Memory trainers use an array of memory exercises that have been used for centuries to amass large amounts of information long before printing & then computers were used to store information required to be passed on from one generation to another.

A most popular long standing memory method is to use a technique known as ‘pegging’ where you use what we call an anchor to hold a piece of information. The body can be used as a reference for pegging, or you can use  places on your way to work or my favorite places around the home. For example using the human body we can use the toes, the knee, muscle, shoulder, collar to the face to associate memories with. This is very easy to use and provides the basis for far more advance methods of memory association.

Just like learning to ride a bicycle, anyone can use such techniques to master lists, long chains of numbers, lists or mathematical formulas or indeed what ever you wish to remember.
There is much to be gained from a trained memory. Besides making tests and exams easier they can assist with learning a foreign language or even for “cheating” in a card game.

But for many a massive advantage is the fact that a trained memory has been known to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and other age related memory problems.

You might want to explore the different ways you brain can be trained today both to improve memory and for a healthier mental health; take a look here.

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Ten simple tips to work your mind that little bit harder

If you want to exercise your brain to support your thinking and memory then start with some real basics; these are memory tips that really make a difference. These simple tips work just as well as some of the most sophisticated activities geared to help your strengthen your thinking and your memory; and which certainly aren’t so convenient to do. And don’t be put off by their simplicity, this is where their strength lies, especially in the ease by which they can be done day to day.

 

  1. Get out and about more. Become much more social; go out as much as you can, start chatting to as many people as you can, mix with more people and very importantly, start talking about more than the everyday stuff;
  2. Get out, get active and get fit. Gee we push hard with this one because its so, so important; even if its only a daily 20 minute walk this will help your mind to keep fit better than you can ever imagine. Lets be absolutely clear, regular exercise helps fight: depression, it reduces stress, and it improves self-confidence amongst much else;
  3. Read, read and then read still more. Try reading in areas where you don’t read at the present, move
  4. Avoid daily routines! You know what are your routines whether its what you do first thing in the morning, the route you take to go to the shops or to go to work; whatever are your routines, put them on a list and then start doing them differently, day by day. And something else as an added benefit for the brain, as you’re going through the day changing your routines aim to do as much as you can on a multi tasking basis! That’s to say do more than one thing at a time. Now I know this often doesn’t make sense but in the many simple things we do throughout the day try it. This can really stretch the mind
  5. Play games. Play all sorts of games, the more games that you play the better; and the harder you have to think, the better! Cards, chess, board games, Soduko they’re all great but so are almost all types of games; don’t be snooty, have fun; laugh this really helps too. And another thing. Stop using a calculator when scoring, do everything in your head, this will build your mental prowess by leaps and bounds;
  6. Use all your senses as much as you can. You’ve heard it before so many times from me in my posts; start using all your senses. Heck there are so many ways to do this. Eat with your eyes closed; take deep breaths as your walk in the woods and try to identify all the smells you come across; when meeting new people or friends look at their clothes, their make up and their hair, whatever, smell their perfume or scent, listen to how they speak make detailed mental notes using all your senses; and as a benefit you’ll be amazed later just how much you remember of what you took note of; try it is fun!
  7. Aim to build your vocabulary day by day. Do crosswords, play word games, look in the dictionary every day and make a determined effort to learn a new word everyday
  8. Get more focused on details. When you’re out and about notice the details all around you, when you’re in groups look at everyone’s attire and think about it in minute detail; this will really get the mind thinking in detail and in new ways and this is what we want
  9. Get out of your ‘comfort zone’ . One simple way to do this is to use the other hand when doing those things that you do so naturally- Drinking from a cup; brushing your teeth; holding your handbag; opening the door
  10. Test yourself more and start new initiatives. Make sure you make this fun.Go shopping without your usual shopping list. Make things a little harder for yourself. too often we make things too easy on ourselves; make that mind of yours work. Join new groups, do things differently; gain a new purpose in your life. here we’re talking about doing new things that take place over a period of time.

To find more information and great resources to improve your memory click here

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Stop struggling with your memory, there are new ways to turn things around

Are you struggling in life with a poor memory? Are you embarrassed by the problems it brings? Are you suffering from information overload?

  • You  study hard but your grades are a disappointment.
  • You feel stressed because of information overload at work. And who isn’t?
  • You have not been promoted in years because you can’t learn quick enough.
  • You can’t remember the name of a new colleague you were introduced to 10 minutes ago.
  • You  constantly misplace your house keys or car keys.
  •  As a manager you run out of ideas in problem solving
  • You enter a room and forget what you were looking for
  • You hid your valuables in a place no one can find, including yourself!
  • You think your memory is getting worse as you grow older… and you may be right!

If any of these problems plague you, I know how you feel because I’ve been there myself. But you are on the brink of a breakthrough in memory exercises; click here.

There is irrefutable evidence that having a strong, dependable memory is directly correlated to the quality of your life. It determines the money that you make, the kind of job that you have, the house that you live in or where you take your vacations.

Most of the great people of our time and times past had one thing in common They ALL have amazing memory abilities!

Can this phenomenon be duplicated? Is there really a secret regarding how to improve memory. Can an ordinary person acquire the memory mastery skills to quickly and easily and gain an advantage in life? Not until now ….

Today, you will make a choice between mediocrity or phenomenal happiness and success in life, filled with endless possibilities!
 
With the Mighty Memory System, you can & will experience dramatic improvement in memory and learning, memory exercise is the key. It doesn’t matter if you’re aged 7 or 70. You can develop lightning fast memory recall, because that’s how your brain was meant to work …. that’s to say, freakishly fast! “.

Don’t waste anymore time, take a look here at  memory exercises.

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Get set to learn and relearn if you are to succeed in the new information age

We are now firmly set in what commentators are calling the Information Age.

This new age brings with it economic changes that dramatically increase the gap between the have and the have-nots.

The haves are those that learn and relearn new skills and knowledge sets and with these they are able perform well in the new economy and the have nots are those that don’t !

As the old saying goes, “There are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen, and then there are people who say, “What happened?” In the modern age its now abundantly clear, that the only winners are those in the first group and the real loosers are those who are in the latter.

Getting your mind into ‘learning gear’, which means preparing for a future where you face constant change, is the only real key to success. If you fail to constantly learn new things, and having learnt these things to remodel, yourself, you’re history!

How can this be you ask? Well its now very clear that only by remaining valuable and by staying relevant will you remain a beneficial member of society! Hard but true!

So the message is simple, stay on top of things. And to do this you must accept that you have to keep learning and relearning and to support you to do this memory exercises and memory strategies are important.

Learning in the information age is a life-long process, it does not, and must not, stop when you leave school. If you allow learning to slip, indeed if you do not increase your ability to learn, particularly as you grow older you will start to slip. But worse, something else happens which makes your situation even more serious, your mental faculties and active memory also begin to fail.

So the message is clear just as it is simple. Keep your body active and fit; keep up to date; keep learning and relearning; take on board and use memory tips that work for you, keep your mind sharp and eat healthily.

But on a positive note there is some good news for those that feel they are slipping. The good news is that new methods of learning are available that can help you cope with the never-ending surge of information. Take a look here

You can invest in new learning ‘brain’ tools to help you remember information and facts much better. Such tools not only improve your memory and concentration but give you an edge in an increasingly competitive world.

Change is inevitable in the new age, if you are not prepared for change then best get prepared to be swamped by it and for finding yourself in an ever greater stressful and depressing situation. Never rest on your laurels, be prepared to embrace the future; develop your mental faculties. If you do you’ll find that the future will be quite exciting. To find out more have a look here

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Want a better memory? Then watch less television, eat fish, do quizs & get more exercise!

Recent Australian memory exercises research, drawing on a survey of almost 30,000 people, conducted as part of Australia’s science week, now suggests that those that watch the least TV, those that regularly pick up a crossword and those that eat fish at least once a week have the best memories!

The results go further, they suggest that those people who read fiction have better memory than those who do not and that heavy drinkers find it more difficult to recall names.

It’s now abundantly clear that your health, seen in the broadest context, your diet and leading an active lifestyle are crucial to enjoying a good memory.

The Australian quiz, which you can do for yourself attracted 29,500 people who were tested on tasks such as remembering a shopping list, recalling names, faces and occupations, long-term recall and spotting differences between two photographs. Linked to the test, for those who took part, they were asked to fill in a survey on a range of habits, such as alcohol consumption, television viewing and reading habits.

Interestingly the results found:

  1. no differences between men and women;
  2. that television viewing had the main impact on survey results;
  3. that those who watched less than one hour a day performed better at all memory tasks;
  4. that people who did crosswords were better at remembering shopping lists and recalling names;
  5. that eating fish once a week improved the ability to remember shopping lists;
  6. that having an active mind was very important for retaining an active memory,

Now, on the matter of watching TV, I’m sure many of you are up in arms at the thought of your favourite passtime being condemned so heavily.

Now hang on in there. Neuropsychologist Nancy Pachana commenting on the survey said that some television was important for memory and that some television programmes could be good for helping to improve the memory. She went on to say however that “Television can be a really passive activity, while reading is active, and any active activity is better,” and that “television quiz shows and news programmes could be good for the mind”.

Importantly she also commented that health issues such as depression, obesity, lack of sleep, becoming stressed and being worried can have a negative impact on a person’s memory.

For further support in developing a great memory click, then have a look here

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The power of memory exercises, exercise that benefits the memory and good diet

The power of memory exercises and exercises that benefit the memory and good diet in whatever forms they take are the keys to retaining a strong memory.

Stop exercising your memory and start to see it deteriorate!!

Never forget the following 3 absolutely essential memory tips which all apply whatever age you are, 8-80:

  1. Physical activity and mental strength are very closely linked. There is clear evidence that the more active you are the more effective you will be at processing information. Get out and about; stop longing around. Take regular exercise.
  2. The memory retains its vigour the more time that you take out to exercise it directly. Excellent ideas include learning something new such as a new language, or start to play an instrument, or take up a mentally demanding hobby such as playing bridge or chess, or start to do crosswords or other games. The harder you make the memory work the better will be your capacity to remember things.
  3. And finally, never forget, if you neglect your diet: if you binge out on chocolates, chips, high ‘bad cholesterol’ foods and other garbage without a regular intake of fresh vegetables and fruits your memory will suffer greatly.

Don’t start any other more sophisticated activities to help build your memory until you’ve got a grip on these real basics>

But when you’re ready to take your memory up a gear, when you really want to commit to stop it slipping into obscurity take a look here, this is one package of ideas that will transform your memory

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Don’t let memory fade faze you, take action

Hi Folks

Non of us has an infalible memory!

We all forget things from time to time; and it is not true that only the elderly have a problem with failing memories we all do from time to time.

Our hectic lives mean  that we have to learn more and more, faster and faster day by day………. and what with all the stress thrown in this can often dificult!

Geting your memory into shape, typically through the use of memory exercises, is vitally important if you want to perform optimally; memory exercises are vital tools in helping us to achieve this. If you think that its now a good time to start to improve the quality of your memory then click here and get going towards a forget free life.

And don’t underestimate what a tremendous difference this will make to the quality of your life.

Take a good look at this

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