Gain an Extra Hour Everyday

Seven time-savers that could change your life


FINDING time to enjoy life is becoming harder and harder. As the average workweek lengthens, leisure time drops.


Yet some of the world's busiest people are able to develop rewarding careers and also make time for family and leisure activities. Here is their best advice, plus that of time-management experts:


1. Use your peak hours


When is the best time to undertake important tasks? Dr. Nathaniel Kleitman, a University of Chicago physiologist, documented that normal body temperature can vary as much as 1.6 degrees Celsius during the day. These patterns correlate with the rise and fall of your working efficiency, mental alertness and feeling of well-being.


Simply lounging in bed in the morning can rob you of productive time. "Long ago I learned a trick that saves me 20 to 50 minutes a day." one busy man told me. "I simply get out of bed when I wake up. Lingering only delays the inevitable, and you aren't getting any real rest anyway."

People tend to be most alert in late morning and midevening. Afternoon brings an increase in sleepiness, with a "through" in effeciency occuring around 2 0r 3 p.m. After body temperature peaks between 6 and 8 p.m., many people experience a decrease in alertness.


Use your high-efficiency hours to tackle difficult jobs or engage in creative thinking. For low-efficiency times, concentrate on reading newspaper, cleaning up or sorting your mail. By adapting to your mental condition, you can accomplish more in less time.


2. Make a plan


Would you drive to an unfamiliar destination without a road map? Time-management experts agree that the most productive minutes of your day are those devoted to planning ahead. Just 20 minutes of organizing can save an extra hour of extra effort remembering what must be done.


"Don't try to carry your life around in your head," says Lucy Hedrick, author of Five days to an Organized Life. "Write things down so you can free your brain for more creative pursuits."


Make a to-do list every day. If you have fewer than ten items, use numbers to prioritize your list. If you have more, group the most urgent tasks under "A," less important under "B" and least vital under "C." Or rank items with different colored highlighters.


In less than ten minutes, New York City attorney Christine Beshar, a mother of four, lists all household tasks to be completed each day. Through good organization, Beshar is able to manage her family and professional responsibilities, and also stay involved in church activities and a university board of trustees---and do everything well.


3. Prioritize paperwork the same way


According to Dianna Booher, author of Cutting Paperwork in the Corporate Culture, American businesspeople spend many hours writing, reading, filing and  retrieving paperwork. What's more, Booher adds, they never again look at much of what they life. To solve this problem, train yourself to focus only on vital paperwork.


Sort out key papers and categorize them: To Do (something to ac on or delegate), To Read (information to digest as soon as practical), and To File (a document for future reference). Put the To Do pile front and center and place the two other piles out of sight. Keeping only major items on your desk prevents time-consuming mental side trips.


4. Discourage drop-ins.


Many working people like to claim their door is always open. Yet the person who welcomes everyone who drops in will get plenty of conservation but won't accomplish much.


The trick is to develop inoffensive ways to protect yourself from minute stealing interruptions. David E. Levy, an international public-relations consultant, uses a variation of the opendoor policy by keeping his door ajar. The message is clear: he really doesn't want you to come in, but you can if it is important.


Another way to handle unexpected drop-ins: apologize for your crowded schedule, then set up a meeting time when things will be quieter, or during a low-effeciency period.


5. Tame the telephone.


There is a story of a farmer whose the telephone constantly rings as he talks to a passer-by outside his door. The visitor is distracted, but the farmer only shifts his pipe. "Pay it no mind," he says. "I put that phone in for my convenience."


Few devices save more minutes----or waste so many more---than the telephone. To short-circuit long-winded callers, says R. Alec Mackenzie, author of New Time Management Methods, set a time limit, the signal the end of your conversation with a phrase such as "Before we hang up...." You can save even more time by not taking every incoming call.


Before you make a call, keep its purpose clear. If you need to cover more than one subject, jot them down, then stay on track. Busy people appreciate directness. Keep a record of when people you call regularly are least busy and call them at those times. Even better, make appointments to call important contacts.


6. Work while waiting


When waiting is inevitable, have some reading matter handy. A briefcase or folder can house a treasure-trove of letters, reports, periodicals and clippings.


7. Take a break


Making the best use of every moment doesn't mean pushing yourself relentlessly. Breaking up your routine can help you work faster and better. A catnap in the middle of the day, for instance, can be energizing. Exercise can also clear your mind and relax your body. Even ten minutes of relaxation with alternate shallow and deep breathing, says Lester R. Bittel, author Right on Time, can psycho you up or calm you down. If time pressures are prolonged, Bittel suggests taking a vacation day or a long weekend.


To help us all gain an extra hour every day, a clockmaker in Dallas has created a timepiece measuring each minute of 57.6 seconds. The 2.4 seconds borrowed from each minute add up to an extra 60 minutes at the end of each day. You can accomplish the same thing, however, by simply managing your time more efficiently---and you'll reap the full benefits.

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Posted in: GainAnExtraHourEveryday,GainExtraHour,Having a Break,Motivation,SevenTimeSavers,Tips

New Help for Headaches

How to prevent the pain -- or stop the pounding


HEADACHES are among the most common health problems that people complain about their doctors. While scientists do not completely understand their precise cause, researchers have made considerable progress in finding treatments.


The vast majority of headaches---tension type, migraine and cluster --- involve an instability of chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters. One of the chief culprits may be serotonin. Abnormal levels affect blood vessels round the head and neck, as well as the flow of pain messages into the brain.


While 95 per cent of headaches are not associated with any underlying disease, you shouldn't try to tough it out. "Generally, the earlier you do something about a headache," says consultant neurologist Dr J.D. Bartleson," the better chance you'll have of reining it in."


Here's what you need to know:


1. Tension-type headaches

Doctors used to call this most common form of headache simply tension headaches. Since researchers have found no clear link to stress, they're no called tension type. They can be either episodic (occasional) or chronic (occurring more than 15 days per month).


Symptoms: Pain is felt as a mild to moderate pressure, ache or tightness, generally on both sides of the head. The pain can last from 30 minutes to seven days.


Treatment: Episodic headaches usually respond to over-the-counter painkillers. For chronic headaches, doctors sometimes prescribe muscle relaxants or antidepressant to reduce frequency.


Applying heat or cold to the affected area or gently massaging your temples may also help, as can regular exercise or relaxation techniques such as yoga and meditation.


2. Migraine headaches


Although far less common than tension-type headaches, migraines afflict around ten to 15 per cent of people, three quarters of them women. At least ten per cent of sufferers experience a warning sign called an aura -- visual abnormalities such as flashing lights, and, less commonly, numbness or tingling in the tongue, arm or face.


Symptoms: Throbbing pain, usually on one side of the head, is often made worse by routine movement, such as walking up or downstairs. Associated symptoms include nausea and sensitivity to light and noise. The pain generally lasts between four and 72 hours.


Treatment: Most people require prescription medication to relieve migraines. A combination of aspirin and the antinausea drug metoclopramide has proved effective.


The new "triptan" drugs work by mimicking serotonin. "I consider triptans breakthrough medications," says Dr. Bartleson. "They reverse the nausea as well as the pain, and they're not habit-forming or sedating."


Avoid migraine triggers such as certain foods (chocolate, aged cheese, red wine, beer, and MSG), stuffy rooms and perfume.


3. Cluster headaches


Perhaps the most severe, this type is relatively rare. Nine out of ten sufferers are men; many are heavy smokers and drinkers. Cluster headaches come in groups -- typically at the same time each day --- and last for days, weeks or months, then disappear for months or years.


Symptoms: A sudden series of excruating headaches on one side of the head. Other symptoms on the painful side may include a stuffed, runny nose, a droopy eyelid and a watery eye. A typical attack lasts from 15 minutes to three hours.


Treatment: Sometimes inhaling pure oxygen at the first sign can stop the headache. Some people gain relief by applying a local anaesthetic in the nostril  on the affected side, or taking the drug sumatripan. Drugs such as ergotamine and verapamil can help prevent the headaches.


Quit smoking and don't drink while you're having the headaches. Also avoid high stress or strenuous exertion during these periods.


Call your doctor if:


1. You suffer a sudden onset of headaches, particularly if you are over 50.
2. You need more headache medication.
3. Your headache is accentuated by exertion such as coughing, bending or sexual activity.
4. Your headaches differ in character from those you've had before.
5. You're experiencing headaches of disabling severity.


Don't overdo the painkillers


Many people with chronic headaches suffer from analgesic rebound, a phenomenon in which pain returns --- possibly worse than before -- after the analgesic wears off. Unaware that this can happen, sufferers pop more painkillers. It can take months to undo the effects.

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Posted in: Disease,Headache,Headache Medication,Health,Medical,New Help For Headaches,Painkillers,Treatment

One Ingredient Missing (True Story)

By: Alex Witchell

Mum passed along the recipes, but there was something she didn't write down.

WHEN I ASKED my mother to give me all her recipes, she was quite offended. "But why?" she snapped. "I'm not dead yet."

"I realise that," I replied, "but if we do this now, you will be here to answer all my questions, right?"

She growl something in assent. The only time she likes logic is when she thinks of it first. So, I made a list of 35 dishes, and she took a year to write them down. She presented them to me with a note that contained the sentence, "Try them, adjust seasoning to taste, and call me if these don't work. "I should have known.

I started with roast turkey, an old family recipe we got from our Brazilian hairdresser. I looked at Mum's instructions. All I needed to do was marinate a turkey for 24 hours in red wine and a long list of seasonings.

Wait a minute. I called her. "Don't you usually put something inside the turkey?" I asked.

"Well, yes," she said. "You can put onions in there, or apples and prunes, or oranges."

"Mum, you have never put anything in this turkey but onions."

She laughed. "Well, you could put in the other things."

"OK. I get it," I said. "This is your passive-aggresive protest to my presuming to take your mummy power away, right?"

She laughed harder. "Oh, and by the way," she said, "slice an onion or two and put it in the pan with some water, for when you baste."

I looked at the recipe. The word onion didn't appear once, much less twice. "Fine," I said coldly.

Her tone became conciliatory now. "Listen, sweetheart," she said. "I used to get upset with my mother, too, whenever I'd ask for her recipes. She never measured anything. She would tell me what I always told you: "Watch me." You do it so many times that you don't  pay attention to how much you use. You see how it smells, how it looks. It's not always the same."

"But I want it to the same," I said. "I want my house to smell the way yours does on special occasions, when everything's delicious and everyone feels lucky  to be there."

"It'll be fine," she said. Her doorbell rang. "If you have trouble, call me." She hung up.

After I put the turkey in, I made mashed potatoes. Growing up in a kosher home, I always felt deprived when it came to mashed potatoes. The only time you could make them for real was to serve with fish, since butter, cream or milk cannot be mixed with meat. In our house, mashed potatoes usually meant  salt and margarine. So over the years I studied different recipes and finally came up with a version I like.

The Turkey cooked faster than Mum said it would. I called my husband and 14-year-old stepson, Simon, to the table. "You made a turkey for no reason?" Simon asked.

"Yeah, I wanted to practise," I said.

"Cool," he answered, while his father carved.

It tasted exactly like my mother's! Maybe all those times I watched her really had paid off. We filled our plates, and talked and laughed and ate. We all had seconds. Simon turned to me, his face aglow. I glowed back. I had done it --- replicated the turkey, made it home.

"These are the best mashed potatoes I've ever had," he rhapsodised.

"Oh, I'm glad," I said.

"How do you make them? he asked.

I went blank. "Butter," I started Ice "Cream.' He nodded. Our plates were emptied; the magic moment has passed. He went to watch TV.

Back in the kitchen, I glanced at the remnants of butter and cream. How much had I used? I couldn't remember, I thought of Simon looking at me, eyes wide. And I realised why writing these recipes had been so hard for my mother. And for her mother. Because it's not about butter or cream or onions. The ingredient you can write down is how much you love your family -- how you relish feeding them, caring for them, watching a child's face transform in an instant, looking up at you with a mouthful of food and safety and wonder.

"How was the turkey?" Mum asked the next day.

"Great," I said. "A big success."

"What did you make with it?" I hesitated. "Mashed potatoes."

"Oh," she replied. "Do you have a good recipe?"

I smiled. "Actually," I said, "I do."

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Posted in: Family,Ingredient,Lifestyle,Mum Recipes,People Story,Psychology,Recipes,True Story

Simple Ways to Boost Your Memory

Last Wednesday was a good memory morning. I remembered to flush the toilet, and I did not leave the toaster oven on. I remembered the name of our neighbour -- while I was saying hello to him. Normally it comes to me hours later. Chatting with people in my office, I'll blurt out, "Rob! It's Rob," effectively derailing an intelligent discussion of some movie or book.

This is secretly fine with me because my colleagues, who are mostly younger than I, are still able to recall  important details from books or films or newscasts they read or saw weeks or even years ago, and I am not. Citizen Kane is that movie where someone has a sled. Schlinder's List is the one in which Ben Kingsley wears glasses like my grandfather's.



I've forgotten the plot of every book I've read, 99 per cent of what I learned at university and all his historical events dating back further than Monday.


I was leading up to something about last Wednesday, was I not? I now have no potion of what it was.

Even more pathetic than what my memory has let go is what it's chosen to retain. I can tell you who played Nurse Consuelo on "Marcus Welby, M.D.," but I can't tell you what we were fighting about in World War I. I can sing you circa-1975 jingles for Cream of Wheat, Beefaroni, Tab, Fab and Ty-D-Bowl, but I can't tell you who H.R. Haldeman was. I recall only that he was involved in Watergate, along with a man name Ehrlichman, and that one of them may have had a high forehead.


PERHAPS CHANGES are in order to help the ageing populace. When historical events are televised, the narration should be sung to a catchy tune. Key players should be identified like actors on TV shows: "...with Tommy Franks as the General." Striking visuals should be used wherever possible. If H.R. Haldeman had held press conferences in a boat floating on a sea of royal blue toilet water, I could damn sure recall sure recall what he was talking about.



Street cleaning! That's I was leading up to. I'd been having a good memory morning, and I was proud of myself for remembering to move my car in time for the Thursday street cleaning. Later my husband informed that it was Wednesday, not Thursday, and I have moved my car just in time to get a ticket.


I believe that intellegence is four-fifth memory, and mine is making a dolt of me. The richness and detail of my knowledge and experience are gone. I am reduced to generalities.



My vocabulary shrinks daily. What's left of it I often use wrong. It would help if people would stop naming things so similarly. Haldeman, Ehrlichman. Uzbekistan, Tajikistan. Glove compartment, medicine chest.


There is one thing I've found that helps relieve the embarassment of memory loss, and that is to marry someone older than you.


Ed is a constant source of solace. He forgets his Social security number. He washes his face in the shower, and then seconds later reaches for the facial soap, puzzled that it is wet. I'll ask him if he remembers our first kiss, and he'll look at me sweetly and say, "No honey. Tell me about it." The poor man has nothing left.



He'll be angry with me for writing about this, but that's OK. By tomorrow he'll have no idea it happened.

TOTAL RECALL

How to get it --- well, most of it --- at any age.

ADVANCING AGE means losing your hair, your waistline and your memory, right? Dana Denis is just 40 years old, but already she's worried about what she calls "my rolling mental blackouts." "I try to remember something ---  a person's name or a place --- and I just blank out," she says.

You may joke about these lapses, calling them "senior moments" or blaming "early Alzheimer's." Is it an inescapable fact that the older you get, the less you remember? Well, sort of. But as time goes by, we tend to blame age for problems that are not necessarily age-related.


"When a teenager can't find her keys, she thinks she's distracted or disorganised," says Paul Gold, a neuroscientist at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "A 70-year-old blames her memory." In fact, Gold says, the 70-year-old may have been misplacing things for decades --- like all we do from time to time.


IN HEALTHY PEOPLE, memory doesn't deteriorate as quickly as many of us think. "As we age, the memory mechanism isn't broken," says psychologist Fergus Craik of the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto. "It's just inefficient."


The brain's processing time slows down over the years, though no-one knows exactly why. Recent research suggest that nerve cells lose efficiency and that there's less activity is worse. A beginning athlete is winded more easily than a trained athlete. In the same way, as the brain gets more skilled at a task, it expends less energy on it."


There are steps you can take to compensate for normal slippage in your memory gears, through it takes effort. We're a quick-fix culture, but you have to work to keep your brain in shape," says Margaret Sewell, director of the Memory enhancement Program at Mount Sinai Medical Centre in New York. "It's like having a good body. You can't go to the gym once a year and expect to stay in top form."


Memory classes will often mneumonic devices -- mental formulas for encoding names, faces and facts. (For instance, when you meet someone named Mike Hawk, visualise a hawk speaking into a microphone.) But it's a lot of work, and if it isn't done everytime, the system fails.


Sewell suggests using the "AM principle." Pay attention to what you want to remember. Then give some meaning to it. We remember things when we focus on them, whether we intend to or not. That helps explain why jingles stick in our minds: They're played on loud, flashy commercials. They also use rhyme and music, both mnemonic devices.


Basic organisations helps you remember the boring stuff. For example, rather than trying to recall a random list of groceries, divide them into categories, such as dairy, meat and produce. And try to cut down on the number of things you have to remember. Set up a "forget-menot spot" where you always put your keys. Make to-do lists. Leave out going bills near the door.


Simply using your brain keeps it strong. "The French call it brain jogging," says Robert Butler, president of the International Longevity Centre-USA in New York. "Exercise your brain with acrostics, reading, debating --- anything to keep  the mind alive."


Exercising your body also bolsters your mind. Aerobic workouts pump blood to the brain, bringing oxygen and glucose, both of which are crucial to the brain, bringing oxygen and glucose, both of which are crucial to your brain function.


A recent study tracked the exercise habits and mental function of nearly 6000 women 65 or older. "For every extra kilometre walked per week, there was a 13 per cent smaller chance of cognitive decline," reports Kristine Yaffe, assistant professor psychiatry and neurology at the University of California, San Fransisco.


Isn't there an easier way -- some pill we can take to sharpen the memory? Recently Gold reviewed the scientific literature on ginkgo biloba, the most popular memory stimulant. "I thought that we would easily be able to dismiss it," he says. "But enough information suggests some effect --- a small effect."


You can also eat to aid your powers of retention. Whole grains, fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of glucose, the brain's preferred fuel. Legumes and green vegetables are rich in folate, which appears to play a special role in preserving memory.


Another low-tech way to improve memory is to get adequate rest. Sleep may allow your brain time to encode memories. A good night's sleep also reduce stress. Short term, stress improves memory. That's a survival mechanism. But after a few hours , the hippocampus starts using 25 per cent less glucose, which may deprive the brain of energy to make memories. Under prolonged stress, the brain actually shrinks.


Try to slow down just a bit, and you might be surprised how much more clearly you think. "If you allow yourself to take time to process new information, the memory problem often evaporates," says Gold.


Take time, too, to live life. Sheer zest --- interest in friends, family and hobbies --- does wonders for your memory. A sense of passion or purpose helps you remember," says Butler. Memory requies us to pay attention to our lives, allowing us to discover in them everything worth remembering.

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Posted in: Boost Memory,Brain Memory,Health,Psychology,Remember,Remembering,Simple Ways To Boost Memory,Tips

You Can Raise Your Child's IQ

Experts explain how


PONDER THIS SCENARIO: As parents of children ages nine and five, you think you've done your best to help them develop their minds. You started reading to them as infants: you bought them eduational toys; you took them to the library. Now they're doing well in school. But should you be taking credit? According to some scientist, your children would have done just as well without your zealous efforts.


For example, in The Limits of Family influence, David C. Rowe maintains that parenting styles have no influence on a child's intelligence is predominantly genetic and varies according to race. In the wake of the controversy that book stirred, The Wall Street Journal published a statement signed by 52 researchers saying studies "indicate that genetics plays a bigger role than does environment in creating I.Q. differences."

After years of being told how important it was to stimulate their children's intellects,many parents have understably become confused. Are efforts to improve their kids' academic skills just time down the drain?


No, say many researchers. The American Psychological Association recently chose a task force to examline genetic versus environmental influences on intellegence. The group's report acknowledge the important roles played both genes and environment (which includes a child's health and nutrition, as well as family upbringing).


Even if genes play a dominant role, that leaves plenty of room for parents to influence the outcome. Indeed, a growing amount of research shows that, especially in the early years of life when the brain is still taking shape, parental attention---even such a simple activity as playing peekaboo---helps construct the complex brain circuitry essential to intellectual development.


"Parents need to recognize how important their input is," says Craig Ramey, professor of psychology. Ramey has spent 30 years studying how early stimulation by adults develops childhood intelligence. "We can see positive results even in very young children.


Explosive Growth


The most convincing evidence for the importance of adult influence on a child's intelligence comes from a study of "at risk" children. Ramey and Frances Campbell of the University of North Carolina worked with children born into poverty-line households. The children entered entered the study by four months of age. During the study,one group spent the day in a center where teacher used games and songs to stimulate the infants. Another group had no such program, but they were given nutrional supplements in infancy.


During preschool years the children in the early-education group showed I.Q. advantages of ten to 20 points. The highest-risk children showed the greatest gains, and at age 15 they had higher reading and math scores.


What accounts for these gains? Ramey and other scientists say early childhood experiences foster brain growth.


An infant is born with billions of brain called neurons. Some are wired to other cells before birth to regulate the basics of life, such as heartbeat and breathing. Others are waiting to be wired to help him or her intepret and respons to the outside world. Experience dictates the hookups. As the child matures, cells reach out and set up pathways to other cells needed to determine a behavior. For instance, the neurons in the eye send branches to the visual cortex, which interprets what the eye sees and, via other branches, cues the person to react to what is seen. Each time an experience is repeated, the pathways are strengthened.


The first two years of life are an explosion are an explosion of brain growth and connections. By age two brain has more than 300 trillion connections. At the same time, cells that aren't being connected or used are being discarded.


Many Opportunities.


There seems to be a timetable for this programing of the young brain---"windows of opportunity," as one neurobiologist puts it---when specific connections may be made. For instance, the neurons governing vision undergo a growth spurt in the first half-year of life and are connected to 15,000 others by eight months.



There's a similar window of opportunity for understanding language and learning to talk. A newborn has capacity to distinguish among sounds in any human language. Japanese and American infants both readily distinguished between 'r' and 'l' during the first half year of life, according to Dr. Patricia Kuhl, a cognitive neuroscientist who studies language development at the University of Washington. However, since there's no "l" sound in the Japanesse language, Japanese infants generally fail to retain the connections for that sound. As a result, a Japanese baby not exposed to the difference between "r" and "l" before age two will usually have trouble discriminating between the two sounds as an adult.


If you miss a window of opportunity, will your child be forever handicapped? No, because opportunities to strengthen brain connections abound throughout childhood. Using positron emission tomography (PET) scans, which trace glucose consumption in the brain, pediatric neurologist Harry Chugani of Children's hospital at Wayne State University in Detroit has shown that the brains of three- to ten-year-olds use twice as much energy as the brains of adults.


That, Chugani explains, is because the brain has far more connections during those early years, which makes it easier to learn new skills.


Consider, for example, the process of learning to speak a foreign language. While a kindergartner picks up an unfamiliar tongue more readily than a nine-year-old does, the nine-year-old learns it more readily than does a secondary school student or adult.


"Casual" Emphasis. What can a parent do at home to bolster a child's I.Q.? "You needn't try to teach your child in the formal sense of instruction," says Sharon Landesman Ramey, who collaborates with her husband on early-intervention projects. What's necessary is creating a stimulating atmosphere for casual learning. Start early in the child's life, these experts suggest, and follow these steps:

Look them in the eye. Your six-week-old's eyes focus at roughly seven inches---just about the distance at which you hold him or her in front of you and gaze at the face. That tracks brain connections into a pattern of recognition that's strengthened with each exposure, and helps your child sort the world into what's familiar, what isn't, what's different, what's the same---crucial skills in learning.

Talk, talk, talk. Amy Leonard talked a steady stream to her daughter from the time she was born. At three, Lizzie was speaking "in whole paragraphs," her mother says. Now almost five, Lizzie can read simple books.

Early command of language is important, says Janellen Huttenlocher, professor of psychology, because "language is important to successful intellectual functioning." A grasp of language goes beyond being able to say words. In one experiment Huttenlocher and colleagues found that the amount parents spoke to their children during the second year of life had a major effect on children's vocabulary size.

In another experiment, Huttonlocher and others tested the mathematical ability of two groups of kindergartners. One group came from deprived homes with presumably little parent involvement, the other from more educated families. In tests of calculation, when pennies were surreptitiously added or taken away from a pile, children in both social classes did equally well in determining the new number of pennies. But when the problems were stated in words---"Mary had three apples. She gave one away. How many did she have left?? " ---the more educated group did far better. 

Make room for music. In the Maultsby household, "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round" is a bedtime favorite sung by three children and two adults. Linda has been crooning for her babies since the oldest, Sarah was born seven years ago. Even if you're no Pavarotti, your lullabies and jingles help your child's brain development.

Music does more than teach kids about rhytim and melody. Giving three-year-olds piano and group singing lessons dramatically improved their spatial-temporal reasoning, say researchers at the University of California at Irvine. In assembling puzzles, they were more accurate and faster than three-year-olds piano and group-singing lessons dramatically improved their spatial-temporal reasoning, say researchers at the University of California at Irvine. In assembling puzzles, they were more accurate and faster than than three-year-olds who had no lessons. Moreover, spatial-temporal reasoning, says physics professor Gordon Shawa, director of the ongoing California studies, is important in understanding math and science. Using a computer model, Shaw has predicted that math and music could share common neuronal firing patterns, and the prediction has been supported by follow-up observation.

Encourage exploration. A child buids intellect and learns about the world by reaching out to new experiences---by exploring. "The good news is that kids are predisposed to seek out the novel," says Craig Ramey. "You don't have to prime the pump."

Little explorers are looking for new worlds even while lying in the crib, their gaze fixed on various objects. They have boundless curiosity, which they satisfy by touching, tasting, handling and rubbing. Encourage that curiosity---in fact, explore with them. Pick up a toy and look it over, then hand it to your child to examine. Don't be afraid to get down on the floor and crawl with him.

"Label" things. Linda Maultsby used toy figures to help her three-year-old son, Michael, distinguish colors. "Show me the red toy,' I'd say," Maultsby recalls. "Now show me the green one.'"

Even babies recognize that red is different well within the first year of life. It's the parents' role to "label" different colors, sizes and shapes to reninforce such understanding.

Stand up and cheer. "Good!" you exclaim when the little one first learns to drink from a cup. Praising your child's accomplishments not only brings peals of delight from the child but also reinforces connections between the frontal cortex and the amygdala in the midbrain, the seat of emotions.

Between ten and 18 months, the brain is making these connections. When you praise Baby's first steps, making Baby happy, a flood of neutrochemicals is released in the brain, strengthening the circuits. Conversely, if Baby's achievements are repeatedly met with indifference, the circuits fail to strengthen, and Baby becomes reluctant to try new things.

Don't stop now. While early intervention is most important, intellectual development  doesn't end there. Neural networks continue to develop into the teens, especially those for emotion. Continue to read to your child, keep the conversations going, play music. Your role remains important in a young person's development as he or she matures.

Actual I.Q. scores may not change dramatically as a child grows older, but academic achievement can. These are the years in which the brain is fine-tuned, and a young person's environmental influences continue to count. Your attention won't neccesarily create an Einstein, but it remains a vital ingredient in your child's intelligence.KP4RWW7293BD                     

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Posted in: Child'sIQ,IQ,Motivation,Psychology,Tips