I’m having some hot chocolate at the moment, and I have to say that there are times when a hot chocolate is the best thing you can possibly have. I don’t have this very often, but when I do, it just puts me in a great frame of mind in an instant.
I used to get the same feeling when I would see my exam scores, back in medical school. But once you knew where you stood, you just found the nearest bed and passed out. This is completely different. You drink the hot chocolate, and then get motivated to get something accomplished.
A little news story caught my eye yesterday. It was buried inside the local newspaper, but you never know where you’re going to find a gem.
There’s a competition called the USA National Memory Championship, started in 1997 by Tony Dottino, President of the Dottino Consulting Group. While Tony’s consulting group applied neuroscience to pragmatic applications in the business world, he was amazed to discover that most people were unaware of the amazing potential of their own brains.
As he discussed their unlimited and amazing brains, he discovered that most were deathly afraid to talk about the subject, especially as it related to memory.
Their number one concern: That as you get older, you’ll lose your memory.
Tony set out to educate people, teaching, “Your brain is like a muscle, and must be exercised. When given the proper training, it gets stronger, regardless of age.”
He hooked up with another Tony (Buzan), who had a little thing going in an English pub, where people competed with each other to demonstrate their powers of memory.
The USA Memory Championship was born out of that link.
So what’s Chester’s secret?
I’m getting to that.
Contestants in the Memory Championship compete in events like this:
1. Memorization of 99 names and faces
2. The order of a shuffled deck of cards
3. Poetry
4. Speed numbers
5. A list of 500 words or 1000 random numbers
Hell…I was humbled by just the list.
Chester is the defending National Memory Champion, and has competed for the last seven years.
Along with 3 hours a day of memory exercises, Chester takes fish oil, which he says improves his brain function, (as well as a B-complex vitamin, which he says improves his concentration).
Why? Well at least 30% of the brain is made of DHA, one of the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil. DHA is used by the body to maintain brain cell membranes and boosts brain power. So it’s not surprising that Chester finds fish oil a great resource in boosting his memory.
Good food, exercise, and pharmaceutical grade fish oil will keep your brain functioning at an optimum level, as demonstrated by the defending champ. You can keep your own brain sharp by using an ultra pure pharmaceutical grade fish oil from the deep arctic waters of Norway.
Baby boomers rate memory loss and Alzheimer’s as their number one health care concern. Pharmaceutical grade fish oil, along with a good diet and exercise can help keep your mind clear and sharp for a long time to come.
We might not be able to win the National Memory Championship, but we’ll be able to remember where we parked.