10 Things That Cause Short-Term Memory Loss (and You Probably Do Them Every Day)

You’ve probably experienced embarrassing moments because of short-term memory loss.

It’s awkward when you can’t remember someone’s name when you met only ten minutes earlier. It’s also frustrating to find the keys that you put away only five minutes before. You can avoid these situations if you know what causes short-term memory loss. You may feel surprised that you do most of them, unconsciously, every day.

10 Things That Cause Short-Term Memory Loss

Various studies suggest that bad personal habits and poor lifestyle choices may lead to cognitive impairment. You may do everyday things that may impact your brain without realizing it.

1. Not Getting Enough Sleep

First of all, you may lack the 8 hours of sleep that you sorely need. Those who don’t get enough of it are at risk of cognitive impairment. Short-term memory loss happens because the body doesn’t have the chance to regenerate new cells. Brigham and Women’s Hospital has discovered that getting at least seven hours of sleep can help to keep one’s memory intact.

2. Worrying

Telling you to not worry at all is like asking the sun not to shine. Experts suggest finding ways to relax, especially in the midst of intense stress, difficult as it is.
Studies prove that stress increases cortisol in the brain. Researchers at the University of Maryland have discovered as much, and other studies echo their findings.

3. No sunlight

Are you a fan of the indoors? It’s time to expand your interests.
What you need is some time in the sun. Exposure to sunlight combats Vitamin D deficiency and consequently, cognitive decline.

4. Lack of Vitamins and Minerals

Another reason you may feel fatigued during the day is that you haven’t had enough vegetables. Eating healthy foods will reduce this problem.
Furthermore, studies prove that cognition, including short-term memory, improves with an intake of Vitamin B6.

5. Listening to loud music

Are you fond of plugging in your headphones and listening to music at full volume? It’s not wise, according to experts. Listening to music at full volume may cause deafness, as well as short-term memory loss. A study of non-musicians found that listening to soft, emotional music increases a person’s capacity to recognize faces.

6. Smoking

Smoking is another brain-cell killer. If you light up regularly, you’ll not only disrupt your heart and lung functions but also prevent oxygen from flowing to your brain. This study proves that midlifers experience a cognitive decline when they smoke.

7. Lazing around

Being a couch potato is nearly everyone’s favorite weekend activity. Unfortunately, it can affect your short-term memory and other cognitive functions. It’s always advisable to try new activities or update your skills.

8. Not Exercising

Also, you may not necessarily have to train for a marathon, but do set up a regular exercise routine. Studies prove that it increase the volume of blood in the brain and other cognitive enhancements.

9. Taking alcohol

You’ll already know that alcohol can numb your mind, but you may not appreciate its full effects. A study found that alcohol increases a person’s risk of damaging the brain over time.

10. Going On A High-Fat Diet

Finally, a McDonald’s Big Mac does more than make you drool. Delicious as it is, it may slow your brain functions. According to a study, high-fat also causes aging.

How to Improve Your Memory

So how do you improve your short-term memory? These simple, but foolproof strategies may help.
First of all, prepare healthy meals for yourself. Foods like cauliflower, curry, broccoli, walnuts and crab contain antioxidants that improve brain health.
Exercise also stimulates the brain. It triggers proteins called neurotrophic factors. They improve cognitive functions, including short-term memory.
And then, stop multitasking because it may slow you down. You’re not mindful. Mindfulness can help you focus.
Another way to improve your memory is to get a good night’s rest. Brain cell growth, or neurogenesis, occurs while you sleep. This process has an impact on learning and memory.
Furthermore, challenge your brain. Play Brain Games. Computer applications such as Lumosity and Cognifit Brain Fitness all help to improve brain health.
Finally, use Mnemonics. Acronyms like PUG for Pack Up Grapes will make itemizing your task list fun. You’ll also remember your to-do list at the back of your hand.
In conclusion, having a poor short-term memory isn’t all bad news. There are strategies that you can put in place to make sure that it’s in tip-top shape.

3 Popular drugs You had no Idea caused Memory.

Memory loss has been common to many people, especially to those at old age.

Also referred to as amnesia, it occurs when an individual loses the ability to remember information and events that they would typically be able to recall.

In many occasions, memory loss occurs in such a way that a person cannot remember things that happened just seconds or minutes ago. According to studies, memory loss worsens over time.
There are popular drugs that are highly rated in being responsible for memory loss and cause over 100.000 deaths per year, as well as approximately 1.5 million side effects rendering many people to be hospitalized. The intake of these drugs is associated with some risks and common side effects.

Drugs that cause memory loss are categorized into three and any other drug falls into these classes of drugs.

The three categories are as follows:

1. Sleeping Pills

The regular use of sleeping pills significantly affects memory and in many cases, the pills have been referred to as “amnesia drug,” especially the sedative called Ambien. Users of this drug often experience night terrors, sleep driving and walking, and illusions.
Do you know that sleeping pills keep you in a state similar to that of coma through suppressing your brain functions in order to force you into sleep mode? They basically make your brain function unhealthily for the sake of falling asleep.

2. The ‘Anti’ Drugs

Most of the drugs like antihistamines, antihypertensive, antispasmodics, antipsychotics or any drugs starting with “anti” will directly affect acetylcholine levels. Acetylcholine is neurotransmitters that primarily help with memory and learning functionality. Symptoms like delirium, blurred vision, and dementia are a result of the low levels of acetylcholine. The major side effects of the ‘anti’ drugs are hallucinations and memory loss.

3. Statin Drugs

Statin drugs are aimed to lower the cholesterol levels in the body but are also regarded to be the worst for the memory. This is because a large part of the brain is made up of cholesterol, which plays an important role in learning, fast thinking, and memory.
Therefore, drugs that are made to lower cholesterol in the body will definitely affect the brain. Other drugs include naproxen, steroids, quinidine, benzodiazepines, insulin, and high blood pressure drugs, among others.

Other Causes of Memory loss

There are other causes of memory loss that are associated with one’s immediate surroundings and lifestyle choices.
People suffering from memory loss are also likely to have anxiety, stress, and depression. For this reason, they should stay in a stress-free environment. Other common causes are a head injury, which can result from an accident, and a stroke, which blocks blood supply to the brain and causes some tissue to die, thus leading to a memory loss.
References:

How does hypnotherapy help people to overcome a phobia?

Welcome back to more bite sized chunks of hypnotherapy goodness!
Phobias are common in the general population. Hypnotherapy is fast becoming a treatment of choice for those that seek treatment.

How does hypnotherapy help people to overcome a phobia?

Let's says, for example, someone is extremely fearful of spiders, and provided there is no objective danger (i.e., the spider couldn't harm them), and their distress is sufficient to disrupt their life, they would be classified as having arachnophobia i.e., a phobia of spiders.   Phobias are common in the general population (around 6%). They are more common in women (8%) than men (3.4%) (Myers et al., 1984). Many specific fears do not cause the person enough disruption in their life to seek treatment for it, for example a person may have a fear of flying but never intends, or has any need, to get on a plane.   Most people, especially children have fears and worries that are part of normal development which do not meet the criteria for it to be classified as a disorder. In-fact, most childhood phobias usually dissipate over time. The child is usually gradually exposed to the source of the fear by their parents and significant others, and manages to overcome their own anxieties.   Many people who suffer from phobias fail to seek treatment. The motivation to seek treatment often develops when there’s a change in the sufferer's circumstances (e.g. promotion which requires the individual to fly more frequently), which prevents them from being able to avoid or minimise their contact with the feared object (e.g. aeroplanes).   Phobias are generally recognised by the sufferer as irrational beliefs which they feel they have no control over. However, there is a general consensus that eliminating irrational beliefs alone, without exposure to the actual feared thing or situation, does not solve the problem (Turner et al., 1992). During hypnotherapy, suggestions are offered to the client's subconscious mind while they are in a suggestible altered state of consciousness. The subconscious mind is hidden beyond our everyday awareness. In addition to its more positive aspects, it is where impulses, habits, negative emotions, memories, and irrational thoughts reside.   During this altered state of consciousness, clients can be easily guided to relearn new behaviours, e.g., becoming more assertive, confident and calm in managing the phobic situation or object well.   In most forms of psychotherapy, the therapist makes suggestions at a conscious level. The conscious mind, whilst rational, can also be defensive, overly critical, overcome with negative thinking, and not always in the mood for change. When in a trance, the clients' conscious mind relaxes, allowing the therapist to communicate with a more receptive unconscious mind.   During this deep state of relaxation, the hypnotherapist will also use systematic desensitisation, where the trigger of the fear is gradually introduced to the client whilst they are in a trance. Client's typically are quickly able to do this exercise without experiencing fear during trance, and will then be encouraged to try out these new ways of working either inside, or outside of the therapy room, in the presence of the real thing when they are out of trance.   With some clients who have extreme fear reactions to even the mildest thoughts the feared object or situation, and where it is too anxiety-provoking for them to imagine themselves performing differently in the face of a phobic situation, they may choose to observe someone else instead. This can be a very effective way for sufferers to desensitise themselves to the feared object, and by imagining someone else performing a behaviour they will feel much more confident.   Hypnotherapists might also use a technique called age regression which helps to to find the source of the problem i.e., when the problem first started. By exploring these earlier memories, the hypnotherapist will help the client to store them in a much more useful way. These memories then fail to continue to have the same negative effect on the person in the present.

24 quotes from Socrates, one of the smartest people ever lived.

Socrates Was One Of The Smartest People Who Ever Lived. Here Are 24 Out Of His Most Important Quotes That Everyone Needs To Read

Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. He is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes.

Plato’s dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity.
Through his portrayal in Plato’s dialogues, Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics, and it is this Platonic Socrates who lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method, or elenchus.

The latter remains a commonly used tool in a wide range of discussions, and is a type of pedagogy in which a series of questions is asked not only to draw individual answers, but also to encourage fundamental insight into the issue at hand.

Plato’s Socrates also made important and lasting contributions to the field of epistemology, and the influence of his ideas and approach remains a strong foundation for much western philosophy that followed.

Read Also: 10 Motivational Quotes That Will Make You Believe In Yourself Again!

Let us remember his wisdom by reading 24 famous quotes of his:

1. “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” 

2. “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

3. “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”

4. “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think”

5. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

6. “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.”

7. “By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.”

8. “He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.”

9. “If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.”

10. “Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.”

11. “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”

12. “To find yourself, think for yourself.”

13. “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”

14. “Know thyself.”

15. “Let him who would move the world first move himself.”

16. “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.”

17. “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

18. “I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.”

19. “Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual.”

20. “understanding a question is half an answer”

21. “True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us”

22. “He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.”

23. “To be is to do”

24. “The mind is everything; what you think you become”

5 Ways You Can Be Happy NOW Without Changing a Thing

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Chinh Pham | CATEGORIES: happiness, self improvement

“I wish that I had let myself be happier.”
This is one of the top five regrets of dying people. We often have this false sense of immortality, that we can take life for granted, put off resolving conflicts with our loved ones, and avoid doing the things we love because we think there’s “still time”. We put off our happiness and instead keep striving endlessly to achieve yet another accomplishment, never really accepting who we are and realizing that happiness must come from within.
I am also guilty of this. For the longest time I struggled with being happy and content because I didn’t think I was thin, rich, or successful enough. I put off doing the things I loved, like traveling, getting dressed up to go out with my girlfriends, or celebrating my accomplishments because of these beliefs. And I didn’t allow myself to be happy because I felt like I wasn’t “there” yet in regards to having my dream life.

Sound familiar?
The ironic thing is, I did achieve a certain level of success, abundance, and fitness that many would be envious of! I moved across the country in pursuit of a richer living experience. I worked out like a maniac and felt healthier than I had been in years. I rose above all my fears to quit my day job so I could grow a business centered around changing people’s lives and living my purpose, and yet, was I really happy?

No, I wasn’t happy. The struggle was continuous for me. I still wanted to achieve more, have more, wanted things to be different so I could have a “perfect” life. And it was EXHAUSTING.
There is no perfect life. There is just life and all the experiences that come with it.

Now I know what you may be thinking. You don’t want to allow yourself to be happy because you’re afraid of growing complacent or settling, which will prevent you from moving forward or progressing in your life. Or you’re resisting being happy because you say, how can I be happy when my current situation sucks? Being happy now means that you’re ENJOYING your life while still making those necessary changes: pursuing your goals and dreams, appreciating the things and people around you, and just being present to the beauty and joy that is everywhere. You get to just finally ENJOY life!


So here’s why it’s critical to be happy now:

• Life is short. Today is a gift and tomorrow is no guarantee. We can’t predict what will happen, so the only moment you truly have is NOW. Make the most of it by being happy and enjoying your life!
• You want more success, love, or fulfillment? Then be happy! Sounds counter-intuitive, but being happy now will attract the things/changes you want for your life, instead of the other way around!
• Your goal to be happy is a moving target; you’ll never really reach it. You may think that you’ll be happy and fulfilled after you find that perfect relationship or build a business that is financially and spiritually fulfilling, but once you accomplish that goal, you will have created 2 more in its place.
•  

It doesn’t matter where you are, how you are, or what you don’t have in your life. You CAN be happy now without changing a thing about your current situation.
Here’s how:
1. Let go of the crap from your past
Many people overlook this step. Or they think they’ve let go and made peace, when in actuality they still carry these resentments, memories, and beliefs around with them, clogging their energy level and ultimately harming their self-love and self-worth.

And I was no exception either. The resentments and hurts from my past were what prevented me from taking my life and my business to the next level. They held me back from feeling like I DESERVED to upgrade my life. And the scary thing was, I was very unaware of how toxic these thoughts were to my happiness and well-being!


“When you hold onto resentments, the only person you’re harming is YOURSELF.” [Tweet this!]
It’s like you’re drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. It’s just not going to work!
You may think that from this point on you just need to focus on doing the “right” things, like overcoming your fears, taking big action, thinking all the right thoughts, or being positive, etc. But you will eventually hit an energetic barrier. It will start to feel unnatural because you’ll be forcing yourself to take action from a place of desperation instead of inspiration.  And who wants to live life forcing ourselves to do things we really don’t “feel” like doing?

Additionally, deep down, your sneaky little ego will continue to fuel your self-doubt and unworthiness, which will end up preventing you from taking the bold action steps in order to take your life or business to the next level.


2. Choose to be exactly who you are and where you are at this very moment
The key word here is CHOICE.
So you hate your current job, career, or relationship. And all you do all day is think about how much you hate it and how you want to change it, or complain to others about it, and resist the fact that it IS your reality. By resisting your current situation, you are actually perpetuating it.
Think about it, exactly how long have you felt “stuck” in your situation, despite all your good intentions and effort to get yourself out of it?

What you resist persists. What you leave alone will disappear. Don’t believe me? Try it on.
Instead of resisting where you are in your life, e.g. career, business, relationship, health, etc, what if you CHOSE it? What if you CHOOSE to be exactly where you are now? How would you feel differently about your current situation? Can you start to feel the RELEASE of pressure and anxiety from constantly fighting or trying to change your current reality? Are you starting to see it diminish in intensity?

When you accept exactly where you are and stop spending time and energy fighting or wondering why you’re in your current situation, you free up mental, spiritual, and emotional energy to take different action so you can create the results you want for your business and life.
You may think it’s defeatist, but in actuality you are empowering yourself to OWN exactly where you are so you can begin to create an alternate reality for yourself.


3. Be grateful
You’ve heard this one before. Be grateful for where you are and what you have. This is also something I need to be reminded of daily too. So do it now. Take out a piece of paper and answer the following questions:

• What are you grateful for?
• Who are you grateful for?
• What is already abundant in your life?
• What is already working wonderfully in your life?
• What are the things you’re happy about?
• What accomplishments can you celebrate?

I guarantee if you do this exercise or journal about it on a daily basis, you will not only be happier, but you will bring even more abundance, joy, and miracles into your life.


4. Stop striving and just be
Stop striving to reach a target that keeps on moving! Achievement of one of your goals only brings temporary happiness until you can accomplish the next big thing. It is a vicious cycle that will leave you frazzled, burned out, unfulfilled, and NEVER really enjoying or appreciating the moment you are in. You will miss life’s miracles by only living in the past or the future.


5. Let go of your identification with all the crap you’ve been carrying around
Sometimes we don’t realize that we can get really wrapped up in our limiting beliefs to the point of not seeing anything beyond that, i.e. we begin to IDENTIFY so much with the fears, self-doubt, and feelings of unworthiness that it becomes our reality. 

We’ve lived with them for so long that we’re not even sure what’s underneath all that gunk anymore (well let me remind you: your wondrous, luminous, gorgeous, and amazing self!). So we cling onto this obsession and it becomes almost impossible to get out of that dark place, i.e., we cling onto that victim mentality.
So, are you shielding behind being a victim of your own life? It may be more subtle then you realizd! Even if you are not, it’s time you let go of your identification with all the crap that’s been holding you back.
Decide to move past the negative things people have said or led you to believe about yourself, about you failing, not being good enough, never making it, being weird, stupid, ugly or fat!
It’s time you stopped giving them power by living like these false beliefs are your truth! Liberate yourself by letting go of other people’s beliefs.


6. Do the things you love today
As a matter of fact, stop putting off doing things in general! What is that thing you’ve always dreamed of doing? Jump out of a plane? Backpack around the world? Write a children’s book? Fly an airplane? We often don’t go after these things because we are afraid of failing or we think we have lots of time so we put them off. Shift this type of thinking by remembering that life is short! Don’t end up on your deathbed having all these regrets that you didn’t live your life fully when you had the chance.

So now I want to hear from you. Here is some food (questions) for thought.
What are you not doing or putting off because you are not as successful, rich, skinny, or happy as you want to be?

What if you allowed yourself to be happy NOW?
What do you CHOOSE for your life now so you can empower yourself and create the change you want?

How can you unidentify with all the emotional baggage and limiting beliefs you’ve been carrying around?

8 Popular self-Help Recommendations That are not that Helpful After All

Let’s stop kidding ourselves, some of these self-help tips just make life more difficult. There’s too much pressure to be positive.

I’m probably about to make more than a few of you angry at me, and the rest of you might just stand and applaud. None-the-less, I am about to tear a hole in the proverbial good guy and make the anti-hero seem like the logical one.

In this day and age, we need more understanding and fewer self-help gurus that make everything look easy.

WARNING

I’m going to go ahead and post a trigger warning right here so you know I’m about to destroy all your preconceived notions of getting things done. Not everything you’ve been taught from your positive peers and self-help manuals is actually good for you.
I am about to bust out of traditional feel good routines and show you how to really get past the crap that builds up in your life. So, put on your seat belts and take your “please don’t offend me” medications. It might get rough.

I present to you popular self-help strategies that aren’t that great.

A self-help tip, strategy or piece of advice is usually a positive statement or direction. This advice, I will admit, is given with the best intentions. Unfortunately, these little tips cause more negative effects in the long run.

Venting

So, I think this was my hardest thing to understand. I was always told to talk to people about my problems in order to get better, feel better or find a solution. The consensus is to share to release the negativity, to heal oneself, right.
Well, this is not always the best thing to do. In fact, venting can cause more damage than it helps. And of course, there is a difference in venting and getting in touch with your emotions, after all. To say we shouldn’t share out true feelings is false, but to go about complaining about everything is simply annoying and bad for your health.

Diets

I get disgusted hearing people talk about going on diets. It makes me want to eat more and not worry about it. This suggestion has caused many people to stop trying, those that otherwise desire to get back into shape, or their ideal condition, that is.
First of all, no one should be told to improve their appearance, but if they choose to, then telling them to go on a diet is not the solution. Diets don’t work. I remember writing an article about this topic back in 2008. Guess what, I still think diets don’t work.

Diets are simply fads, like wearing the newest fashion for a while before changing your look once more. It’s a phase and it will pass because diets are not designed to help you but designed to market products. Instead of dieting to make a change, just gradually change your lifestyle, transforming yourself over time for a more permanent solution.

Positive thinking

I have had it with those people who always squawk about being positive. I mean, every time you try to discuss something bad that happened or could happen, they are quick to say, “Don’t be so negative.” But what if being negative was the best way to approach the topic?

In some cultures, purposely thinking of negative scenarios helps anxiety sufferers face their fears. And guess what? They were successful too! Where all this positive reinforcement used to be the way to go, the road is now paved with negative thoughts, not random worrying mind you, but realistic ruminations that just might change your life for the better. Don’t believe me? Look it up.

Faith

I’m about to step on some toes and make the choir drop their song books. But people, this is why we get curious about church, temple or synagogue, but we cannot make ourselves step through the door! We just don’t have enough faith for you! Not only do we lack the faith, but we are reprimanded because we’re just not strong enough to blindly believe. If you’re trying to get us through the doors, we’re backing away by the minute. Some of us are running away.

And not all of us want to attend service/mass… whatever, but all of us want to feel like whole human beings. I think hearing that we have no faith means that we shouldn’t try because no matter what we do, without faith, we are doomed to failure.

The truth is, it’s okay to have weak faith, it’s okay to doubt because, in today’s world, we cannot be sure. People keep kicking us when we’re down and it’s hard to believe they won’t do it again. It’s even unhealthy to have faith like this. Give us a break. Let us just be normal human beings that don’t know for sure!

Invincibility

I bet you’ve heard this saying millions of times, “you can do anything you put your mind to.” If you haven’t heard it before, you just did, and doesn’t it sound corny? Well, that statement is cute and all, but it irritates me to no end, and I will tell you why.
Telling someone that they can do anything is a lie, plain and simple. I know, as humans, we are capable of great things, and we may not be aware of some abilities. We could be great scholars and scientists if we went to school to study these things and really put forth the huge effort, but then again, maybe we can’t do this at all.

Not everyone is capable of doing the exact same thing as someone else. We have natural talents and we also have various weaknesses. I think it’s a bad idea to tell us we can conquer the world when maybe our destiny is only to get our butts up in the morning and get to our job at the supermarket. Think about it, somebody is needed in all walks of life, so leave them alone. Let them do what they feel that they can.

Ignoring problems

“If your stomach hurts, just ignore it. The pain will go away if you don’t think about it.” That statement makes me furious and honestly, I wish they would shut up with their self-help mumbo jumbo. If I am in pain, I want it to go away, NOW!

There is no sense in seeing someone hurting and telling them to think about something else or tell them that it’s all in their minds. This kind of thinking is present in mental health situations and it’s what has caused much of the stigma involved in that area as well.

Oh, if we can only stop thinking about depression, it will go away, right? Wrong, in fact, ignoring a problem will even make it get worse.

Leave your comfort zone

You knew this one was coming. I talked about this extensively in a previous post It’s Okay If You Don’t Step Out of Your Comfort Zone and received mixed reactions. Listen, leaving the comfort zone may work for some people, but for others, it’s terrifying and can even make them want to give up. Sometimes there is just too much stimulation out there for us to leave our little nests.

And we are familiar with everything that goes on in our comfort zones – we have reliable friends, comfortable nooks to spend our down time and our own little ways of doing things. You may want to travel the world to satisfy your desires, and that’s perfectly fine, but we may want to relax in our little shells and read a good book. To each his own, that’s what I say.

Change

Last, of all, I want to discuss change. As you know, society is always advocating change as a way to transform your life. But what if change was exactly what turns you into something that you’re not and causes you to be miserable? If you are a person who truly likes themselves, then changing things could be the wrong way to go.
The only time that change is good is when you choose to make the change for better concerning healthy choices, ditching addictions and removing bad influences and toxic individuals. Never should change be something suggested or forced in order to “make you a better person”. Becoming the best you can be will be up to you, and only possible with your choices – if you change or not.

The rides over, guess you survived…now get out!

Look, I speak roughly to you because I care. I see so many people trying hard to force these “positive” standards upon their lives. It grieves me to see others in places where I used to be, always striving to keep a positive attitude, faking the smile and reading every self-help book on the shelf.
I might not candy coat my words, but you can rest assured that I will give you the best advice that I know how. So stop listening to everyone else’s opinion on your life, and start living it as your own.

If you need to get mad, get furious if you need to sleep in, take the day off, and if you feel like you need to cry, then get up in your comfort zone and let it all out.
This is what matters, this is real. You do what you need to do in order to be happy with yourself. And if it takes being negative for a while, then that’s okay too!

According to Studies ONE Quality In Men Is More Attractive Than Good Looks And A Sense Of Humour

According to Studies ONE Quality In Men Is More Attractive Than Good Looks And A Sense Of Humor

A million dollar question: what does a woman want in a man?
This question had many single men seek for an answer over the years, but a recently study had finally provided some answer. And no, it’s not good looks, nor a sense of humor…

Of course women find good-looking men desirable—but if they have to pick one, they’ll probably choose the altruistic guy over the hunk.

The results quote “further evidence of the importance of altruism in women’s mate choice preferences,” a research team led by the University of Worcester’s Daniel Farrelly writes in the journal Evolutionary Psychology. It confirms that selflessness is “a highly important characteristic trait women look for in long-term partners.”

The study featured 202 straight women recruited online, most of whom were in their early 20s. They looked at 12 sets of photographs, each of which showed the faces of two men—one handsome, the other much less so.

The images were accompanied by scenarios, eight of which described situations where altruism played a key role. One typical scenario read as follows:
“Two people are walking through a busy town, and notice a homeless person sitting near a cafe. Person E decides to go into the cafe to buy a sandwich and a cup of tea to give to the homeless person outside. Person F pretends to use his mobile phone and walks straight past the homeless person.”
 
The altruistic behavior was ascribed to the handsome man in some scenarios, and the not-so-handsome man in others. In still others, neutral behavior was attributed to both, allowing researchers to determine the importance of looks when the guys were described in similar terms.

Read After: Study Suggests That Men Need To Get Drunk With Their Friends Twice A Week To Stay Healthy
After scanning the photos and reading the scenarios, the women rated (on a one-to-five scale) how attractive they found each man, for both a brief affair or a committed romantic relationship.

“Individuals who displayed high levels of altruism were rated significantly more desirable overall,” the researchers write. While the self-absorbed guys were viewed as more attractive candidates for a one-night stand—suggesting a night with a “bad boy” retains its short-term appeal—altruistic guys were rated as “more desirable for long-term relationships.”

“Men who were just altruistic were rated as more desirable than men who were just attractive. If a man possesses only one of those traits, it is altruism that is more valuable.”

What’s more, “being both attractive and altruistic made a man more desirable than just the sum of the two desirable parts,” the researchers report. A handsome guy volunteering at a soup kitchen will catch a lot of women’s eyes.

This research is consistent with a German study we reported on last year, which found engaging in altruistic behavior increases the odds you’ll find a romantic partner the following year.

This latest research also offers encouraging news to all those bitter guys on the Internet whose resentment toward women stems from romantic rejection: Maybe you’re not being turned down because of your looks, but because of your attitude.

Why Men And Women Think Differently. This Guy Nails It.

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The man of the hour is Mark Gungor, one of the most sought-after up and coming public speakers on marriage and family in the United States today.
He’s also a pastor and an incredibly funny guy which is probably why people love him because his part preacher, part comedian, part councelor.
His “Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage” seminars attended by thousands and thousands of people and are growing in popularity more and more with each passing day. He also has a unique quality of adopting his approach speech wise to both religious and non-religious groups.

Quit Stalling Quit smoking Today

Quit Stalling
Quit Today

So you’ve decided to quit stalling and quit smoking – congratulations!

Sometimes it helps to know how other people, smokers like you, have managed to kick the habit, so we’ve compiled some of the best tips that real ex-smokers have given us. Of course we also have a few tips of our own, and you can always call Quitline for free, confidential advice to suit you.

 

Janine's story

Whenever you do have a craving, give yourself a high five. I’m not going to give in to the nicotine addiction

 

Davina's story

I made plans to go straight to the gym as soon as I woke up, instead of going for the first cigarette and coffee

 

Buster's story

I'll eat a piece of fruit, or have a drink of water. I just do something different

Rose

I have been using patches which help.

Ben

Throw away lighters and ashtrays.

Ben

Take one day at a time. When the first day rolls over into the next, you are on your way!

JAY

I gave up coffee and alcohol and used mints to keep my mouth fresh and the cravings away.

Susie

Treat yourself at the end of each month with the money you would have spent on cigarettes.

David

I bought a large money tin and have been putting $20 away every day.

Carol

I took up a craft that I had always wanted to do with my cigarette money.

Peta

I started having hot water with lemon each morning instead of tea or coffee and made myself have a shower as soon as I woke up, no matter what.

Ben

Sit in a different place in the morning…you'll crave but keep focused and the cravings only last one or two minutes.

Victor

My biggest hurdle is driving without a cigarette in my hand. I drive all day long so chewing on mints and holding a pen in my hand seems to be working.

Paul

A night out on the drink was when I had started smoking again in the past - so I avoided that for a while.

Peter

I used the patches and rang Quitline for support.

Sarah

Instead of smoking I would go for a walk or just talk to friends.

Julie

Every time I thought of a cigarette I did something else, like if I was watching tv and the thought was there I would go and make a cup of tea.

Sabrina

"…instead of smoking and drinking we are now doing long walks every evening and I have never felt so good."

Anne

The first day of my journey was the most important, I set small milestones. I told myself, don't smoke in the car for the hour long drive into work

Sarah

"…find your inspiration, your passion that makes you want to quit. Whether it's someone you like, a trip you want to go on, family and/or friends you love, your health or just you!

Keith

I try to spend a bit more time doing things I would never normally associate with a smoke: bicycling, swimming, meditating, bit of exercising. I booked off work the first week.

Get ready checklist

• 

  Make a doctor's appointment

  Patches are available at a more affordable subsidised cost on prescription from a GP.
• 

  Quitline

  Call Quitline today.
• 

  Stick to your quit date

  If you have to change it, set a new date straight away.
• 

  Get rid of cigarettes the night before

  If you have some left in the house, destroy them - drown them in the sink. If you really want a cigarette, you’ll have to go the shops to buy them, this leaves more time to talk yourself out of it.
• 

  If you live with a smoker, talk to them about quitting

  It can help to tell them about your plans and get their support.
• 

  Plan your quit day

  What will you do first thing in the morning? Make sure you have water and healthy snacks on hand. If you plan to exercise more, make sure your equipment is ready. E.g. make sure your bike tyres are pumped, or you’ve got your gym gear ready.

Say no to Roundup! Make this 2-ingredient natural herbicide instead for your garden.

Say no to Roundup! Make this 2-ingredient natural herbicide instead for your garden.

This awesome guest post was written by Aamar Khwaja, Inventor of modgarden (Mod Garden). Aamar is a health advocate and on a mission to see everyone eat healthily!  As organic produce and gardening has become more and more common in the past few years, we have become increasingly health-conscious and aware of the dangers that many commercial products present to our health. Today, you’ll find that most supermarkets have relatively good-sized sections of their store devoted to organic fruits and vegetables.
However, contrary to what many people believe, organic does not automatically mean that the products are pesticide- or chemical-free. In fact, in many states, organic farmers are allowed to use a variety of chemical sprays on their crops. And for those interested in their own organic gardening, what products can we use that are both safe and helpful in warding off pesky insects and weeds?

Organic Pesticides

So, what does organic mean? This means that, if pesticides are used, they must be derived from natural sources and lightly processed if at all before being used. This is different from conventional agriculture, which uses synthetically-manufactured pesticides.

Furthermore, many organic farmers use other tools, such as insect traps and biological controls (like predator insects and microorganisms) to help dissuade insects from eating the crops.
Additionally, several rules apply to organic farmers, namely that pesticides cannot be applied with equipment that has been used to apply synthetic chemicals for the past three years. According to the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy, the top two organic fungicides were copper and sulfur (1).
Because there is a wide range of practices, it is important to know your farmer. Buy locally whenever possible. Visit your local farmer’s market and interact with the farmers. Ask them about their methods to make sure you know what you’re consuming.

Organic Pesticides For Your Garden

There are more and more plants that produce natural bactericides, fungicides, and insecticides. Many nontoxic household products are often effective in fending off gardening pests, including hostile weeds.

The USDA Recommendation: Insecticide

Materials Needed

• Spray bottle
  
• 1 teaspoon natural liquid dishwashing detergent
  
• 1 cup olive oil
  
• 1-quart tap water
  

Directions

1. In the spray bottle, mix the detergent and vegetable oil, then shake well.
   
2. Add the tap water.
   
3. You can use this mix at 10-day intervals as a spray to ward off aphids, spider mites, white flies, and much more.
   

Liquid Detergent-Alcohol Spray

Materials Needed

• Spray bottle
  
• 1 teaspoon liquid dishwashing detergent
  
• 1 cup rubbing alcohol
  
• 1/4 water
  

Directions

1. In the spray bottle, mix the detergent, rubbing alcohol and water.
   
2. Be sure to test on a few leaves to make sure it doesn’t irritate the plants.
   

Weed Killer

Fill a spray bottle with white vinegar, and add about 1 teaspoon of liquid dishwashing detergent. Spray directly on the plants you don’t want growing.
As the search for organically-grown produce with minimal use of pesticides becomes more challenging, growing your own vegetables or getting to know your local farmers is certainly one of the best options. Stay healthy!
Here are more great tips for your garden!

• 18 Effective Gardening Tips
  
• Grow Endless Supply of Healing Herbs
  
• Urban Gardening Survival Secrets
  

How to spot a liar using these 10 techniques revealed by former FBI Agents--aparently...

Did you ever have the feeling you were being lied to but couldn’t find out? At times like this, advice on how to spot a liar could come in handy.

We should all aim to be trusting and to treat people with respect. We should be able to honour their privacy and their right not to tell us absolutely everything. However, if you suspect you’re being deceived, you have the right to know. When someone is intentionally deceiving you, they lose the right to be dealt with in good faith.

How to spot a liar, then? Well, experts claim that if you know the signs to look for, you can always spot a liar in the act:

1. Start by building trust

According to ex-FBI agent LaRae Quy, if you’re trying to spot a liar in the act, it’s important to build trust in the conversation with a person you suspect, to help the person open up to you. If you start by addressing them in a suspicious or accusatory manner, you’ll get them immediately on the defensive.

2. Listen to how much they are talking

When people are lying, they tend to speak more than people who are being truthful, as if, in trying to cover up the lie, they over-explain, perhaps in an attempt to obscure the truth in words. Also, you should pay attention to their getting louder and/or faster, as both of these show stress. If you hear a crack in the natural tone of voice at some point, this is the point where the lie is told. Other signs to look out for are coughing or clearing the throat repeatedly.
It’s important to note, however, that lying isn’t the only reason why someone might show signs of stress in a conversation. If you are accusing someone falsely or dealing with a subject that would naturally cause someone to feel uncomfortable, you have to understand that these factors alone might stress a person.

3. Have control responses for comparison

When you want to spot a liar in action, ask questions which you know the person will answer truthfully to and use them as a control with which you can compare their later responses to key questions. If the person’s default is calm, for example, and then becomes anxious or angry, you might have reason for suspicion. It works the other way around too, though, if someone is unusually calm for the key questions, it might show that they are feigning it to cover up their real feelings.

4. Drop an unexpected question

When you’re trying to spot a liar, note that they might be prepared in advance to answer questions deceitfully. But if you catch them off guard by asking an unexpected question, the facade can quickly crumble.

5. Look for insincere facial expressions

It’s almost impossible to fake a genuine smile. People will time fake smiles inappropriately, they’ll smile for longer than they would with an authentic smile and they’ll smile with their mouths but not with their eyes.
You might be able to detect the real emotion combined with the smile if you look closely enough.

6. Watch out for telling lapses and changes in language use

If a person who’s usually perfectly good at remembering things suddenly has a lapse in memory, this can be a warning sign that can help you spot a liar. Also, if their responses are very brief and they refuse to go into detail, this can be another sign to look out for. A person might change the way they speak when they lie. They might start speaking more formally, using, for example, the full name of a key person when a shortened version is the norm (e.g. saying Alexandra, rather than simply Alex). They also might show exaggerated enthusiasm in their responses, using superlatives like ‘amazing’, or ‘brilliant’ to refer to things.

7. Ask to be reminded of specific details in the story in a reverse order

When people are being honest, they tend to add to the story further details and facts as they remember how things happened. When people are lying, they’ll probably just repeat statements they’ve already made so that they don’t trip up and make a mistake.

8. Pay attention to micro-expressions

Paul Ekman, expert in lie detection, believes that what we usually think is a gut feeling that somebody is lying is actually us picking up unconsciously on micro-expressions. A micro-expression is an emotion that flickers across the face involuntarily in a fraction of a second, and which betrays a person who is lying if it’s spotted. For example, when a person is acting happy, a flash of anger might appear on his/her face momentarily, betraying their true feelings. You can be taught to see micro-expressions in only about an hour, but without training, 99% of people are unable to spot them.

9. Watch out for gestures that conflict with claims

People make involuntary gestures when they are lying that reveal the truth. Paul Ekman claims that, for example, when a person makes a statement like ‘x stole the money’ and it’s a lie, they often make a gesture that contradicts the statement, like a slight head shake denoting ‘no’ as they make it, as if the body itself is protesting to the lie.

10. Pay attention to the eyes

When trying to spot a liar, the key is to notice what’s going on with someone’s eyes. Not only do we often see true emotions flicker across the eyes, people also might look away when they tell a lie. It’s normal for a person to look away or look up when they have been asked a difficult question that they need to think about, but when the question is simple and someone looks away, it might be a sign that they’re not being honest.
I don’t know what the worst thing about being lied to is. Is it the humiliation of having been taken for a ride? Is it the crushing fall back to earth after someone warped your idea of reality? Is it that you’re robbed forever of the ability to trust another person?

There’s no such thing as ‘what a person doesn’t know doesn’t hurt them’. Make no mistake, lying is a grave sin. When you undermine somebody’s sense of reality, you are undermining the whole basis on which they make life decisions and you’re potentially ruining that person’s ability to relate to people in a trusting and open way.
References:

1. ‘An FBI Agent’s 8 Ways to Spot a Liar’ for Inc.com
2. ’10 Ways to Catch a Liar’ on Web MD
3. ‘6 Ways to Detect a Liar in Just Seconds’ on Psychology Today

New Role Discovered For Brain Region

Neuroscience NewsMay 3, 2017

FeaturedNeuroscience6 min read

Summary: Lower doses of the common antibiotic Doxycycline reduces toxicity of alpha synuclein and may be used to help treat Parkinson’s disease, a new study reports.
Source: NYU Langone Medical Center.

Focusing attention during decision-making.
Long thought to simply pass on information received from the senses, the thalamus may also quickly assemble the circuits that enable successful decisions. This newfound function for this small, center-brain region is the main finding of a study led by researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center and published May 3 in the journal Nature.

The study focuses on the part of the thalamus associated with the prefrontal cortex or PFC, the brain region traditionally linked to “executive functions” like working memory, the ability to focus attention, and decision-making.

Using live mice and computer simulations of neural circuits, the study authors found that the “mediodorsal” thalamus strengthens connections within the PFC rather than strictly relay information to the cortex as previously thought. This strengthening informs decisions by enabling PFC circuits to “hold in mind” experience-based rules on what to pay attention to, say the authors.

“Our study provides the clearest demonstration to date that the mediodorsal thalamus or MD may be the conductor of connectivity between circuits as the brain attends to previously learned rules and makes decisions in real time,” says study senior investigator Michael Halassa, MD, PhD, an assistant professor at NYU Langone’s Neuroscience Institute.


“This new understanding also implicates the thalamus in cognitive deficits that come with diseases known to proceed from connection problems in the cortex, from attention deficits to the psychosis seen in schizophrenia to sleep problems,” says Halassa. “Our results support the theory that cognition in general could be improved by adjusting thalamic function.”


Newfound Circuitry System
In the current study, researchers examined how the MD and PFC interact as mice used experience-based rules to determine which sensory stimuli to pay attention to (flash of light versus sound) to gain access to a food reward. The researchers found that enhancing MD activity magnified the ability of mice to “think,” driving down by more than 25 percent their error rate in deciding which conflicting sensory stimuli to follow to find the reward.

To the contrary, increasing the activity of prefrontal cortex directly destroyed the ability of the mice to make the right decision based on previous training (drove success down to a 50/50 chance in some cases). The interpretation is that this caused interconnected cortical circuits encoding conflicting rules to fire at the same time.


The experiments suggest a new theory for how the mammalian brain operates, says Halassa. It may have developed the flexibility to make complex decisions by wiring the many associations on which decisions depend into weakly connected cortical circuits. This strategy would only work though if the thalamus was there to amplify the connectivity (signaling strength) of just the circuits in the cortex appropriate for the current context.

The study focuses on the part of the thalamus associated with the prefrontal cortex or PFC, the brain region traditionally linked to “executive functions” like working memory, the ability to focus attention, and decision-making. NeuroscienceNews.com image is for illustrative purposes only. Credit: Life Science Databases.

In terms of methods, Halassa and colleagues stitched into a certain spot in the DNA of nerve cells in these mice the code for a light-sensitive protein. With that in place, the team was able to turn on nerve cell signaling in the MD and PFC by shining light. At the same time, the team had implanted electrodes that measure patterns of nerve cell activity.

The team then designed a test with steps that required mice to consider and combine sensory clues over time to find food as the team recorded brain circuit activity. Halassa says that these precise regimens have enabled his team to perform sophisticated behavioral tests in mice that were once done in non-human primates.

About this neuroscience research article

Along with Halassa, the study was conducted by first author L. Ian Schmitt, Ralf Wimmer, Miho Nakajima, Sima Mofakham, and Michael Happ in the NYU Langone Neuroscience Institute.
Funding: The study was funded supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the Sloan and Klingenstein foundations, and the Human Frontiers Science Program.

Source: Greg Williams – NYU Langone Medical Center
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to Life Science Databases and is licensed CC BY SA 2.1 jp.
Original Research: Abstract for “Thalamic amplification of cortical connectivity sustains attentional control” by L. Ian Schmitt, Ralf D. Wimmer, Miho Nakajima, Michael Happ, Sima Mofakham & Michael M. Halassa in Nature. Published online May 3 2017 doi:10.1038/nature22073

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NYU Langone Medical Center “New Role Discovered For Brain Region.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 3 May 2017.
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Abstract
Thalamic amplification of cortical connectivity sustains attentional control
Although interactions between the thalamus and cortex are critical for cognitive function the exact contribution of the thalamus to these interactions remains unclear. Recent studies have shown diverse connectivity patterns across the thalamus but whether this diversity translates to thalamic functions beyond relaying information to or between cortical regions is unknown.

Here we show, by investigating the representation of two rules used to guide attention in the mouse prefrontal cortex (PFC), that the mediodorsal thalamus sustains these representations without relaying categorical information. Specifically, mediodorsal input amplifies local PFC connectivity, enabling rule-specific neural sequences to emerge and thereby maintain rule representations. Consistent with this notion, broadly enhancing PFC excitability diminishes rule specificity and behavioural performance, whereas enhancing mediodorsal excitability improves both. Overall, our results define a previously unknown principle in neuroscience; thalamic control of functional cortical connectivity.

This function, which is dissociable from categorical information relay, indicates that the thalamus has a much broader role in cognition than previously thought.


“Thalamic amplification of cortical connectivity sustains attentional control” by L. Ian Schmitt, Ralf D. Wimmer, Miho Nakajima, Michael Happ, Sima Mofakham & Michael M. Halassa in Nature. Published online May 3 2017 doi:10.1038/nature22073