Memory Boosting Supplements; How Safe are they?

For all those of us who are suffering the effects of aging and finding a lessening in the acuity of our brains, the thought of supplements to boost brain power and memory has to have crossed our minds. Of course what also crosses our mind is are these supplements safe to take? Will they have any harmful side effects and are they really as effective as they say they are?

Take Gingko Biloba for instance. By all accounts this is an effective memory boosting supplement that many recommend. This herbal supplement is extracted from one of the oldest known trees to man, which is also known as the Maidenhair tree. The use of Gingko to cure several ills, for general good health and well being has been practiced in places like China literally for thousands of years. So this is really something that is ‘tried and tested’ so to speak. Also the fact that this is a herbal remedy makes it safe. As long as the supplement you use is not spurious, is of a good quality, and free from any adulteration, Gingko is excellent for you and will cause you no side effects.

A word of caution while using any kind of memory boosting supplements though.

Read more

Sleep and Memory: the Correlation

Did you ever give a thought to the phrase, ‘Let me sleep on it’? Have you noticed how things seem so much clearer and decisions so much easier to make when you have had a good, refreshing night’s sleep?

I recall how during examination days, I would study for a few hours and then take an hour’s nap. That seemed to give my brain the time to consolidate and retain that which I had learnt and studied. If I had a sleep break, I was better able to retain what I had studied, and the material was clearer inside my head somehow.

This is just my personal practical experience of how sleep and memory are linked, there is also a wealth of scientific data now to prove that an optimum amount of sleep is required not just for memory retention but also for good health and well being.

It has been shown that...

Read more

How Memory is Created!

What is so scary about memory is how it is inexplicably lost. For the longest time memory and the functioning of the brain used to be an incomprehensible puzzle for mankind but now as psychological research progresses, we are understanding more and more how the brain works; how memory is created, how it is stored and how it may be retrieved.

I read an interesting explanation about how memory is created here: creating our brain memories is a bit like creating say a word document which will be lost after creating, unless you hit ‘Save’ and it is similar in the case of our brains as well. Our brain also enables us to first create the memories and then to stabilize and 'save' the memories we've created, which can also then be edited.

Read More