golf49027

I am a music teacher by trade. I have been teaching music in some way for about 15 years now. Up until recently, I had a little knowledge about guitar Hero, but I never really paid attention to it.

In my neighborhood, many of my neighbors have X Box 360's. We get together and play different games from time to time. My one neighbor kept talking about guitar Hero. I just kind of listened to him and figured I would check it out when he bought it.

He brought it home and invited me over to play it. It was really neat! As you probably know, it is a game controller that looks like a guitar. It has 5 buttons on it and there are varying levels of difficulty in the game. The beginner level is not very challenging, but it gives you the idea about how to play the game. As you move up toward expert, LOOK OUT! It gets really involved.

I play bass guitar and many other musical instruments. It would follow reason that I would be good at this game, right? Well.....sort of! At first I would definitely say my abilities were advanced beyond that of my non musical neighbors. However, now that they have been practicing more, I can not keep up with them.

My one friend asked me if I thought guitar Hero could help someone learn how to play guitar. I really think it could. You use many of the same muscles in your hands and arms and the eye hand coordination would definitely be helpful for someone learning to play guitar.

If you have never played this game or seen anyone play it, it is a must have for even the most passive video game player. My neighbors mom is in her 60's and even she has a good time playing it!

# posted by 34435 : 1:02 PM  0 comments

The results are in: yoga breathing can significantly improve memory. In particular, yoga breathing can improve spatial memory. This is the part of memory responsible for recording information about your environment. Spatial memory keeps track of where things are that you can see, where things are that you cant see, where you are, and how that all fits together. If you tend to have difficulty remembering where you put your keys or finding your way around large cities, then you may benefit from some intentional breathing.

What exactly is meant by yoga breathing? Several types of yoga breathing were included in the studies that revealed the astounding improvement in spatial memory. These included pranayama (voluntary regulation of breathing), nostril breathing (left, right, or alternating), and simple breathe awareness.

Heavy breathing during aerobic exercise wont cut it. One study of 85 elderly adults found that 16 weeks of aerobic training yielded no improvement in memory retrieval scores. Yet, a study of 108 individuals practicing nostril breathing or breathe awareness, found that they experienced an average 87% improvement in spatial memory scores after only 10 days. Another study had 30 children practice yoga breathing for 10 days. The children experienced a 43% increase in spatial memory scores.

Yoga breathing is easy to do and can be done just about anywhere at any time. The following is a simple nostril breathing exercise. Try this exercise for at least a week to experience the benefits of intentional breathing:

-Try to sit with your head, neck and spine in a straight line.

-You will inhale through one nostril, hold the breath, then exhale through the other nostril in a ratio of 2:8:4 counts.

-Use the thumb and ring/pinky fingers of your right hand to close the right and left nostrils respectively, and close both nostrils when you hold the breath.

-Once each nostril has had a chance to inhale and exhale, this is called a round. Start with 3 rounds a day and build up slowly to twenty rounds, extending the count within the 2:8:4 ratio (for example, 4:16:8).

There are many other benefits ascribed to breathe awareness besides improved memory, including stress relief and increased attention span. Improving your mental health can have significant positive effects on your physical health as well. As the above studies show, we all have the power to create profound results for our own well-being.

References:

Madden DJ, Blumenthal JA, Allen PA, Emery CF. Improving aerobic capacity in healthy older adults does not necessarily lead to improved cognitive performance. Psychol Aging. 1989 Sep;4(3):307-20.

Manjunath NK, Telles S. Spatial and verbal memory test scores following yoga and fine arts camps for school children. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol. 2004 Jul;48(3):353-6.

Naveen KV, Nagarathna R, Nagendra HR, Telles S. Yoga breathing through a particular nostril increases spatial memory scores without lateralized effects. Psychol Rep. 1997 Oct;81(2):555-61.

Nicole Evans is an alternative medicine researcher/developer turned medical student. She also enjoys working with King Bio, a homeopathic company dedicated to empowering people to safely and naturally improve their health. For cutting edge water-based homeopathics visit http://www.kingbio.com .

# posted by 34435 : 4:58 AM  0 comments