30 studies that link fluoride to reduced IQ, impaired neurobehavioral development, and fetal brain damage have come from China where fluoride occurs at moderate to high levels in the drinking water in what is known as “endemic areas for fluorosis.” While there have been shortcomings in the methodologies of some of these studies, they have […]
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]]>30 studies that link fluoride to reduced IQ, impaired neurobehavioral development, and fetal brain damage have come from China where fluoride occurs at moderate to high levels in the drinking water in what is known as “endemic areas for fluorosis.” While there have been shortcomings in the methodologies of some of these studies, they have been remarkably consistent in their findings. Children exposed to excessive fluoride have been consistently observed to suffer from some form of neurological impairment.
• 24 studies have now reported an association between fluoride exposure and reduced IQ in children
• Three studies have reported an association between fluoride exposure and impaired neurobehavioral development
• Three studies have reported damage to the brain of aborted fetuses in high fluoride areas, and
• Over 100 laboratory studies have reported damage to the brain and/or cognitive function among fluoride-exposed animals. (Connett P, Beck J, Micklem HS. 2010. Appendix 1, Fluoride and the Brain in The Case Against Fluoride. How Hazardous Waste Ended Up in Our Drinking Water and the Bad Science and Powerful Politics That Keep It There. Chelsea Green Publishing, VT. 2010.)
The solution: install a whole house water filter that filters fluoride. Recommended filter (mention my name Jan Cisek and you’ll get 10% off the filter) and switch to non-fluoride tooth pastes. Further reading and all the research
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]]>How to improve memory In ancient Greek and Roman times, memory was greatly valued – the word itself comes from the name of the Greek goddess of memory, Mnemosyne. Roman senators had to address the senate without written notes, so they perfected ways of improving their memories and identified the two main principles underlying conscious […]
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]]>In ancient Greek and Roman times, memory was greatly valued – the word itself comes from the name of the Greek goddess of memory, Mnemosyne. Roman senators had to address the senate without written notes, so they perfected ways of improving their memories and identified the two main principles underlying conscious memory: imagination and association. You associate the thing you want to remember with something fixed, and then you use your imagination to make the picture as vivid as possible. The Romans associated their ideas with fixed points around the room they were talking in, and then referred to them (which gives the English expressions: In the first place …, in the second place …, etc.) The peg-word and link-word systems involve learning a series of items linked to numbers (1=sun, 2=shoe, etc, or a phonetic system which can run into the thousands). This is the list to which you then ‘peg’ the items you wish to remember by creating vivid images involving the peg word and the item to be remembered. Alternatively, create a story in which a series of items are linked sequentially.
Memory is an active, constructive feedback system / process that receives, organises and stores information (like Wikipedia, not an archive, it’s not a thing). Professor Gary Schwartz suggests that feedback mechanisms are involved in learning. In the neural network of the brain, the output of the neurons feedbacks to the input of the neurons. And this process goes over and over again. So long as the feedback is present, the neurons will learn. If you cut the feedback, there is no learning in the neurons. In short, any system that has feedback will learn. We learn to play tennis by getting feedback on how accurately we are playing it. We learn to speak by getting feedback on whether we are accurate or not. This is what is called feedback memory or systemic memory.
• information important for our survival
• what we find meaningful
• what we give attention to
• what we practise
• what we link to things we already know
• what we encode using mnemonics, etc
The main things which naturally help information move into long-term memory are: emotional impact, repetition and urgent need. We remember things easily when we’re emotionally engaged and interested in the subject. Also, we best remember what is important to us and what we care about. Novelty is easy to remember because the dopamine levels are high and dopamine is responsible for the formation of memories.
The memory killers are stress, apathy, depression, lack of interest and lack of good quality of sleep.
In short, the basic formula for remembering is to be motivated, curious, happy, relaxed and rested. Memory is not like an archive or locked pdf document which you can’t edit – it’s a living, active, constructive system that changes all the time.
Remembering faces
Scientists (Rob Jenkins, Unversity of York) estimated that, on average, we remember about 5000 faces, with the lowest of 1000 faces and the highest of 10 000 faces.
• imagination: Make mental pictures
• association: Find as many links with other things as you can
• exaggeration: Make things bigger, brighter, louder
• absurdity: Imagine ridiculous associations
• humour: Make things funny
• colour: Try colour-coding associated items and ideas
• sensuality: Involve as many senses as possible
• sexuality: We remember things connected with sex
• movement: Link items to movements, gestures and facial expressions
• order and sequence: Things are easier to remember if they are ordered or
sequenced (just putting items and objects into categories can be enough to
remember them)
• songs, rhymes, jingles and raps: These are natural memory enhancers
• going outside or being surrounded by plants can increase memory retention by up to 20%, a recent study at the University of Michigan suggests. The biophilia effect at home or workplace stimulates the senses and improves mental cognition and performance.
The most effective review periods to ensure things are retained are after 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month
(From Transforming Learning: Introducing SEAL Approaches by Susan Norman)
According to recent research, cumin can enhance memory and cognition, as determined by acquisition, retention, and recovery in rats. Read more about cumin and memory
Mind food
• Drink eight glasses of water every day to boost your brain’s performance by 30%.
• Eat more fish for essential oils.
• Eat chia seeds, oats, vitamin B and cacao for better memory and mood.
• Fuel your brain with natural sugars from swede and beetroots.
Rosmery for concentration
So easy to grow (as a window box), rosemary has been shown to aid concentration, and memory and boost alertness when crushed in the hand and inhaled. Fresh rosemary contains the compound cineole, which boosts brain activity.
Read 7 tips to improve your memory
Top books on memory improvement
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]]>Would you like to improve your memory? Remember more of what’s important to you? Then join us for this one-day special course on memory skills. The workshop will be taught and facilitated by Susan and Jan, and will also include a 75-minute syntopic processing session which is the perfect opportunity to experience spd rdng. The […]
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]]>Would you like to improve your memory? Remember more of what’s important to you? Then join us for this one-day special course on memory skills.
The workshop will be taught and facilitated by Susan and Jan, and will also include a 75-minute syntopic processing session which is the perfect opportunity to experience spd rdng. The course is for people who have either completed, are enrolled on a Spd Rdng course or just interested in speed reading, learning and memory. If we all bring one or two books on memory for sharing we’ll have the benefit of all the received wisdom on the subject.
TO BOOK: email Jan on jan@spdrdng.com DATE: Sunday 26 June 2011; 10am-5pm FEE: £99 VENUE: East Finchley N2 8LL (North London)
LIMITED NUMBERS. PLEASE BOOK EARLY.
Testimonials from the course:
“Memory techniques work!” Student, London
“It was a very enjoyable and inspiring memory workshop.” Student, London
“Very clear and simple format for memory improvement.” Raina Malik, London
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]]>Researchers have found that students with good stress get better results. The researchers from AQA exam board (Suzanne Chamberlain and Anthony Daly who’s study will be published in the Educational Research) suggest that the more pupils’ heart rates increases during an exam, the higher the marks they score, suggesting that increased heart rate is probably […]
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]]>Researchers have found that students with good stress get better results. The researchers from AQA exam board (Suzanne Chamberlain and Anthony Daly who’s study will be published in the Educational Research) suggest that the more pupils’ heart rates increases during an exam, the higher the marks they score, suggesting that increased heart rate is probably a sign of heightened alertness rather than nervous anxiety. It’s important to distinguish between ‘good’ pre-exam stress as nerves just before the event and the ‘bad’ variety involving lack of sleep, fatigue and guilt at not doing enough revision. Preparation, preparation, preparation. More on exam nerves
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