Three ways to keep your Brain young

Three ways to keep your Brain young

A third of the brain’s volume is comprised of blood vessels. Maintaining a healthy blood flow to those blood vessels is critical to keep the brain young. Here are three ways you can keep your mind sharp: Source: CNN Exercise Research has shown exercise improves brain health, and it’s never too early or too late to begin. Even moderate exercise has been shown to increase memory, mental processing speed and the size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for forming new memories, even in previously sedentary adults. Simply walking three times a week has been shown to produce significant gains in memory and mental processing speed. Feel […]

Chronic stress can hurt your memory

Chronic stress can hurt your memory

Do you tend to forget things when you’re stressed? Like when you’re late for a meeting and can’t remember where you left your car keys? Or when you have to give a big presentation and suddenly forget all your talking points seconds before you start? Source: CNN There’s nothing like stress to make your memory go a little spotty. A 2010 study found that chronic stress reduces spatial memory: the memory that helps you recall locations and relate objects. Hence, your missing car keys. University of Iowa researchers recently found a connection between the stress hormone cortisol and short-term memory loss in older rats. Their findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience this […]

6 Yoga Exercises You Won’t Be Embarrassed to Do at Your Desk

6 Yoga Exercises You Won’t Be Embarrassed to Do at Your Desk

Many of us sit behind our desks and stare at computer screens for far too much of the day. Although concentrated work can be beneficial to our jobs, it can be taxing on our bodies. The following yoga exercises will help you relieve any tension you might feel after too many hours of poring over spreadsheets. The poses also provide long-term benefits with regular practice. Each pose takes fewer than two minutes to complete, and you can do the whole series in just 10 minutes—but I promise you’ll feel the effects long after. Source:  Harvard Business Review   Breathe deeply throughout the poses because sending oxygen to your muscles allows […]

7 Meaningful Steps to Reduce Stress & Tension in Your Office

7 Meaningful Steps to Reduce Stress & Tension in Your Office

Most of us have worked with various different companies in our life span. Regardless of the deadlines and targets that need to be met, there are work environments that simply thrive on stress and others that keep it to a manageable minimum. Why is that? It often relates to the culture and actions that companies take to achieve just that. Increase results but make a strong effort by taking specific actions to reduce tension. Here are some steps towards that much desired balance: Source 1.  Identify the problem areas The first step to helping your stressed out employees is to find out what they’re stressed about. Stress comes in many […]

PhD Research on Stress Management Techniques | University of Athens

PhD Research on Stress Management Techniques | University of Athens

According to the World Health Organization, stress is a significant problem of our times and affects both physical as well as the mental health of people. Stress is defined as a situation where the organism‘s homeostasis is threatened or the organism perceives a situation as threatening. Stress coping methods are the cognitive, behavioral and psychological efforts to deal with stress. After a thorough literature review some of the following techniques were identified: Transcendental meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction. Source Life exists through the maintenance of a complex dynamic equilibrium, termed homeostasis, that is constantly challenged by internal or external adverse forces, termed stressors, which can be emotional […]

What is Meditation as a practise of Mindfulness?

What is Meditation as a practise of Mindfulness?

Meditation is a practice that requires mindfulness. Contrary to what some people believe, its goal is not to empty the mind of thoughts, but to experience them objectively. That is to say, you experience your thoughts, feelings, and memories as if they were leaves floating down a stream. You watch them all come and go, holding on to nothing. You pay attention only to the moment you’re living in, but it’s a deep attention, which accepts both the painful and the pleasant experiences. Source In practice, some people try guided meditations, in which a 3rd party helps them to direct their focus on different aspects of the moment they’re experiencing. Others […]

Why Mindfulness?

Why Mindfulness?

“I’m so busy, I don’t have time to slow down”: the mantra of our times in this always-connected world. Source Technology promises to make our lives easier, faster and simpler.  But, it’s made our world exceedingly unfocused and overwhelming.  Smartphones and laptops mean there’s no division between work and home.  Our brains, which grow linearly, are overloaded by the exponential complexity of technology, which deteriorates our focus and performance capacity. How do we overcome compounding distractions and evolve into higher-performing individuals?   Enter the science of mindfulness.  MINDFULNESS FOR PEAK PERFORMANCE  Mindfulness is a systematic approach to reprogram our brain and master ourselves to always perform at our peak. Through conscious attention to your mind, body […]

Harvard neuroscientist: Meditation not only reduces stress, here’s how it changes your brain

Harvard neuroscientist: Meditation not only reduces stress, here’s how it changes your brain

Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, was one of the first scientists to take the anecdotal claims about the benefits of meditation and mindfulness and test them in brain scans. What she found surprised her — that meditating can literally change your brain.   She explains: Source: Health Science Journal.gr  & remedyspot.com Q: Why did you start looking at meditation and mindfulness and the brain? Lazar: A friend and I were training for the Boston marathon. I had some running injuries, so I saw a physical therapist who told me to stop running and just stretch. So I started practicing yoga as a form of […]