Simple Tricks to Sharpen Thinking and Memory Skills

                  

                       Simple Tricks to Sharpen Thinking and Memory Skills

Using these memory-enhancing techniques can help improve your ability to learn new information and retain it over time.

1. Repeat

One of the golden rules of learning and memory is repeat, repeat, repeat. The brain also responds to novelty so repeating something in a different way or at a different time will make the most of the novelty effect and allow you to build stronger memories. Examples of using repletion include:

• Taking notes.
• Repeating a name after you hear it for the first time.
• Repeating or paraphrasing what someone says to you.

2. Organize

A day planner or smart phone calendar can help you keep track of appointments and activities and can also serve as a journal in which you write anything that you would like to remember. Writing down and organizing information reinforces learning.

• Try jotting down conversations, thoughts, experiences.
• Review current and previous day’s entries at breakfast and dinner.
• If you use a planner and not a smart phone, keep it in the same spot at home and take it with you whenever you leave.

3. Visualize

Learning faces and names is a particularly hard task for most people. In addition to repeating a person’s name, you can also associate the name with an image. Visualization strengthens the association you are making between the face and the name. For example:

• Link the name Sandy with the image of a beach, and imagine Sandy on the beach.

4. Cue

When you are having difficulty recalling a particular word or fact, you can cue yourself by giving related details or “talking around” the word, name, or fact. Other practical ways to cue include:

• Using alarms or a kitchen timer to remind you of tasks or appointments.
• Placing an object associated with the task you must do in a prominent place at home. For example, if you want to order tickets to a play, leave a newspaper ad for the play near your telephone or computer.

5. Group

When you’re trying to remember a long list of items, it can help to group the items in sets of three to five, just as you would to remember a phone number. This strategy capitalizes on organization and building associations, and helps to extend the capacity of our short-term memory by chunking information together instead of trying to remember each piece of information independently. For example:

• If you have a list of 15 things on your grocery list, you can group the items by category, such as dairy, produce, canned goods, and frozen foods.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS :- DYSLEXIA

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS :- DYSLEXIA

Learning to read - the child, despite having normal intelligence and receiving proper teaching and parental support, has difficulty learning to read.

Milestones reached later - the child learns to crawl, walk, talk, throw or catch things, ride a bicycle later than the majority of other kids.

Speech - apart from being slow to learn to speak, the child commonly mispronounces words, finds rhyming extremely challenging, and does not appear to distinguish between different word sounds.

Slow at learning sets of data - at school the child takes much longer than the other children to learn the letters of the alphabet and how they are pronounced. There may also be problems 

remembering the days of the week, months of the year, colors, and some arithmetic tables.

Coordination - the child may seem clumsier than his or her peers. Catching a ball may be difficult.

Left and right - the child commonly gets "left" and "right" mixed up.

Reversal - numbers and letters may be reversed without realizing.

Spelling - may not follow a pattern of progression seen in other children. The child may learn how to spell a word today, and completely forget the next day. One word may be spelt in a variety of ways on the same page.

Phonology problems - phonology refers to the speech sounds in a language. If a word has more than two syllables, phonology processing becomes much more difficult. For example, with the word "unfortunately" a person with dyslexia may be able to process the sounds "un" and "ly", but not the ones in between.

Concentration span - children with dyslexia commonly find it hard to concentrate for long, compared to other children. Many adults with dyslexia say this is because after a few minutes of non-stop struggling, the child is mentally exhausted. A higher number of children with dyslexia also have ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder), compared to the rest of the population.

Sequencing ideas - when a person with dyslexia expresses a sequence of ideas, they may seem illogical for people without the condition.

Autoimmune conditions - people with dyslexia are more likely to develop immunological problems, such as hay fever, asthma, eczema,and other allergies.

BENEFITS OF ALOE VERA JUICE FOR HEALTH

Benefits of Aloe Vera Juice for Health

DIGESTIVE CURE:   Aloe Vera is very useful for curing bowel problems due to its high anti-inflammatory properties.Aloe vera also helps in the growth of good bacteria in the gut, this keeps all digestive disorders at bay.                                                                                         FOR MUSCLE AND JOINT PAINS:                                                                           Applying the gel externally can ease muscle and joint pains.  But do not forget to use freshly prepared gel.                                                                                                                       For Heart Reflux:                                                                      Having severe digestive problems? Drink Aloe Vera juice as it reduces symptoms of heart reflux and stabilizes the alkaline levels of the body. It has soothing effect on the stomach walls and reduces heart burn and discomfort.Due to its laxative properties; it also treats constipation.                                                                                                               Reduces Cholesterol level:                                                          Aloe is great for maintaining the cholesterol level by reducing triglycerides. Include fresh Aloe juice in your daily diet to maintain your cholesterol level and increase the level of good cholesterol.By reducing cholesterol you are protecting your heart from damage.                Healthy Weight Loss:                                                                  You must have taken slimming tablets or tried all the exercises and diets to lose weight. However, you didn’t get the desired results. Do you want to lose weight naturally? Aloe vera juice is the easy and natural weight loss solution. It reduces weight by stabilizing the metabolic rate, reducing lipid levels and helping burn fat.                                                   For Dental or Oral Hygiene:                                                      Studies have shown that regular consumption of aloe juice improves oral health and hygiene. It reduces gingivitis and plaque formation. It provides a relief for cold sores and mouth ulcers.

Washing the mouth with aloe juice improves the oral hygiene. A study from the Journal of Indian Society of Periodontology reveals that the local application of aloe vera juice improves the periodontal health post dental procedures like root canal and scaling. Another study from the Journal of Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine shows that aloe juice helps to reduce oral lichen planus, a common dental problem.                                 Fights Diabetes:                                                                          Aloe Vera is good for diabetes patients because it helps to regulate the blood sugar levels when consumed regularly. However, consult your doctor before you start consuming the aloe juice.You need to have the dose prescribed by doctor so that it doesn’t interfere with the medicines you are having to curb blood sugar.                                                         Helps to Detox:                                                                              Mix 2 teaspoons of fresh Aloe Vera juice with 1 glass of water and drink it everyday early in the morning. This will help detoxify and cleanse your system. Aloe juice helps to treat ulcers and detoxify the digestive system.                                                                         Maintains Gum Health:                                                                Applying fresh aloe gel directly to the gums reduces the pain and inflammation. Since, oral hygiene affects overall health, it is important to curb gum bleeding and inflammation. If gum bleeding is due to bacterial infection, aloe juice helps to fight infections and makes your mouth clean and fresh. No doubt, so many toothpaste and mouthwashes are made of aloe vera extracts!                                                                                                                       Reduces Eye Irritation:                                                                           Create your own natural eye wash with Aloe Vera gel. Mix 2 teaspoons of aloe gel in a cup of water. You can also add a teaspoon of boric acid. Use this eye wash to reduce the reddening and irritation in the eyes.                                                                                 Fights Common Cold and Cough:                                                   Those who suffer regularly from cold, coughs, flu, stuffy nose, bronchitis and other respiratory disorders, Aloe Vera juice is the best natural solution.The Vitamin C content of aloe vera juice ensures protection from common colds that occur with environmental changes.

PLAN YOUR MEAL TO BURN EXCESS BELLY FAT

                           PLAN YOUR MEAL TO BURN EXCESS BELLY FAT 

While planning your meal, here are a few tips on how to make the best diet plan to reduce belly fat for yourself:

1. Always eat something healthy after you wake up and before you work out to start up your metabolism and keep it revving.

2. Make salads the main star of your meal, since they fill up your stomach and don’t have too many calories.

3. Go easy on the store-bought dressings or better still, skip it altogether. Whip up something yourself that is much healthier and tastier without any additives.

4. Drink lots of water throughout the day. This will prevent water retention and will help to flush out any toxins from your body.

5. Do not entirely skip carbs. Instead, try to eat a limited amount of carbs every day to keep your body’s need for carbohydrates in check. For instance, if you like roti cut it down to 1 roti instead of 2 or 3.

6. Always go light on dinner. Dinner is the time when your body starts to wind down for the day, so stay away from anything heavy. Plan a light meal for the night, like a clear soup, a piece of chicken with half a cup of salad, or maybe just a fruit or a glass of milk.

7.  Last but not the least, plan on getting enough sleep. Sleep early since you’re having a light dinner. Staying up late will make you feel hungry again and you’ll need to eat.

ANGER MANAGEMENT

                                                       ANGER MANAGEMENT

Preventive Techniques

• Practice Relaxation, meditation or the like stress releasing or dissolving techniques.
  Practice Holistic Integration Technique (HIT) the simplest and natural Meditation Technique. Use Guided Somato-Psychic Relaxation (DSPR) Technique.
• Try the Who Am I technique
• Improve yourself, develop yourself continuously. Break your Personal Rules of Living regarding anger. Be optimistic, positive and have hope
• Live in the present ( here and now) as far as possible.
• Be aware of yourself, your anger patterns. Find the root cause of your anger – it will be fear or lust or attachment.
• Develop self-confidence
• Accept yourself as such. When you accept your negatives, deficits, you do not have any internal conflict at all
• Be simple, open and authentic
• Love yourself, love others. Unless you love and forgive yourself, you cannot love others or forgive others.
• Develop equal-mindedness in the opposites: good and bad, positive and negative, virtue and non-virtue.
• Avoid over sensuality.
• Avoid revenge, hate and hatred. Avoid mugging up stress.
• Don’t be perfectionistic:
  Inability to accept errors & mistakes of self and others, non-compromising behavior, inability to cope up with failure and longing for success in all and everything etc. creates tension.
• Avoid looking for the negatives in yourself and others.

DIET PLAN TO REDUCE BELLY FAT

                      

                                  Diet Plan To Reduce Belly Fat

1. Oatmeal: There is still much debate whether 

it’s good for you or not. But the fact is that 

oatmeal tastes great and it keeps you fuller for so much longer than any other food.It’s also filled with fiber. Make sure to opt for plain oats rather than the flavored kind, as the latter is filled with artificial flavoring and sugar.

2. Almonds: These are rich in monosaturated fat and contain Vitamin E. Together they combat belly fat and help reduce cholesterol.

3. Olive Oil: Whenever you’re cooking, try to include more olive oil. The hormones present in olive oil trick your brain into thinking that your stomach is full. You could even try consuming a tablespoon of olive oil 15-20 minutes before your dinner in order to eat less.

4. Green vegetable: Including green vegetables, like kale, lettuce and spinach during your lunch and snack time, in order to feel fuller for longer and to prevent yourself from going in for something unhealthy.

5. Dark chocolate: It is filled with zinc and other goodness that help increase body’s satiety levels. Just make sure that you are getting the kind that is low in sugar and is NOT milk chocolate.

6. Less salt: Stop adding extra salt to your foods. Try and add less salt while cooking. Consuming more salt can make your body retain water and bloat up your stomach.

7. Avocado: This fruit is filled with MUFA and contains high levels of beta-sitosterol that help to fight belly fat. Try to include more of this fruit in your breakfast and in your salads to stock upon its benefits.

8. Banana: It helps your body get rid of excess water. The extra amount of potassium that your body gets helps you rebalance the sodium amount. It also helps flush out extra fluid, thus reducing the bloated tummy.

9. Yoghurt: Eating normal yoghurt or Greek yoghurt promotes the growth of healthy bacteria in our belly and eliminates all bacteria and other issues that cause bloating, thus giving you a flatter stomach.

10. Berries: They are fiber rich and are a great slim-down snack. The antioxidants present in berries improve blood flow and help you lose more belly fat.

The best way to reduce belly fat and to improve overall fitness is to keep an eye on what you eat. Plan your meals beforehand and try cooking them yourself. Eat your fill but make sure you don’t overeat. The best time to stop eating is when you’re feeling almost full and just a little pang of hunger is left.

What To Do When You Are Angry

                                           What To Do When You Are Angry

1.This is the most difficult stage to manage because you are the person who is angry and you are the person who is to manage yourself. Try one or more of the following:

2. As soon as you are in control withdraw yourself from the situation to avoid irrepairable or irreversible damage to self, others, relationships, and the environment.                                      

3. When you recognize that you are angry, just stop doing what you have been doing. Walk around or sit calmly for a few minutes.

4. Release the stress (stored due to anger) in a way in which there is least possible harm to self, others, and the environment.

5. Breath deeply. Inhale deeply and hold for a second or two. Then exhale deeply. Repeat a few times.

6. Become aware that you are angry. Just observe yourself.

7. If possible involve in some creative work that can pacify you.

8. If possible, divert your attention to something else that can relax you; like humorous films, calming music, watering your garden, going to beach or park or the like.

9. Postpone the expression of anger again and again.

10. Get into the company of persons you love or who love you and understand you. Speak out to them, if possible.

11. If you have love for children, their presence can pacify you.

12. Even pets can sometimes pacify you.

13. Laugh it out, if you can, by perceiving it in a humorous way.

14. Perceive it creatively and constructively and take it as an opportunity to know yourself, your anger patterns and the situation or other people involved.

15. As far as possible do not swear to yourself or shout like: ‘ I will teach you/him/her a lesson. I will show you/him/her’ etc. This will act as a program and will be stored as negative energy.

SLEEP

SLEEP        

     Sleep and Immunity
It is now fairly proved that sleep has direct effect on the immune system. Our defenses against both bacterial and viral infection are found to be increased during sleep. On the other hand, sleep deprivation reduces our immunity against these diseases. The immune system also becomes overactive with sleep deprivation spending a lot of energy. This makes our body very tired and fatigued.

    Sleep and Beauty
Good sleep with enough deep sleep is found to be very effective to maintaining one's beauty. The skin gets refreshed with new cells during sleep. Both physical and psychological rejuvenation occurs at sleep.
All of us have experienced that if we did not get a restorative and refreshing sleep, we feel week like the old. Continuous insomnia, insufficient sleep or light sleep accelerates the aging process whereas effective deep sleep restores and rejuvenates us and aids in maintaining our physical beauty.

    Learning and Sleep
Many researchers argue that REM sleep is important for the transfer of learned material during wakefulness from Short Term Memory(STM) to Long Term Memory(LTM).

    Dream and Problem Solving
Many people including scientists, artists men of letters and even laymen have reported that they got new ideas from their dreams and even solutions to complex problems have been received through dreams. The famous chemist Kekule, who discovered the benzene ring, has said that he got the idea from his dream. The inventor of sewing machine also reported that he got the idea for designing the needle of the machine from his dream.

    Sleep and Food
It is a well known fact that the food and drinks we consume have significant effect on our sleep. Sleep researchers have found a list of such foods and drinks. Caffeine containing substances like tea, coffee, chocolate, soft drinks etc. are found to disturb sleep. Alcohol and smoking are also found to disturb your sleep. While alcohol may make you drowsy or even push you to sleep, such sleeps are never refreshing -- they are often low level sleep.
Malted milk products, on the other hand, have been found to have sleep-promoting effects.

Tips to improve your self-confidence

                                     
                                                     Tips to improve your self-confidence

1. 1. Improve your self Esteem
   2. Self Esteem depends on how one evaluates oneself, one’s abilities and achievements rather than the quality and quantity of these.By improving one’s self-acceptance. Self-concept, and self-image, one can improve one's self-esteem. Unless one is not able to love oneself, like oneself respect and accept oneself as one is -- with all the defects one has -- it is not possible to have self-esteem. People do not accept one who does not accept himself.
      Keep a good self-imge of yourself in your mind’s eye. Imagine yourself as a strong, confident and decisive person. Foster a positive image of yourself. Never waste your precious time, energy and effort by worrying about your weakness and deficits. Accept your deficits, defects as such understand clearly that worrying and mourning over your defects, deficits, weakness and negatives can never bring their opposites. On the other hand, it will only worsen your position further. So stop worrying over them .
   3. Think and Act Positively
   4. Be positive. Think of your wins and successes. Think of your achievements, positives. Find out new opportunities. Be optimistic and be realistic. Start to act confidently and positively.Write down all your positives, strengths, virtues. Write down the recent successes and achievements you had. Keep the list with yourself and append it whenever possible.
   5. Friends and Peers
   6. Mingle yourself with people who are optimistic, positive and active. Work with those who have confidence in themselves and in yourself. Avoid the company of those who destroy your Self-confidence and enthusiasm.
   7. As – If Technique
   8. Act and speak as if you are confident. As if you are in control of your own destiny, as if you are already a success, as if you are there where you wanted to be, as if you are psychologically a strong person who cannot be affected by external threats of any kind. Act, Speak and believe that you can overcome each and every obstacle, face each and every threat, solve each and every problem.
   9. Helping Others
   10. Help others whole heartedly without expecting anything (even thanks) in return. Help others just for the sake of helping. You will gradually gain more and more confidence by this. Again, some day, someone will reciprocate these in some way or other. At least, you will build up more and more goodwill for yourself.
   11. Be happy
   12. Be happy. Smile. Be friendly and approachable. Believe in yourself and in your abilities. Believe that when one door closes nine new ones open before you. Believe that there are opportunities and look for them untiringly and without hope.
   13. Alignment With Stereotypes and Expectations
       Behave in line with the stereotyped behavior of those who are confident. This easily makes others think that you are confident.Dress neatly and smartly. Keep yourself straight when walking, standing and sitting. Walk with firm steps, do not be absent minded. Keep yourself energetic and vital.
   14. Be active
   15. Be active and enthusiastic. Plan your actions and do it effectively and efficiently. Do it full heartedly. Speak confidently. Don’t' be indecisive. If you are aware of your goal, you'll not be indecisive.

CHARACTERISTICS:- LEARNING DISABLED

                                                    
 Characteristics:-Learning Disabled

1. Academic

-- reading -- confuses similar words and letters, loses place, repeats words, does not read fluently, persists in using fingers to follow along, does not like to read

-- spelling -- uses incorrect order of letters in words, it has difficulty of associating correct sound with appropriate letter, reverses letters

2. Mathematics
-- has difficulty associating number with symbol, cannot remember number facts, confuses columns and spacing, has difficulties with story problems, has difficulty comprehending maths concepts

3. Physical
-- perceptual motor difficulties
-- visual perception difficulties
-- poor visual decoding
-- general coordination deficits (balance, eye -- hand)
-- poor auditory memory (difficulty following sequence of directions)
-- attention deficit
-- mixed dominance (hand, foot, eye)
-- lack of adequate eye movement control

4. Psychological
-- emotional instability (violent reactions)
-- difficulty learning by ordinary methods
-- low social acceptance (disturbed peer relations)
-- low self-concept/self-esteem
-- general disorganisation (time and actions)

5. Social/emotional/behavioural
-- hyperactivity (gross, noisy, constant movements)
-- hypoactivity (quiet, nervous, fidgety)
-- impulsivity
-- poor concentration span (distractability)
-- low frustration tolerance
-- emotional lability (highs and lows)
-- seems paradoxical (may remember past events in minute detail is I cannot remember number facts and spelling just learnt, may build the most intricate models that may be so clumsy s/he trips over his/her feet, make other most fanciful stories start cannot sit still long enough to hear one)

DYSLEXIA

What is dyslexia?
     The problem in dyslexia is a linguistic one, not a visual one. Dyslexia in no way stems from any lack of intelligence. People with severe dyslexia can be brilliant.     Dyslexia is a lifelong challenge that people are born with. This language processing disorder can hinder reading, writing, spelling and sometimes even speaking. Dyslexia is not a sign of poor intelligence or laziness. It is also not the result of impaired vision. Children and adults with dyslexia simply have a neurological disorder that causes their brains to process and interpret information differently.
      Dyslexia is the most common learning disability.Eighty percent of students with learning disabilities have dyslexia.

• Dyslexia is the name for specific learning disabilities in reading.
• Dyslexia is often characterized by difficulties with accurate word recognition, decoding and spelling.
• Dyslexia may cause problems with reading comprehension and slow down vocabulary growth.
• Dyslexia may result in poor reading fluency and reading out loud.
• Dyslexia is neurological and often genetic.
• Dyslexia is not the result of poor instruction.
• With the proper support, almost all people with dyslexia can become good readers and writers.

Role of the teacher in helping Slow Learners

Role of the teacher in helping Slow Learners with special needs:

1.      Data Collection:

Maximum information about such children should be secured and their interests should be discovered.

2.      Special Classes:

Special classes for slow-learning children. 

3.      Partial Segregation:

It has been stated, “The children should be included in the total school set-up, regularly participating in assembly programmes, organized play, and other activities enjoyed by all children. “ The problems should be clearly explained.

4.      Short Assignments:

Assignments given to the students should be broken up into short and simple units.

5.      Drill Work:

Sufficient drill work should be done.

6.      Summarises:

Frequent summaries of the important points of discussion should be used.

7.      Praise:

Pupils should be praised occasionally when they have done their assignments well.

8.      Proper Evaluation:

Good set of tools should be provided for proper evaluation.

9.      Close Supervision:

Supervision should be very close.

10.  Audio-Visual Aids:

Auditory and visual aids facilitate learning among slow learners. 

11.  Opportunities for Creative Expression:

Opportunities should be provided to slow-learning children for expression of creativeness with their hands.

12.  Diagnostic Tests:

Diagnostic tests should be used in working with slow-learning children.

13.  Curricula According to Interests:

Courses and curricula should be selected by the students on the basis of aptitude, interest and need with the help of their counselors.

14.  Vocational Programmes:

Vocational programmes should not be forced upon slow-learners as such children do not always have the necessary  aptitude to acquire vocational skill.

15. Equality of Opportunity in Recreational Programmes:    

Recreational programme athletics, music, art, dramatics, etc., should be opened to all on an equal basis.

16. Remedial Teaching:

Remedial teachers may be appointed who meet such students twice a week.

17. Cooperation of All Agencies:

 All agencies engaged in the children’s welfare work should co-operate to help and guide slow learners.