How to capture your ideas

Posted by Neill Abayon

Does this sound familiar? You’re slowly drifting off to sleep when you come up with a great line for the song or paper you’ve been working on all day. It’s such a great idea, in fact, that you just know you’ll remember it in the morning. Happy to have finally come up with the perfect line, you nod off, smiling and peaceful.

In the morning, of course, it’s gone. All that you remember is that there’s something you should remember.

Or you’re talking to a business associate on the phone, when you remember that tomorrow is your nephew’s/sister-in-law’s/best friend’s birthday and you need to stop and pick them up a card on your way home. Filing that thought away under “to do later” you finish your call, leave work, and drive home, all the time thinking “isn’t there something I was supposed to do today…?”

Ideas are cheap, memory is expensive

We humans are exceptionally good at thinking up stuff. Sit down for two minutes with a pad of paper and try to come up with all the things you can make out of an orange, and you’ll see – after the first couple easy ones, you’ll start thinking up all sorts of crazy stuff (somebody actually thought up the idea of sticking cloves in an orange and hanging it on a Christmas tree, after all).

But we’re not very good at remembering all those ideas. Psychologists say we can hold from 5 to 9 thoughts in our immediate memory at any given time, meaning that, on average, the last 7 things you’ve thought are all you get. Add #8 to the list, and something falls out.

Our long-term memory is much better, but the process of moving items from short-term to long-term memory is quite complex and isn’t really “on-demand” – as anyone who has struggled to master organic chemistry can attest.

So, we have lots and lots of ideas and only a limited memory to hold them in before we lose them.

Read the full article here.

Walk Away From Your Memory Problems

Posted by Neill Abayon

A study has found that walking for 2 and a half hours a week can significantly improve memory problems for those over the age of 50. Improvement in memory occurred both over the course of the six month trial, and 6 and 12 months after completion.

The trial placed 170 people who had reported memory problems into two groups. One group continued their usual activities, while the other took part in an 24-week home-based physical activity program.

Participants in the exercise group worked out an average of 20 minutes in a day more than those in the control group. By the end of the study, participants in the exercise group performed better on cognitive tests and had better delayed recall. They also had lower Clinical Dementia Rating Scores.

You Have An Astonishing Memory

Posted by Neill Abayon

A new study has found that your brain can remember a lot more than had previously been believed.

In a recent experiment, people who viewed pictures of thousands of objects over five hours were able to remember astonishing details afterward. Previous studies have never measured such astounding feats of memory, but this may be simply because no one really tried.

Researchers found that under the right circumstances, your brain can store minute visual details far beyond what had been imagined.

It helps if the objects that are familiar, such as remote controls, dollar bills and loaves of bread, as opposed to abstract artworks. Another factor that seemed to help was motivation to do well: the participant who scored highest won a small prize of money.

HEART AND MIND LINK

Posted by Neill Abayon

Reinforcing an association between psychological stress and cardio vascular disease, research has found that stress on the heart may predict subsequent cardiac events. A five year study at Duke University in the United States followed 126 coronary-disease patients. Those showing signs of reduced blood flow to the heart (myocardial ischemia) during mentally taxing tasks had almost three times the risk of suffering a heart attack, needing a procedure to unblock an artery or dying, compared with patients who didn't show signs of stress-induced ischemia.
The findings suggest that adding mental stress screening to exercise testing in cardiac work-ups may help identify people at risk of a stress-induced heart attack. Once these patients are identified, says lead researcher Dr. Wei Jiang, workshops on coping with stress may be "particularly appropriate."