Tag Archives: memory

9 Ways To Give Your Brain a HIIT Workout

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We spend hours at the gym or running and hiking to train our body and endurance.  But what about our brain? If you feel like your attention span is shortening you can stretch and strengthen it with simple everyday changes. 

Get more sleep

Not sleeping properly can not only affect our energy levels and looks but also our brain functions. Getting enough Zzz’s can help support learning, memory as well as regulate our mood or even appetite and libido. When looking at the brain of someone who is sleep-deprived, scientists have found reduced metabolism and blood flow in multiple brain regions.*

Be social

Making friends and socialising has a great impact on our emotional wellbeing as well as brain functions. How? When speaking to people and building relationships, you have to pay attention to what they say and then use your memory to recall information to be able to hold a conversation.

Pick up a foreign language

Did you know that learning foreign language can actually make your brain bigger? ** It can also boost your creativity and ability to focus. But most importantly, learning another language gives you ‘a cognitive reserve’ that helps to protect against the changes that can occur during ageing. Dr Marilyn Glenville, the UK’s leading Nutritionist and author of Natural Solutions for Dementia and Alzheimer’s explains, “Speaking a second language throughout your life could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s. Studies show that people who speak two languages may develop dementia more than four years later than those who speak only one language! Language learning leads to more neural connections. More neural stability and more resilience to neural damage.”

Using music 

“Research suggests that playing a musical instrument music when you are older can give you a 36% lowered risk of developing dementia and cognitive damage,” Marilyn says. Can’t play an instrument? Don’t worry, singing can you remember words easily too. “Think how easily you can remember the words of songs that you sang years ago – and yet how much harder it often is to remember a poem or piece of prose that isn’t set to music. Word sequences are far more memorable when they are sung rather than spoken,” Dr Glenville adds.

Start knitting

Apparently knitting is set to be the new baking. It isn’t just something elderly women do and it has recently become popular with celebrities. Apart from helping you to relax it can also boost your mental health as it stimulates almost all of your brain. When knitting, you need to stay focused, plan what you’re doing in advance and also use visual information and synchronise it with your movements.

Teach your body a new skill 

There is a range of techniques to keep your brain alert that doesn’t have to paper-based cognitive tasks. Dr Glenville says “Walking in a new park or taking up line dancing fire up new neural pathways that keep your brain in touch. Needing to remember the steps n a dance is also a wonderful workout for your brain – learning the flow and rhythm of the music stimulates cognitive activity, while learning and performing the steps is great for both your memory and your physical fitness. Active learning is the perfect complement for doing jigsaws, Sudoku and crosswords.” 

Set yourself little challenges 

Dr Glenville suggests the following simple games to give your brain a workout: “Counting backwards from 100 in 2s, 3s or 4s is a good one, and you can make it harder by doing something else at the same time, such as tapping your foot. Or try the ‘tip-of-the-tongue’ game – think of a theme, such as ‘food’, and name as many items relevant to the theme as you can in one minute.” Most people can do 30. Can you double it?

Write things down

Studies have shown that the act of writing something down forces your brain to recall it in a way that typing on your computer or phone does not. ***

Laugh 

Who doesn’t love laughing? It not only lifts your mood but it’s also a great calorie burner. However, researchers have also discovered that laughing can also minimise the damage that stress hormone, cortisol can cause (it damages certain neurons in our brain and affects learning ability as well as memory). On top of that, laughter produces wave frequencies similar to true stare of meditation.****

 

*www.brainfacts.org/about-neuroscience/ask-an-expert/articles/2015/what-happens-to-your-brain-when-you-are-sleep-deprived/

**https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/sep/04/what-happens-to-the-brain-language-learning,
***http://mentalfloss.com/article/52136/11-simple-ways-improve-your-memory

****http://www.laughteronlineuniversity.com/laughter-good-for-brain-meditation/

 

Clearspring Organic Japanese Sencha Blend Matcha Green Tea

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matchagreenteaGreen tea has always been hailed as the healthiest hot drink out there, but new research has found it can also be good for your mind.

 

Scientists claim green tea enhances several cognitive functions, in particular our working memory. The new research, from the University of Basel, found that green tea increases the brain’s effective connectivity. Scientists at the university saw significant improvements in working memory tasks after people had consumed green tea.

 

So we reviewed some Clearspring Organic Matcha Green Tea. It is a delicious blend and is created especially for Clearsrping by expert tea producers in Japan. It combines the exceptionally light, smooth and refreshing flavour of Japanese Sencha with distinctly rich and exquisite ceremonial grade Matcha Powder. Skilfully blended and packed on their tea producers’ estate immediately after production to ensure the freshest quality. Available from March in Waitrose and here, RRP £3.99

 

It tastes great and left us feeling very healthy. We’ll keep you updated on any improvements to memory, if we remember.

 

“When I Was a Lad…” Britain’s Favourite Childhood Memories

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“When I Was a Lad…” Britain’s Favourite Childhood Memories

 

Growing up, you tend to go through spells where you have your favourite cartoons that you never miss, the weekly kick around with friends after school, your favourite computer game and the CDs you would spend hours listening to. As you get older however, these trends change, new activities take their place and you outgrow certain things – that’s life and it’s part of growing up.

 

In just about every room in the house, you probably had things that you loved at the time, but cringe about now. Possessions can be just like fashion and hairstyles: they’re great at the time, but horrendous when they go “out of style.” Betta Living, the home retailer, have performed a survey recently that involved asking people from around the UK about their favourite childhood memories from around their homes, and you can find out more by visiting their page.

 

childrenOver the years, different items have been classed as “must haves” while others have been popular for years, only going out of style because another manufacturer has come along with a new “must have”. There are items on the list that just about everyone has owned at some stage in their life. For instance, one of the most popular childhood items was the lava lamp, which had people captivated for hours on end, while magnetic fridge letters were both fun and educational, allowing you to spell out words on the fridge while waiting for dinner to cook after a long day at school!

 

Different regions also have different favourite possessions, as you might expect. Quite often what’s ‘cool’ in London might not be cool in Manchester, for example, while Scottish women might have different tastes to Scottish men. It’s all down to interpretation and personal choice, and that’s what made our childhoods so different. If we all had the same things, played the same games, listened to the same music and shared the same pastimes, we wouldn’t be the people we are today.

 

A lot of our development will have been affected by the kind of possessions we had around the home or at school growing up. Whatever the circumstances, we probably all sat down at the same time in the evening, ate similar meals and watched the same television shows – so we’re not completely different after all!