Dehydration and Brainpower

Brainpower Newsletter

Dehydration affects mental performance and may be more common than people think. That's the premise of the short piece below.

I'm a little light on content this week, because I'm in Michigan visiting family. But be sure to check out the page reminder and new ideas sections below to see if you have read these pages. And I did include a new riddle.

Enjoy the newsletter!

In Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All, Carla Hannaford, Ph.D., suggests that dehydration can affect memory and attention more easily than we think. The brain is between 75% and 90% water. She suggests that for peak brain fitness, you drink 6 pints of water (or other fluids) daily.

I'm not convinced that we need to drink that much. Our hydration needs probably vary from person to person and are influenced by what we are eating as well (water-rich foods - some fruits, for example - certainly reduce our need to drink as much water). However, if you suspect that you are not drinking enough, you might try drinking more to see if it helps your mental abilities. You know how I feel about these things: If it is safe and cheap, why not give it a try?

- A study at the University of Washington in Louisville found that people with red hair are more susceptible to pain. They even need more anesthesia before surgery.

- The eggplant got its name because they used to be mostly white like hen's eggs. Breeding made the purple colored ones more common.

- Horses, reindeer, pigeons, dogs camels and cats have been used to deliver mail. Yes cats. The town of Liege, Belguium tried using cats to deliver mails in 1879, but it the cats were to unpredictable, so the service soon stopped.

People love those who make them laugh.

Imagine if you were the life of the party. You know, the one that everyone turns to for a great joke or comedy routine, the legend that everyone wants to know. Would you like that? Then go get your "How To Be Funny" course right now. Click here for details...

In this list:

ant, bird, zebra, spider, _________

Which of the following should be next, and why?

monkey, elephant, giraffe, dog, beetle

(Answer is below)

There is a simple experiment that NLP practitioners have people do to demonstrate how our bodies affect our thinking. You slouch down in a chair with your mouth hanging open and try to do math problems in your head. Then you sit up straight, close your mouth, take a deep breath and do some mental math. Almost everyone finds it easier to do the second way. So try better posture for better thinking. What works specifically for you may take some experimentation (I can't sit too straight), but your body does affect your mind.

Imagine if you knew how to spot a lie, how to prevent lies from being told, how to trap a liar and how to get a confession. Would you like that? That is what you'll learn in the new e-book: Lying: Signs Of Lying And How To Trap A Liar.

Having a creative imagination is more than just having an active imagination. To actively imagine things, and see and hear things in one's mind, is an important ability, but it doesn't have to involve much creativity, does it? For example, normal daydreaming is a process of imagination, and it can consist of an elaborate fantasy world, but one mostly full of things that many people think about.

More creative imagination, then, must include...

Continued here:
http://www.increasebrainpower.com/creative-imagination.html

We all know the myth of innovation as a sudden flash of insight that comes from nowhere. It is that "aha" moment, or that light bulb turning on in the mind. This is true to an extent. Einstein, for example, really did get flashes of insight while shaving in the morning. Of course, he was working on the particular problems he had insight into. He didn't suddenly have ideas for new kitchen gadgets or movie plots.

In other words, the innovations he came up, no matter how "sudden" the insightful idea was, came from past and present mental work. Like a singer who works at his craft for ten years and then becomes an "overnight success," innovative people only have "sudden" flashes of insight and new ideas because they have habitually worked and thought in certain ways for some time. To become an innovative thinker, then, why not start cultivating those mental habits?

The Mental Habits Of Innovation

Problems are opportunities. The concept of a "problem" may have a negative connotations, such as being a hassle or stressful, but any problem can lead to an innovation that improves our lives. Not knowing the time lead to small clocks on our wrists. Disease lead to sanitary sewer systems. Look for opportunity in every problem. Even a mundane problem like...

Continued here:
http://www.999ideas.com/innovation.html

Until next time,

Riddle Answer: Giraffe should be next, because it has seven letters. The number of letters is increasing by one in each word.

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