Let’s not delve into the technicalities of the terms of the mentally ill clients, instead, let’s look at the brighter side of the moon as we say. Suppose, there is already a member in your family that was diagnosed with mental illness, and he’s still manageable to be treated at home. How would you deal with him or her? How would you tell her that her hallucinations are not real? How would you keep your temper on her incessant demands? How would you deal with the stigma of having a mentally ill member of the family.

First, you have to understand that most mental illness are results of inappropriate coping mechanisms to anxiety. These anxieties may range from mild to severe depending on its source. But when it’s too much to bear, and there is limited support system, the brain regresses to a much safer functioning. It’s similar to your pet dog who accidentally bump into a boiling pot of water and got burned by it. The natural reaction would be to protect itself and hide or stay away from that place where it bumped the pot of boiling water. The difference is, we are human beings and we have friends, relatives, loved ones that pose as support systems on times of crisis.

It is expected that as a family member, you may feel helpless while witnessing the suffering of your loved one as a result of his condition. You need to realize that while many people judge the progress of recovery by the “level of improvement of health condition” alone, the ability for self-care is also an important benchmark for recovery. Progress in one’s ability to care for oneself is often the result of the love, support and hard work of relative. The support of family membes is indispensable to the recovery of people with mental illness. Without your guidance, they may not take their medicine or go for medical consultations. Without your support, they might not have survived the torturing side effects of the medicines and the discrimination they face.

According to Family Link Philippines, (a private clinic that caters to mentally ill clients), taking care of emotionally malfunctioning people is not easy. Sometimes what you achieve is not proportional to the efforts you have put in. Caught up in guilt and hopelessness, family members can easily end up in a vicious cycle of self-reproach. In fact, taking care of them does not mean sacrificing yourself. Try to be more relaxed and appreciate what you have done for your ill loved one – your efforts will not go to waste.

Family Link Philippines suggests ways as to how to deal effectively with the ill family member. First and foremost, you need to understand your emotions. You may feel the guilt, anger, worry and helplessness. These feelings stems from various angles but all these comes from yourself.

Primarily, you lack knowledge concerning the mental illness. Many family members do not realize that mental illness is a brain disease and as a result they often feel that they caused the illness somehow – they blame themselves for having mistreated the ill person in one way or another. In fact, you are not to blame. Whatever happened in the past does not change the facts of the illness. It is not helpful for your loved one if you become consumed with feelings of regret and guilt. The only way you can help is improving your knowledge of the disease and treatment.

Second, you lack channels to vent your feelings. People with mental illness and their families dare not admit that they are or someone in their family are ill due to society’s stigmatization. However, when people in the same situation gather together, they can share their experiences and support one another. You can meet many people who understand and sympathize with your situation by joining organizations made up of these families.

Lastly, lack of awareness of patient’s rights. Due to differences in social status and education levels some patients and their families follow medical workers’ instructions without daring to voice their doubts, concerns or questions. As a result these people and their families are in a passive position, know little about the medications and the progress of the treatment, and often feel helpless and hopeless. The situation can certainly be changed, especially since the introduction of newer psychiatric medications. Users of public medical service have the right to obtain the best medical services.

When you have equipped yourself with these things, you are much more to an advantage on how to effectively communicate and take care of the ill family member. Have you noticed that it is being aware of what we feel, what we know and how to deal with our own discriminations make us better individuals to help the mentally ill individual?

That crucial ingredient is none other than social interaction. Studies on rats have found that rats housed with various to play with – such as a running wheel – had more neurons but this benefit disappears as soon as it is housed in isolation. Not only that, applying stress on these rats did not increase their neuron count but instead decreases it.

No one knows exactly why that is and the results are directly applicable to human beings but I think it would be wise to be careful than be sorry. After all, human beings evolved as social beings. The very reason that we survived as a species is because humans learned to stick and work together.

This kind of group work required more brain power than working in isolation and is thus part of what’s responsible for who we are today. Ironically, the technology humans invented to bring people closer achieved the opposite result. A fundamental element humans evolved with has now suddenly disappears… how could the brain not sensed it?

So here’s the best thing you can do today for your brain health: go out make a few friends. Join the local community and have some social interaction.

Who knows, your brain may spring back to life just from doing this alone?

I believe brain improvement, and therefore memory improvement, is arguably more crucial today than ever before in history. Why? Because there’s more demand on your brain that there ever was in history! Think about it. The richest people today are the ones who use their brains. It’s no longer the ones with the biggest muscles!

In the modern society, knowledge is power. That’s why there’s a record number of books released every year. That’s why there’s thousands of courses, seminars, workshops conducted worldwide. There’s definitely no lack of information, there’s only a lack in our memory power. Imagine what would happen if you can memorize (and thus learn) more than what the average people could?

After all, time is the only resource you can’t get more of. To be able to learn faster and more efficiently than any other is the best leverage you can get!

In this article, I want to show you how you can easily do that… even if you are in an age where you think that’s not possible. Excited yet?

Memory Improvement Habit #1: Memory Exercises

Use it or lose it.

There’s more than a dozen memory techniques that you can use to remember anything from a list of random numbers to faces and names… but they would all be useless if you don’t keep your mind fit in the first place.

It’s like installing the latest operating system in a 10 years old computer. It just wouldn’t run!

I’m sorry to tell you that there’s no magic pill that you can eat…. or a secret technique that you can adopt to immediately improve your memory (if there is, everyone would be doing it). Just like any lasting changes you want to occur, a change in your lifestyle is required if you want to improve your memory. It’s just like losing weight – you need exercise and a healthy diet on a daily basis for the rest of your life if you want to keep healthy.

Unfortunately, most of us simply rely too much on technology to do our memorizing. This lack of use causes the lost of our very basic skill – memory. Here are a few changes I suggest you implement:

1. Don’t use a grocery list unless there’s more than 20 items.
2. When someone quote their phone number, don’t immediately whip out your cell phone! Remember them and record it later in the day.
3. Don’t mark important dates such as anniversary and birthdays in your calendar.
4. Don’t use a “to-do” list.

Naturally, you might want to take it easy on yourself. Your life would probably be a mess if you were to immediately get rid of these stuff! In the beginning, put in a conscious effort to remember all the happenings in your life while using these tools as a reminder. As your memory gradually improves, you can then slowly discard them.

Memory Improvement Habit #2: Nutrition

Consume more brain-healthy food. The food you eat affects every function of your body – and this includes your brain.

The more balanced your diet is, the better your brain will function. As a general rule, this means you should consume more green leafy vegetables although I also recommend a medium portion of meat because vitamin B12, crucial for healthy cognitive functions, cannot be found in any plant sources.

For more information on brain food, simply follow the link my post on the subject.

Memory Improvement Habit #3: Exercise

Do your exercises. Contrary to what some people may have told you, physical exercise do have a positive effect on your mental health. If you want learn more of the effects of physical exercise on your brain health, simply follow the link to my post on the subject.

Memory Improvement Habit #4: Brain Exercises

Brain exercises are similar to memory exercises, but unlike the latter, the former keeps the whole brain active. Why is this important to your memory?

Though no scientific study has proven this to be true, I’ve always believed holistic health is always crucial to the effective functioning of our body. For example, scientific studies today have shown a healthy heart benefits your mental health. If anyone said that a decade ago, doctors would have laughed and dismissed it as another quack.

By the same principle, I believe keeping your whole brain fit is crucial for the proper function of your memory. After all, only a few parts of your brain are involved in memory – that much we know as fact. Therefore, Brain improvement = Memory improvement.

But before you go out to purchase a brain fitness program, here’s a fair warning: not all programs are made equal. Here’s a post on how to find out if your brain fitness program is truly effective or just a waste of time.

But in 1998, a clinical study on the hippocampus (this is the part of your brain that’s responsible for long term memories) indicated that your hippocampus is able to generate new neurons even if you’re in your 90s. The study suggests not only that memory loss is preventable… it’s also potentially reversible.

From that fateful year on, there’s a slew of studies that discovered similar findings… and thus usher in the age of brain plasticity. Brain plasticity is the malleability of your brain – the theory that your brain is alterable and improvable regardless of your age and condition. (Even people who were born with half a brain were able to adapt and thrive).

In this article, I want to introduce you to a few memory exercises to alter your brain and improve your memory. But before I go into the meat and potatoes, let’s first understand how your brain. I think this is crucial to your understanding of the exercises…

Your brain consists of billion of neurons (brain cells). These neurons connect to each other with what is called a synapse. Neurons die and synapse break down every minute of your life. It is this fact that led scientists to believe cognitive decline is inevitable.

To prevent degeneration, those neurons and synapses would have to be stimulated. Like any other parts of your body, your brain adapts and grows as it’s challenged. So when you challenge your brain, it grows and strengthens neurons. At the same time, synapses that are repeatedly used becomes stronger and less likely to break down.

All these neurons and synapses are responsible for all functions in your body, including everything from your heart beat to walking to processing what you see and remembering the stimulants that comes from your 5 senses.

Principle #1: Working at your threshold

Thus this is principle #1 in improving memory: The more you perform memory exercises, the greater the improvement you’ll benefit from. The strengthen the neurons and synapses responsible for your memory, you’ll simply have to spend some time challenging your memory.

Here’s what you can do: For once, don’t use that grocery list. Try and memorize them instead. Initially, start with 5 items off that list and gradually add one item every 2 to 3 days thereof.

Remembering 5 items should not be a problem but as increase the things you have to remember, you’ll soon have some trouble. That is your memory threshold. Constantly work at overcoming your threshold. This is the same principle of bodybuilding. A bodybuilder will eventually get exhausted lifting a pencil a hundred thousand million times but he won’t grow bigger muscles for it. To build bigger muscles, he has to carry weights that are slightly below his threshold.

Principle #2: Association and Reasoning

Sometimes there’s no need to memorize.

I remember the times when I was in school and I was asked to memorize a bunch of financial formulas. I hate memorizing. So what I did was understand how that formula was formulated. By understanding how it came about, I was able to recall it without actively memorizing it.

In a grocery list example, always tell yourself why you need to purchase a particular item. If you need milk, is it because you want stronger bones or is it because you’re craving for a plate of spaghetti carbonara? Your desires is obviously far more difficult to forget than the list of items in your grocery list. By associating those items with your desires, you’re far more likely to remember them.

Here’s another example: phone numbers. Today, most people would whip out their phones to record phone numbers because they simply can’t remember them. But here’s what you can do: associate phone numbers with a date. Let’s say the phone number is 0422084032.

If say… a hypothetical person would be 32 years old by 04/22/0840, would those numbers be easier to remember? Most experts in memory (people who weren’t born with photographic memory but were able to train for it) associate a list of items they have to remember with a story.

So if you need…

1. A carton of milk
2. A bag of peanuts
3. A bag of crackers
4. A bottle of coke
5. A clove of garlic

The story would go like this: Mary is drinking milk while eating peanuts while her husband is eating crackers with garlic and drinking coke.

That memory exercise alone would explode your ability to memorize daily items.

For example, a study involving more than 116,000 participants found that people with strong relationships had less mental decline and lived more active, pain-free lives without physical limitations. Other benefits of social interactions include, but not limited to, decreased probability of developing dementia, increased probability of staying independent in old age, decreased stress and maintaining mental sharpness.

This is because our brains are capable of neurogenesis, a process in which it grows new brain cells and thus reviving mental functions. But neurogenesis is possible only when you challenge your brain – either by learning something new, going through novel experiences… and interacting with other people.

“There’s a lot of evidence that other people are the most unpredictable things you can encounter. So activities that have you engaging with other human beings are a fantastic form of brain exercise.” – Lawrence Katz, author of “Keep Your Brain Alive“

Living an isolated life, on the other hand, encourages increased aging because boredom is a major driver of stress. And when you’re stressed, your body releases cortisol, a hormone that increases heart rate, increases blood pressure and kills brain cells. Obviously, you don’t want that, especially considering that brain cells naturally die and synapses natural break down as you age.

How To Stay Socially Connected

Studies have shown that older people tend to live a more solitary life. As families move out and friend pass/move away, they tend to lose the will to create new relationships – thus creating a vicious cycle of mental decline. To prevent that from happening, here’s what I suggest you do:

1. Join a class and learn a new form of art. Not only will you have the opportunity to make new friends, learning how to play a musical instrument and/or learning how to dance is a great way to challenge your brain. In fact, some studies showed that listening to music improves brain functions and exercises keep your happy and your brain healthy.
2. Volunteer for a cause that you believe in. Some studies show that people who volunteer appears to live a happier, more fulfilled life than those who live for themselves.
3. With the internet, there’s no reason why anyone couldn’t find people with similar interests. Find these people and start doing things you like together.
4. If you don’t want to do any of the above, then at least get a pet. Owning pets have been shown to greatly benefit the owner’s health. Some of the benefits include stable blood pressure, decreased allergy risks, lower stress and of course, it’s a great substitute for social interactions.

In this article, I want to debunk some of the myths perpetrated on the internet. With ever point I make, I would like to link to the scientific study that found it to be true, so that you know I’m not making these things up.

1. Your brain is not fixed and unchanging. You CAN improve even as you age. This is a relatively recent scientific discovery and thus not a lot of the general public is aware of it. A study by Michael Merzenich on Posit Science’s product showed some of the benefits of brain exercises. Click on the link for the clinical results.
2. Cognitive diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, chemobrain and schizophrenia is not irreversible. They can be improved and even reversed with brain exercises. Numerous studies have been done of the subject but for now, I’ll leave you with one: You can find the clinical results here.
3. Your thoughts are not separate from your body. They do affect you emotionally and physically. Whatever you think of, do become true. A study conducted by Drs Guang Yue and Kelly, published in the Journal of Neurophysiology, found subjects who imagined lifting weights strengthened their muscles by 22%. Thus if you think you are too weak to lift a certain amount of weight, then you’re probably right.
4. There is no such thing as “brain health”. There is only holistic health. Your brain, just like any other parts of your body, requires all parts of you to function optimally for itself to function optimally. For example, exercises that strengthens the heart also benefits the brain by increasing blood flow. A strong healthy lung benefits the brain by providing it with sufficient oxygen. Thus when you look to improve your brain, look to improve your health. Most people make the mistake of focusing on the brain (This is due to conventional medicine’s focus on treating the symptoms and not the cause). Here’s how physical exercise benefits the brain and even how your bowel affects your brain.
5. Your brain is often compared to a computer – but that comparison is lacking in one aspect: that is you brain adapts and evolve. Your brain is so advanced, it is able to constantly evolve (literally) as long as it has access to sufficient stimulation and building blocks. For example, if you are always learning and exposing yourself to novel experiences, your brain will “learn how to learn” so that the next time you learn a new skill, you’ll be able to master it faster. Here is the news report on the study done on the brain’s adaptability.

“Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand.” – Confucious

Though Confucious was aware of how humans best learn new information it wasn’t until quite recently that we understand the science behind what he’s saying.

Did you know that as you learning causes

1. Neuron growth
2. Strengthening of your current synapses
3. New synapses to grow between neurons

These improvements that your brain experiences when you learn is crucial to mental health. As you age, neurons die and synapses break down. People who stop learning for a prolonged period of time does not stay the same. They don’t possess the knowledge they once had forever.

Instead, they degrade. They experience memory loss and lose the ability to learn. Yet most of us just don’t have the time to learn anything new. We’re so busy nowadays that we barely have the time to sleep, let alone learn.

My aim in this article is to show you how the brain works and how you can take advantage of that information to improve your learning capability. That’s what separates human brain to computers – we can learn how to learn! Let’s get started.

There are two ways you learn.

1. Semantically.
2. Experientially.

Semantic Learning

When you learn from someone else’s experience, you’re said to develop semantic memory. Semantic memory is, for most of the time, short term memory. To turn semantic memory into long term memory, constant attention is required to move that piece of information to the neocortex. When this information is moved to the neocortex (your consciousness), you’ll then be able to recall and retrieve that information freely.

An example of semantic learning is studying for exams. The student pays intense attention on the information that will be in the exam and thus they learn. The key ingredient in semantic learning is attention.

No attention = no learning. Michael Merzenich of University of California, San Francisco, observed through brain scans that neural connections happens only when attention is paid to the stimulus. This discovery shows it is imperative you pay close attention into whatever you want learn.

Don’t turn on the audio course in the background, while you’re also reading a book. Don’t multi-task by listening to music, chat with your friends and study all at the same time.

If you haven’t noticed already, learning is a tedious task for the brain. By doing other tasks while you’re learning, you’re “fighting multiple battles”. The resources that your brain possesses are divided and as a result, you couldn’t achieve anything of consequence. You’ll not master what you want to learn, you’ll not enjoy the music you’re listening to as much and neither will you have a conservation as meaningful as it CAN be.

The good news is, contrary to popular belief, focusing on one task at a time increases your productivity. And it makes whatever you better at what you do. In fact, a study by Mike Adams showed that multitasking lowers IQ by 10 points – which is more than smoking marijuana would. Watch this video about the subject:

When attention is paid, neural networks are then created in your neocortex to store the semantic information you’ve learned. Unfortunately, the synapses that link these neural networks break down if you don’t keep firing these neurons. This is part of the brain’s ability to evolve and adapt.

If you don’t use a particular skill, the brain diverts resources away from it to supplement the skills that you DO use. Thus if you don’t keep revising what you’ve learned, the neural network you’ve built are broken down to assist with functions such as… watching TV and “hanging”. This is why most students forget what they’ve studied for in exam periods within days of the holidays.

By paying intense attention on a subject for a short period of time, they’ve built neural networks that store those semantic information. But these neural networks are weak at best. To strengthen a neural network, neurons in that network have to repeatedly fire. This is why a more consistent approach, such as 2 hours a day of revision or practice, is a far better approach to learning than a blitz approach.

Experiential Learning

The other way you can learn is by going through an experience. This is how humans originally learn before the written word is invented, which is probably why learning through an experience is far easier than would through a book.

When you learn through an experience, it is said that you have an “episodic memory”. Episodic memories are mostly long term memory because they are reinforced by the neurotransmitters released during that experience. Different neurotransmitters result in different feelings. Thus we can remember an episodic memory better because we can remember how it felt.

In addition, an experience requires our full participation and involves our five senses. This participation (which also mean your full attention) results in a larger network of neurons firing, thus the more links are built.

This is why you probably still remember the first date with your spouse. You can still “see” your nervousness, your sweaty palms, perhaps your dry lips and your heart pumping. And as you recall this moment, you’re feeling exactly like you did all those years ago.

Experience is, of course, required in mastering any skill. You can’t learn to ride a bike by reading about it. This is because when you semantically learn, the information is stored in your neocortex. The neocortex is your conscious mind – or what we come to call “free will”. It’s what makes a human – human. It’s the most advanced of all our brains and it’s what separates us from other animals.

But when you ride a bike, or play a piano, or swim, or do anything else for that matter, do you consciously do it? Professional athletes would readily tell you that if they were to interfere with their conscious mind, they wouldn’t perform as well as they could. Some people call this “muscle memory”. For some reason or another, they could swing that club (or racket) perfectly without their conscious participation.

This is because the lessons of an experience is stored elsewhere in the brain – your subconscious. As you practice by doing, instead of reading, you strengthen the neural networks in this part of your brain and increase your chances of “hitting that perfect ball” without your conscious participation (most of the lessons you learn through an experience is subconscious anyway).

Semantic and Experiential Learning Goes Hand in Hand

But it is important to note that semantic learning is often a prerequisite of great experiential learning. If you jump into an experience unprepared, then you wouldn’t know what to do in that experience to get any meaningful lessons out of it. For example, hitting the piano keys randomly probably will not get you anywhere. You’ll first have to learn the theories of music.

But this does not mean the more semantic information you have, the better. Just like IQ, you only need a certain amount of semantic information to get the most out of an experience. How much exactly is “enough”, no one knows. (Personally, I use my gut feeling to judge if I’m ready.) Thus a book worm who studied persuasion for years may not be able to persuade better than a negotiation expert who has been doing it for a year.

In this article, I will attempt to explain the basic principles in which our brain works and a brief explanation as to why it matters to you.

To start, it’s crucial to know that it was once thought by the brightest minds in the world that our brain is fixed and that you’re basically the product of your genes – a fact that cannot be changed.

Only relatively recently has this view changed. Numerous modern researches have proven the brain’s capability to modify itself according to the stimulation it gets. In light of the findings of these new researches, Donald Hebb came up with a new hypothesis as to how the brain works.

This hypothesis the currently the most accepted one because it explains the phenomenons not previously accounted for by localizationists (scientists who believe the brain is unchanging).

Some of these phenomenons include “miraculous” recovery of stroke patients, the cases of people born with half a brain yet live a relatively normal life and even how some elderly seem to possess a brain more active than people a generation younger than they are.

The Hebbian Learning Principles

The first rule of “Hebbian Learning” is neurons that fire together, wire together. Neurons are brain cells – in everything we do, these neurons need to fire to send signals all over our body. According to Hebb, neurons who fire together, create synapses (links) with each other, thus creating a cause-effect relationship.

For example, if going to McDonald’s was a happy time for you as a kid, then the neurons responsible for realizing you’re in McDonald’s would link to the neurons responsible for being happy. So that whenever, you visit McDonald’s and you’re happy, this synapse would strengthen. Thus as you grow up, going to McDonald’s alone would make you happy.

This hypothesis, of course, can be used to explain addiction to porn, drugs, emotions and even to arguments.

The opposite side of Hebbian Learning is that neurons that no longer fire together, no longer wire together. That is if you no longer visit McDonald’s to be happy, then this synapse would weaken as gradually, you’ll lose the motivation to go to McDonald’s for joy.

This “use it or lose it” rule is crucial as to how you learn and remember. Every single basic skill that you possess as a human is stored in your brain as neurons and synapses. If you don’t constantly stimulate these neurons and synapses, you’ll eventually lose these skills.

For example, if you spend most of your time sitting down, don’t be surprise to find yourself requiring help to move around in older age because you couldn’t balance your body. If you have not continuously learn any new skills in life, don’t be surprised to find yourself having a difficult time learning new skills (thus the saying “old dogs can’t learn new tricks”).

Much of the problems faced by the older population can be traced back to the way they live their life – and unfortunately, much of these trouble can be avoided if they had taken care of their brains.

The good news is, these conditions can also be reversed. The process in which the brain grow new neurons is called “neurogenesis” and it can occur in any brain – be it old and young. This is why some people seem to enjoy great mental health well into old age while some other languish in dementia. The difference is in implementing the 4 pillars of brain health.

Why this matters to you

So what you can do to prevent age-related cognitive problems? Ask yourself these questions:

1. Are you stimulating your brain sufficiently or are you living a passive life? A brain-healthy lifestyle is normally an active one, one where you choose to do something, not one where you’re reacting. For example, some people let the weather dictate whether they will exercise or not (reactive and therefore no brain stimulation). Some other choose to jog even though it’s dark and gloomy outside (active).
2. Are you unknowingly developing addictions? Numerous teenagers mistakenly assume porn to be harmless but the fact is, porn is addictive. And when you’re addicted to porn, only porn can bring you the satisfaction that you want – not your spouse. If you watch too much TV, then life would be boring to you since it’s moving far slower to the TV scenes you are watching.
3. Are you relying too much on technology? I think electronic devices are great inventions but using it to remember everything in your life is not a good idea. By recording all your schedules and “to-do” list, you are losing your short term memory capability – a fact easily witnessed by this generation’s general incapability to remember phone numbers, a study showed.

It’s a love story between a lady who lost her memory in old age but her spouse kept by her side, despite the urging of his children. The lady would often remember him for a while, only to be afraid of the “strange” man hugging her the next second.

It got me thinking, what if I ended up like her? What sort of torture would I subject the people around me? There are little experiences that are more painful to see your loved one forget you. To lose memory of who you are. To lose your self-identity. And last but not least… to die not knowing who you are.

The movie got me thinking of my death-bed moment – I wanted to be able to say goodbye to the people around me. That’s when I truly “wake up” to the fact that my brain may need some attention.

That’s when I first began to research into the subject for the next 5 years or so. What do we need to do in order to maintain a healthy brain? Thee subject is complex. To explain it in full would literally require books. For the purpose of this article, I’ll drastically summarize the most important point. Here’s what I found: There are mainly 4 pillars of a healthy brain. They are:

1. Stress management
2. Nutrition
3. Brain exercises
4. Exercise

Let’s explore them in a little depth, shall we?

Stress Management

Did you know that your brain is built to withstand only about 30 seconds of stress? Yet most of us live in an environment of constant pressure. When you’re under stress, your brain releases of hormone called “cortisol”. Cortisol raises your heart and blood sugar but decreases immune response (making you more susceptible to diseases) and excites brain cells to death. The less brain cells you possess, the lower you mental function becomes.

This is why various studies have shown people who are under stress tend to have difficulty memorizing facts, learning new skills and even sustaining attention. It makes sense. From an evolutionary viewpoint, you experience stress when a predator approaches. At that time, would you have the mood to learn and memorize? Not likely!

There are several very effective ways to manage stress. Listening to baroque music, meditating and even an taking afternoon nap are some of the great techniques to begin with. If you don’t have the time for these, simply closing your eyes and taking deep breaths can do wonders. Try it.

Brain Food

It doesn’t matter if you’re the calmest person on earth – if you’re not consuming a healthy diet, your brain will not function at its peak. Your diet contains the building blocks of your body, without which no part of your body can work optimally.

Also called “Neurogenesis”, part of the workings of your brain is its ability to grow new brain cells, so that even if you have suffered some sort of physical trauma or you’re experiencing mental decline, it can be reversed. However, the brain can only do so if it has access to the building blocks required.

As a rule of thumb, consume more green leafy vegetables but it is important to note that vitamin B12, lack of which can cause psychosis, do not have a plant source. If you would like to know more about brain food, check out this blog post.

Brain exercises

“Neurons that fire together, wire together”. That’s the first rule of “Hebbian Learning”, currently the most accepted hypothesis as to how our brain works. The opposite side of that rule, is of course, “Neurons that no longer fire together, no longer wire together”. In effect, you either “use it or lose it”.

This is why brain exercises are so crucial. When your brain wires together, it creates what is called a “synapse”. By stimulating your brain through brain exercises, you will not only be strengthening your current synapses, you will also grow new neurons and create new synapses (again, requires the necessary building blocks). The more neurons and synapses you possess, the better your brain functions.

On the other hand, if you don’t stimulate your brain, your brain will lose its current synapses – an option most people chose.

Did you know that 60% of Americans who left college never read another book again? When was the last time you learn a new skill? How much of your time do you spend sitting down? How many of the things that you recorded in your iPhone (or any other device) can you remember?

If you don’t continuously learn, you’ll find it difficult to learn later in life. If you don’t use your limbs, you’ll find it difficult to stand and balance yourself later in life. If you don’t continuously stimulate your memory, you’ll lose the ability to remember later in life. Use it or lose it, remember?

Here is a simple brain exercise to try out. From now onward, be consciously aware of your surrounding. You’ll be amazed at just how things in your life that your brain has subconsciously filter. For example, it is a well known fact in the marketing industry that the average consumer is exposed to about 3000 sales messages each day. How many do you really notice?

In this exercise, I want you to take notice of your colleague’s shoes. His/Her belt, the things on his/her table, the nooks and crooks of the office and everything you can possibly notice. Even what is the color of the shirt the person behind you is wearing. Try this: Next time you’re in a restaurant, try asking your friend what color is the shirt the person behind him is wearing. Don’t be surprise to find out that he/she don’t know!

This type of active awareness (as contrasted to our regularly passive one) stimulates the brain and thus keep its neurons firing and wiring.

Physical Exercise

There are numerous benefits of exercise but one that is not popularly known is that it allows your brain to function at its peak. Imagine this: Our ancestors walk an average of 12 miles a day. How much have you walked lately?

When you exercise, your brain releases a plethora of chemicals designed almost to keep you addicted to exercising. Some of these chemicals calm you down. Some of them increases attention. Some keep you alert. Others, such as serotonin (often used synthetically to treat depression), allows you to be euphoric.

Exercising also fires neurons responsible for moving your limbs and keeping your balance. It, therefore, strengthens their synapses and makes sure you don’t need help moving around in old age. The good news is, nothing brutal is required. A simple 30 minute walk daily has been shown to improve IQ test scores, keep your energy level up and boost your memory.

1. The first group practiced playing the piano with instructions and guidance, just as a normal student would.
2. The second group was asked to play the piano but without any guidance. They played randomly – just as most of us would without a teacher.
3. The third observed the first group’s lessons but they don’t actually touch the piano. What they did is they imagined playing the piano exactly how they observed it was played.
4. The fourth group is the control group – they did nothing.

According to brain scans, the fourth group, obviously, did not make any improvements. Neither did the second group, for that matter.

The first group, also obvious, developed large a neuronal network in the part of the brain traditionally involved in playing the piano. What’s surprising is that the third group – the group that merely imagined the pactice – developed a network similar to that of the first group.

It showed significant improvement in their ability to play the instrument.

This is a classic case of “Hebbian Learning” – neurons that fire together, wire together.  Imagining doing something and physically doing something, fires the same network of neurons in your brain… and thus strengthens the same network of neurons. In other words, the brains of the subjects in the third group couldn’t tell the difference between what’s their imagination and what’s the reality.

Is this an isolated incident? Let’s take a look at another experiment.

Conducted by Drs Guang Ye and Kelly Cole, the experiment involved two groups of subjects doing finger exercises. The first group physically performed the exercises while the other imagined it. Again, they get the same results. The group that imagined strengthened their finger muscles by a whopping 22%.

How could your muscle develop without physical exercise? Hebbian Learning.

In fact, yet another study involving 3 groups of basketball players practicing shooting hoops resulted in the same results. The group that shot hoops for practice and the group that visualized it (imagined) both improved by an average of 23%. The group that spent their time relaxing did not see any improvement.

Hebbian Learning and The Placebo Effect

The power of Hebbian Learning is so strong that for every medical drug that is about to hit the market, scientists have to make sure that it’s not what curing the patients. They call it “the placebo effect”. The placebo effect kicks in when the brain thought you’re getting a cure for your disease… even when you didn’t receive it. According to the latest statistics, the placebo effect has been shown to be responsible for 30% of all cures. Your brain’s neurons have fired and strengthen its link so strongly that it was convinced your cancer (or whatever disease) is gone! (Makes you wonder whether it’s your brain that cured you or the drugs)

You can recreate the placebo effect just by meditating. Brain scans have shown that people who meditate literally shut down the parts of their brain involved in tracking time, space and even their own senses (This is why they often go to “that” place where there is no time, space and self).

By shutting down these senses, the brain can then focus on the imagination… and eventually rewire itself through the principle of Hebbian Learning. This is why meditation is crucial in maintaining your brain health.

But be careful: The Hebbian Learning principle is a double-edged sword because neurons that no longer fire together… no longer wire together, potentially causing memory loss and the lost of basic skills such as walking. This is why meditation is crucial if you want to keep your mental functions sharp even in old age.

How To Meditate

For a long time, people have associated the mind and brain as two separate entities. One as physical and tangible – the brain – and the other as something mythical and out of of reach – the mind.

But the truth couldn’t be further. You mind is simply the experience you’re having as interpreted by your brain. Your every thought affects the brain in physical. For example, when you’re anticipating something pleasurable (thought), your brain releases a chemical called “dopamine” (physical), which makes you excited (experience). Thus what you think determines what you feel. By the same principle, when you’re stressed (thought), you release a chemical called cortisol (physical), which in turn makes you more alert (experience) in the short term (but cortisol kills brain cells in the long term).

To meditate, is really, to control your brain’s chemistry. All you have to do is sit in a comfortable chair and think of nothing but one thought. Or if you want – think of nothing (easier said than done).

Be warned: You’ll feel strange at first. You’ll feel like you can’t do it. You’ll feel like you’re wasting time. But know that you’re feeling that way because there are synapses (links) in your brain that dictates meditation are useless, impossible or even absurd. Once you’ve rewired yourself, once you’ve created new synapses, then you’ll enjoy a whole other experience.