Hey guys, I came across this very cool mental exercise that you can use to improve your memory, your power of observation and even help you get to sleep faster! Sound interesting? OK, so here it is..

When you’re lying in bed at night ready to fall asleep, you review what you did that day from start to finish. You start with the time you got up out of bed until the time you went back to bed. Do this in as much detail as possible, visualizing in your mind each and every step from beginning to end. At first, you wont recall much detail, and you’ll probably jump very quickly from task to task or think of the day in large blocks of time. But try to slow down and remember as much as possible, in as much detail as possible. Over time, you’ll get better and better at this and you’ll be able to remember more and more detail.

This simple mental exercise has the following benefits:

1) It will improve your memory

2) Your power of observation will improve. In fact, you’ll find yourself during the day performing a mini recall of your day thus far because you know that later than night you will be trying to recall it again.

3) You will be more in the moment throughout the day. Again, because you know you will be recalling your day later, you pay more attention to details throughout the day.

4) Your ability to visualize will improve.

5) You will improve concentration.

6) You will  fall asleep faster because your mind will get tired much like counting sheep at night in order to fall asleep.

So give this simple mental exercise a try for a week and let me know what you think. icon wink A Very Cool Mental Exercise to Improve Your Memory

Source:

One Simple Mental Exercise to improve your Mind Power

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Below are a few of the best links I’ve come across over the last few months on how sleep affects our memory and brain health. I hope you find them as informative and useful as I did.

Below are the links with article summaries:

When Sleep Suffers, So Does Decisiveness – A recent study, which included 49 U.S. military cadets, looked at how sleep deprivation affected thinking abilities which rely heavily on instantaneous, gut-feeling decisions. They found that even moderate sleep deprivation can cause an immediate loss of these abilities.

Lack of sleep harms brain health – Another great link with respect to the importance of getting adequate sleep for maintaining optimum brain health and fitness.

Why ‘Sleeping on It’ Helps – A recent study concluded that for certain kinds of decisions – those that are complex and where you have some expertise – “sleeping on it” may be more helpful than spending minutes or hours of conscious thought on it. The brain makes good unconscious decisions, when we let it.

Rule #7 Sleep well, think well –  Online link to useful information on the importance of sleep with respect to brain health and fitness found in the book “Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School How Sleep Affects Our Memory and Brain Health”.

Sleep & Nap – An excellent post detailing 14 great things we can do to help preserve, protect and enhance our gray matter. Number 5 deals specifically with sleep.

Healthy habits to improve memory – Getting enough sleep one of several healthy habits we can have in order to maintain and improve our memory.

Sleep Now, Remember Later – An excellent article which details how sleep affects our memory. Want a good memory, get enough sleep!

No sleep means no new brain cells – Wow..  A study suggests that missing out on sleep may cause the brain actually to stop producing new cells.

Have a Poor Memory? Then Try Sleeping On It – In humans, one particular study looked at memory recall with and without sleep. The study found that people who slept after learning the information performed best, successfully recalling more words than those who had not had sleep prior to being tested.

So there you have it.. A great excuse to go take a nap!

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Our minds and bodies need sleep. Prolonged sleep deprivation has been shown to kill rats, flies, cockroaches and even humans.

Scientists have discovered that one of the many benefits sleep has is in memory improvement. In rats, certain brain cells that activate during their daytime exploration tend to reactivate during sleep. Scientists speculate that during sleep the brain reenacts waking activity in order to lay down lasting memories.

In humans, one particular study looked at memory recall with and without sleep. Forty-eight people between the ages of 18 and 30 took part in the study. All groups were taught the same 20 pairs of words in the initial training session. One group was taught the word pairings at 9 a.m. and then tested at 9 p.m. after 12 hours of being awake. Another group was taught the word pairs at 9 p.m. and then was tested at 9 a.m. after a good nights sleep. The study found that people who slept after learning the information performed best, successfully recalling more words than those who had not had sleep prior to being tested.

So, how much sleep is really required to keep our memory sharp?

“Long” sleepers who slumber more than eight hours a night and “short” sleepers who get fewer than seven hours of shuteye both report more sleep complaints than people who sleep in the “just right” zone of seven to eight hours, say Michael A. Grandner, B.A., and Daniel F. Kripke, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego. Their study appears in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. “Although it is unclear why long and short sleepers should have similar types of sleep complaints, these data challenge the assumption that more than seven or eight hours of sleep is associated with increased health and well-being,” Grandner says.

What can you do if you don’t get the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep? Take a power nap!  The video below describes how taking a nap can help our memory.

The main point here is to make sure you get between 7-8 hours of sleep in order to keep our brains in top shape. If you you get less than 7 hours, feel free to take a nap!

To further improve your memory, click here to play free online memory games.

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