Supplementing with Omega-3 Vitamins

Are you missing out on a simple way to help improve your memory? I'm talking about supplementing your diet with Omega-3 vitamins.

You brain cells are largely composed of Omega-3 fatty acids, a form of so-called "good fat". So for your memory to work at its best, it is critical that you consume enough Omega-3's in your diet.

Problem is, many people may not be.

Omega-3's are found in foods such as cold-water fish (salmon, albacore tuna) and flaxseed oil. If you are not eating these foods regularly, you brain function - including your memory - may be suffering.

Besides starting to include these foods in your diet, also take an Omega-3 vitamin once or twice a day. The brand does not really matter. Just check the label and look for a significant amount of Omega-3.

Typically the Omega-3 vitamins are sold as Fish Oil capsules or Flaxseed Oil capsules. You can find these at any drug store or grocery store, and they are not expensive.

Other vitamins are important for memory, too, but many experts say that Omega-3 vitamins are #1 on their list. Don't overlook this easy step to improving the health of your brain! 

Activate your Theta Waves

One of the steps in the IMPACT memory technique developed in England is mental preparation. Our brains are not always in the best state of readiness for remembering new material, but it turns out you can easily change this simply by changing your breathing.

When it's time to study or remember something new, switch your breathing pattern to be slower and deeper. Deeper and slower breathing actually changes the way your brain works, by inducing the brain's electrical pulses to switch to Theta waves.

Theta waves normally occur in your brain in hypnogogic sleep. This is the stage of sleep when outside noises like an alarm clock can influence dreaming. It turns out being in this stage also can aid memory.

A good example is the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, when information you've been trying to think of all day suddenly comes back to you after napping or waking up from sleep.

To activate your Theta waves, switch your breathing to your lower abdomen - in other words, start breathing deeply from your stomach. Consciously slow your rate of breathing too. After a few moments, you should feel calmer, the Theta waves should be flowing in your brain, and you should be more receptive to remembering new information.

This reminds me a lot of meditation breathing, which makes perfect sense since recent studies have shown that regular mindfulness meditation improves memory. 

Eat a handful of Blueberries a Day

Researchers at Tufts University were the first to show that eating blueberries can reduce memory loss and improve short-term memory.

Blueberries are high in anti-oxidants, which fight the damage caused by oxygen free radicals. Free radicals damage your DNA, cell membranes, and other body structures, including those in the brain.

Other studies, such as those done by James Joseph of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, show that blueberries can activate brain pathways that help with memory.

Joseph says, "Blueberries have compounds that boost neuron signals and help turn back on systems in the brain that can lead to using other proteins to help with memory or other cognitive skills."

So keep your brain clean and running in tip-top shape with a daily dose of blueberries!

My favorite blueberries combinations:

Blueberries mixed with cottage cheese, blueberries on cereal, and blueberries straight from the container.

Improve your Focus

Before you can remember anything, you first have to be able to concentrate on the information. The more powerfully you focus, the better you will remember new material. But can concentration be improved?

The answer is "yes", and actually I was going to give you some more of my own tips, but just now I ran across a fantastic set of strategies from expert Sam Horn that she calls F.O.C.U.S. (get it?).

The following five F.O.C.U.S. tips can help you concentrate better -- whether you're working in a busy office, studying at school, sitting in a meeting, or trying to finish a project.

F = "Five More" Rule. Read FIVE MORE pages. Finish FIVE MORE math problems. Work FIVE MORE minutes.

Just as athletes build physical stamina by pushing past the point of exhaustion, you can build mental stamina by pushing past the point of frustration.

O = One Think at a Time. Instead of telling the mind NOT to worry about another, lesser priority (which will cause your mind to think about the very thing it's not supposed to think about!), assign it a single task with start-stop time parameters.

Example: "I will think about how to pay off that credit card debt when I get home tonight and have a chance to add up my bills. For now, for the next thirty minutes from 1-1:30 pm, I will give my complete focus to practicing this presentation so I am eloquent and articulate."

Still can't get other concerns out of your head? Write them down on your to-do list so you're free to forget them.

C = Conquer Procrastination. Next time you're about to postpone a responsibility, ask yourself, "Do I have to do this? Do I want it done so it's not on my mind? Will it be any easier later?"

Those three questions can give you the incentive to mentally apply yourself because they bring you face to face with the fact this task isn't going away, and delaying will only add to your guilt and make this onerous task occupy more of your mind and time.

U = Use Your Hands as Blinkers. Cup your hands around your eyes so you have "tunnel vision" and are looking solely at your text book. Placing your hands on the side of your face blocks out surroundings so they are literally "out of sight, out of mind."

Not only that, but if you cup your hands around your eyes every time you want to switch from wide-angle to telephoto focus, that physical ritual becomes a Pavlovian trigger. Using your hands as blinkers every time you want to narrow your focus teaches your brain to switch to "one track" mind and concentrate on your command.

S = See As If for the First or Last Time. Next time your mind is a million miles away, simply look around you and really SEE your surroundings. Study that exquisite flower in the vase. Get up close to the picture on the wall and marvel at the artist's craftmanship.

Lean in and really look at a loved one you tend to take for granted. This will "Velveteen Rabbit" your world and make it come alive in your mind's eye.

TIP: To help remember these strategies, remember the keywords for each of the FOCUS steps:

Five - One - Conquer - Use - See

Are you nuts about memory?

Mark Twain is reported to have said that "everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it." Similarly, everyone talks or brags about their bad memory, but few people ever do anything about it. Let's face it, there isn't much you can do about the weather, but there's a great deal that you can do about your bad memory.

The explosion of brain research during the last decade has confirmed what the memory theorists, gamesters, mnemonic technicians and magicians have always known: that the capacity of our brains and the ability to recall what is stored there are far and deliciously beyond normal expectations.

Today and in the future, it is mind power that will dominate. Wealth and jobs are no longer in the land of physical commodities. Knowledge is wealth. When you combine the astonishing rate of knowledge obsolence with the fact that knowledge is now the most valuable commercial commodity on Earth, you begin to understand that a good memory is essential for you to succeed in life.

If you are reading this blog expecting a theoretical harangue of technical terms, you are doomed to disappointment. I have tried to write and explain the systems outlined in this blog as if I were sitting in your living room and explaining it to you there.

Psychologists and educators have said that we use only a small percentage of our brain power—I think the systems outlined in this blog will enable you to use just a little more than average.

So, if like your operations, you have been bragging about your poor memory; I think that after you've visited this blog, you'll still brag about your memory, but to the other extreme. Now, you'll be able to boast of possessing a wonderfully retentive and accurate memory!