4 Ways In Which Memory 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 memory 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.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Sleeping Your Way To Being Stress-Free

Coping with stress typically means that there are multiple causes that are rooted to the issue. However, one of the best things that you can do to help beat stress is to sleep your way to a healthy mind. Below are five tips for a better night’s sleep. Use them to help get the rest you need to help keep stress out of your life.

1. Make it a point to go to bed at the same time each night, preferably about half an hour before you plan to fall asleep.

2. Never use your bed as a desk. If you have paperwork to be done, sit up at a proper desk area. Forcing yourself to stay alert while lying on your bed further reinforces bad sleeping habits

3. Have a warm drink at bedtime. However, avoid caffeine or alcohol.

4. Leave your work problems at work and leave your home problems at the bedroom door.

5. Strive for “success” in responding to stress. As you approach excellence in your body and stress management, you will be able to sleep more easily.

Popularity: 29% [?]

Warning: Read This Before Eating Red Peppers!

- Red pepper should not be given to children under age 2. For older children, start with a small amount and use more if necessary. People over 65 often suffer a loss of taste bud and skin-nerve sensitivity.

- Chopping red peppers may burn the fingertips. In addition, red pepper does not wash off the hands easily. Even with careful washing, the pungent herb may remain on the fingertips for hours and cause severe eye pain if contaminated fingers touch the eyes.

- One French study shows that red pepper boosts resistance to infection. Some bacteria-fighting spices can be sprinkled on cuts to help prevent infection, but DO NOT do this with red pepper. It burns terribly!

- Some research suggests the herb’s stems and leaves stimulate uterine contractions in animals. Pregnant women and those wishing to conceive should stick to the powdered fruits.

- If red pepper causes minor discomforts, such as stomach upset, diarrhea, or burning during bowel movements, use less or stop using it. Let your doctor know if you experience unpleasant effects or if the symptoms for which the herb is being used do not improve significantly in two weeks.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Obesity & Stress

Are you overweight and feel that your health may be contributing to high levels of stress in your life? Obesity and stress go hand in hand with on another. However, obesity is never the real problem. It is generally the result of your problem. The real cause of obesity is usually hidden beneath the surface. It will generally turn out to be one or all of the following:

1. Stress
2. Boredom
3. Pressure
4. Poor Self Image
5. Tense Lifestyle

As much as 40 percent of the population in North American is obese. By obesity we mean that a person is more than ten percent above their ideal weight. Your “ideal” weight is one hundred pounds for the first five feet in height, and then five pounds per inch after that for women. For men, you should start at 115 pounds.

Thus a five-foot-six-inch woman should weigh approximately 130 pounds; a six foot man should weigh 175 pounds. Of course there may be wide fluctuations for build and frame, but you will know you are at your right weight if you feel your fittest and look your best in your bathing suit. Obesity is simply an imbalance in arithmetic. In order to be obese, you must take in more calories that you burn off. These excess calories are stored as fat. There is just no other way around that truth, it is fact.

One of the most common findings associated with obesity is denial. You may have heard of overweight people who say “I can gain weight just by looking at food.” This is generally denial. For example, I once had a good friend who was obese and always complained about how his coworkers could all eat large lunches and still stay thin, while he only had a small salad and water, yet gained weight. This fellow honestly believed that his problem was simply bad luck and a slow metabolism. But after a long and emotional conversation with my friend, he finally admitted that when he is out of the public eye (at home) he dives into donuts by the dozen, eats an entire pizza at one sitting, and all other food items are eaten double or even triple the amount a normal serving would be for you and I.

Obese people often deny that they are big eaters, and insist on remembering details of only the very modest of lunches, such as the occasional grapefruit and the few slices of meat that they consumed during their days. If you are on this train ride of stress due to being obese, and the stress of denial that ensues, then consider looking further into changing your lifestyle habits to that of a healthier, fitter, and less stressed person.

Popularity: 11% [?]

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.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Find Out If You Have Narcissistic Personal Disorder

Take a brief look at one type of people who tend to be unforgiving: The Narcissist.

Individuals who routinely refuse to forgive often have what is called a narcissistic personality disorder. Narcissists believe that they’re entitled to special rights and privileges, whether earned or not. They are demanding, selfish, and expect special favors without assuming reciprocal responsibilities and express surprise and anger when others do not do what they want.”

If you’re a narcissist, you may frequently feel wounded and enraged when others refuse to comply with your agenda. Your exaggerated sense of entitlement leads you to assume that people are mere instruments for your self-enhancement, placed on earth solely to serve you. Since others don’t exist to you as separate individuals with needs, desires, and feelings of their own, you’re likely to exploit them and not see how this exploitation may set up the conflict you blame them for creating.

If you recognize some of these qualities in yourself, you may be someone who is dependent on the admiration of others to keep your self-esteem afloat, and hypersensitive to anyone who threatens your sense of specialness. Any experience of degradation or personal failure may cut you so deeply that you feel not just slighted but annihilated. Rather than admit how much you need others to fill the emptiness inside you, you may devalue them and assume an air of superiority. Forgiveness is not an option for you - you have too great a sense of self importance and too little humility. Without these qualities, you’re unlikely ever to forgive.

It’s hard to forgive someone if, lacking humility, you believe that he’s totally at fault and that you’re perfect and can do no wrong. If you could accept a degree of complicity, you might respond more charitably, but that would shatter your grandiose view of yourself and ask more of you than you have to give.

When most of us feel wronged - when our sense of fairness is violated - we usually vacillate among three responses: acceptance, forgiveness, and retribution. When a narcissist feels wronged, however, he believes that his only choice is retribution. He can see no alternative but to strike back and settle the score with anyone who dares to defy his power, weaken his control, or threaten his belief in his own perfection.

The narcissist is unlikely to be affected by these words, because he’s unlikely to read them. Incapable of tolerating the discomfort of self-scrutiny or criticism, he seeks admiration, not self-knowledge. He attaches to those who flatter him and discards those who do not. People who get into therapy are often those who are desperately clinging to a narcissist, trying to be good enough, trying to apologize and make peace with someone who is chronically unrepentant and unforgiving.

Popularity: 12% [?]

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.

Popularity: 13% [?]

The Truth About Medicare: Will It Cover You When You Need It?

Most people believe that Medicare will pay for all their long-term-care expenses. It does not. Fewer than 2 percent of the long-term-care costs in our nation is covered by Medicare. The coverage is restrictive and pays for such care only if you meet very strict criteria:

1. You must be in an acute-care hospital for three days before entering the “skilled” nursing facility. An acute-care hospital is an institution licensed by the state and legally qualified to provide skilled care.

2. The “skilled” nursing facility must be Medicare-certified. Skilled care is medical care that can only be performed by or under the supervision of licensed nursing personnel.

3. Your care must be defined by Medicare as “skilled” care, not custodial care. Custodial care is what most people receive by attendants in nursing facilities. It is not defined as medical care, as is skilled care.

When Medicare does pay for your skilled nursing care, it pays the full amount for the first twenty days only. For the next eighty days you must pay $81.50 a day before Medicare will pay the rest. After the one hundred days are up, you must pay the entire amount . With in-home health care, the same limitations apply. Medicare covers only a small portion of home health care and only if it meets the criteria of skilled nursing care.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Pushing Past That Tired Fatigued Feeling

Even peak performers in life experience those hours in the day when they feel totally fatigued and not much good for anything. Have you ever said to yourself, “I’m just too tired. I’ll do it later”? That’s an indication you’ve stepped into total fatigue time. Fatigue seems a natural excuse for inaction; when repeated over time, it leads to a pattern of personal ineffectiveness. Get tired, and you are often stopped in your tracks. But there are powerful strategies you can use to overcome fatigue and reduce the number of totally fatigued hours you experience each day.

Fatigue does not have to impede your progress toward your objectives and goals. Getting tired is not a signal to quit. Instead, fatigue can be used as a signal that it is time to switch gears from a creative project best done during peak performance periods to a project needing less brain power. There is normally no end to the number of activities on your list from which you can choose, but you will find that when you hit your fatigue time, you can operate more effectively on lower priority projects.

Many people, when tired, mistakenly attempt to continue to work on projects requiring too much concentration and creativity, and only end up becoming stalled by frustration. Others simply quit. The effect of the fatigue-inaction response then becomes cumulative, resulting in the feeling of getting further and further behind. If you get into the habit of quitting a task just because you’re feeling tired, your mind begins to play tricks on you. Whenever you face a challenging project that requires intense or creative thought, your mind may then trigger fatigue to create an excuse for not even getting started.

Alertness and fatigue occur in about ninety-minute cycles, just as hunger does. You are likely to feel more tired during twenty of every ninety minutes than during the other seventy minutes. But the bad news is also the good news: When you do feel tired, you will feel that way only during a twenty-minute period during each cycle. If you continue to stay awake and remain active in the face of fatigue, the fatigue will pass, and then once again, for no apparent reason, you will experience alertness. By becoming more aware of your body’s responses, you will discover your fatigue cycle and be able to use it to your benefit.

How do you push through the fatigue cycles you will encounter? Just do it. Pushing past fatigue means consciously choosing to stay active through the roughest twenty minutes of the cycle, forcing yourself to concentrate without self-criticism or frustration, aware that the fatigue factor will soon pass without the necessity of sleep or stopping your activity.

During most periods of the day you can expect to experience twenty-minute fatigue cycles, but there is one period when you can expect fatigue to last longer. Even if you are in good to excellent health, you will still typically experience about two hours of ragged-out chronic fatigue each day, a time when you feel totally ineffective and want to stare at walls instead of rush down halls. For many people these fatigue hours occur after lunch or after work. Stress, eating habits, and lack of exercise all contribute to longer, deeper fatigue periods. All are manageable through setting habit-changing goals.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Transcendental Meditation: The Great Movement Of Relaxation

The founder of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a man called Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He was the son of a forest ranger and is said to have graduated from Allahabad University before coming under the religious influence of Guru Dev (which means “Divine Leader”). For thirteen years the two men were together, and before his death Guru Dev charged the Maharishi with the mission of making meditation simple enough to be practiced by anybody. For two years while living alone in the Himalayas, the Maharishi worked on this task, and then, in the mid-1950’s, he launched the Transcendental Meditation movement.

The TM movement first gained public attention when the Beatles went to the Maharishi’s residence in India, where they took up TM as an alternative to using drugs. A stream of show-business people followed, and soon the Maharishi was big news. In the United States alone roughly three quarters of a million people have been taught TM, and the Maharishi has addressed state legislatures, appeared on TV talk shows, traveled with rock groups, and established Maharishi International University, which trains students to spread the message of TM. His message has spread to cities and especially college towns all over the world, and the movement is still growing.

Perhaps it’s the Maharishi’s quiet manner that made him attractive. Maybe it is the American (or perhaps human) tendency to always be looking for something new and different. Undoubtedly, however, Transcendental Meditation really caught on when it was discovered that this technique could quickly and effectively alleviate many of the stress symptoms that so plague our hectic-paced society.

For several years a Harvard cardiologist named Herbert Benson and physiologist Robert Keith Wallace have studied the physiological effects of meditation. The results have been dramatic. Blood pressure drops, the heartbeat slows, there is an increase in alpha waves in the brain, breathing slows, and the subjects report and internal sense of relaxation. While there are some technical problems with this research, it is nevertheless impressive.

In another study, non-meditators were compared with meditators in their reaction to a stressful movie. The meditators handled the stress much better. Their heartbeat returned to normal more quickly, and the physiological measures showed that they adjusted to the post-stress situation more easily.

Popularity: 17% [?]

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