How to improve brain function?

A strong memory depends on the health and vitality of your brain. Whether you're a student studying for final exams, a working professional interested in doing all you can to stay mentally sharp, or a senior looking to preserve and enhance your grey matter as you age, there are lots of things you can do to improve your memory and mental performance.

Improving your memory: For boosting brain power at any age

They say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but when it comes to the brain, scientists have discovered that this old adage simply isn’t true. The human brain has an astonishing ability to adapt and change—even into old age. This ability is known as neuroplasticity. With the right stimulation, your brain can form new neural pathways, alter existing connections, and adapt and react in ever-changing ways.
The brain’s incredible ability to reshape itself holds true when it comes to learning and memory. You can harness the natural power of neuroplasticity to increase your cognitive abilities, enhance your ability to learn new information, and improve your memory at any age. These 9 tips can show you how:

1. Give your brain a workout
2. Don't skip the physical exercise
3. Get your Zs
4. Make time for friends
5. Keep stress in check
6. Have a laugh
7. Eat a brain-boosting diet
8. Identify and treat health problems
9. Take practical steps to support learning and memory

Give your brain a workout

By the time you’ve reached adulthood, your brain has developed millions of neural pathways that help you process and recall information quickly, solve familiar problems, and execute familiar tasks with a minimum of mental effort. But if you always stick to these well-worn paths, you aren’t giving your brain the stimulation it needs to keep growing and developing. You have to shake things up from time to time!
Memory, like muscular strength, requires you to “use it or lose it.” The more you work out your brain, the better you’ll be able to process and remember information. But not all activities are equal. The best brain exercises break your routine and challenge you to use and develop new brain pathways.

Four key elements of a good brain-boosting activity

1. It teaches you something new. No matter how intellectually demanding the activity, if it’s something you’re already good at, it’s not a good brain exercise. The activity needs to be something that’s unfamiliar and out of your comfort zone. To strengthen the brain, you need to keep learning and developing new skills.
2. It’s challenging. The best brain-boosting activities demand your full and close attention. It’s not enough that you found the activity challenging at one point. It must still be something that requires mental effort. For example, learning to play a challenging new piece of music counts. Playing a difficult piece you’ve already memorized does not.
3. It’s a skill you can build on. Look for activities that allow you to start at an easy level and work your way up as your skills improve —always pushing the envelope so you continue to stretch your capabilities. When a previously difficult level starts to feel comfortable, that means it’s time to tackle the next level of performance.
4. It’s rewarding. Rewards support the brain’s learning process. The more interested and engaged you are in the activity, the more likely you’ll be to continue doing it and the greater the benefits you’ll experience. So choose activities that, while challenging, are still enjoyable and satisfying.

Think of something new you’ve always wanted to try, like learning how to play the guitar, make pottery, juggle, play chess, speak French, dance the tango, or master your golf swing. Any of these activities can help you improve your memory, so long as they keep you challenged and engaged.

What about brain-training programs?

There are countless brain-training apps and online programs that promise to boost memory, problem-solving, attention, and even IQ with daily practice. But do they really work? Increasingly, the evidence says no. While these brain-training programs may lead to short-term improvements in whatever task or specific game you’ve been practicing, they don’t appear to do anything to strengthen or improve overall intelligence, memory, or other cognitive abilities.

Don't skip the physical exercise

While mental exercise is important for brain health, that doesn’t mean you never need to break a sweat. Physical exercise helps your brain stay sharp. It increases oxygen to your brain and reduces the risk for disorders that lead to memory loss, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Exercise also enhances the effects of helpful brain chemicals and reduces stress hormones. Perhaps most importantly, exercise plays an important role in neuroplasticity by boosting growth factors and stimulating new neuronal connections.

Brain-boosting exercise tips

• Aerobic exercise is particularly good for the brain, so choose activities that keep your blood pumping. In general, anything that is good for your heart is great for your brain.
• Does it take you long time to clear out the sleep fog when you wake up? If so, you may find that exercising in the morning before you start your day makes a big difference. In addition to clearing out the cobwebs, it also primes you for learning throughout the day.
• Physical activities that require hand-eye coordination or complex motor skills are particularly beneficial for brain building.
• Exercise breaks can help you get past mental fatigue and afternoon slumps. Even a short walk or a few jumping jacks can be enough to reboot your brain.

If you are experiencing traumatic stress or find yourself stuck in repetitive, unhealthy behavior...

...Try exercising the muscles connected to fight-or-flight with attention. Exercises that use both your arms and legs—and are done in a focused way with mindful awareness of your physical and emotional experience—are especially good at reducing traumatic stress. Exercises like walking, running, swimming, or rock-climbing, activate your senses and make you more aware of yourself and others when they are done with focused attention.

Get your Zs

There is a big difference between the amount of sleep you can get by on and the amount you need to function at your best. The truth is that over 95% of adults need between 7.5 to 9 hours of sleep every night in order to avoid sleep deprivation. Even skimping on a few hours makes a difference! Memory, creativity, problem-solving abilities, and critical thinking skills are all compromised.
But sleep is critical to learning and memory in an even more fundamental way. Research shows that sleep is necessary for memory consolidation, with the key memory-enhancing activity occurring during the deepest stages of sleep.

Get on a regular sleep schedule. Go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time each morning. Try not to break your routine, even on weekends and holidays.
Avoid all screens for at least an hour before bed. The blue light emitted by TVs, tablets, phones, and computers trigger wakefulness and suppress hormones such as melatonin that make you sleepy.
Cut back on caffeine. Caffeine affects people differently. Some people are highly sensitive, and even morning coffee may interfere with sleep at night. Try reducing your intake or cutting it out entirely if you suspect it’s keeping you up.

Make time for friends

When you think of ways to improve memory, do you think of “serious” activities such as wrestling with the New York Times crossword puzzle or mastering chess strategy, or do more lighthearted pastimes—hanging out with friends or enjoying a funny movie—come to mind? If you’re like most of us, it’s probably the former. But countless studies show that a life full of friends and fun comes with cognitive benefits.

Healthy relationships: the ultimate brain booster

Humans are highly social animals. We’re not meant to survive, let alone thrive, in isolation. Relationships stimulate our brains—in fact, interacting with others may be the best kind of brain exercise.
Research shows that having meaningful friendships and a strong support system are vital not only to emotional health, but also to brain health. In one recent study from the Harvard School of Public Health, for example, researchers found that people with the most active social lives had the slowest rate of memory decline.
There are many ways to start taking advantage of the brain and memory-boosting benefits of socializing. Volunteer, join a club, make it a point to see friends more often, or reach out over the phone. And if a human isn’t handy, don’t overlook the value of a pet—especially the highly-social dog.

Keep stress in check

Stress is one of the brain’s worst enemies. Over time, chronic stress destroys brain cells and damages the hippocampus, the region of the brain involved in the formation of new memories and the retrieval of old ones. Studies have also linked stress to memory loss.

Tips for managing stress

• Set realistic expectations (and be willing to say no!)
• Take breaks throughout the day
• Express your feelings instead of bottling them up
• Set healthy a balance between work and leisure time
• Focus on one task at a time, rather than trying to multi-task

The stress-busting, memory-boosting benefits of meditation

The scientific evidence for the mental health benefits of meditation continues to pile up. Studies show that meditation helps improve many different types of conditions, including depression, anxiety, chronic pain, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Meditation also can improve focus, concentration, creativity, memory, and learning and reasoning skills.
Meditation works its “magic” by changing the actual brain. Brain images show that regular meditators have more activity in the left prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain associated with feelings of joy and equanimity. Meditation also increases the thickness of the cerebral cortex and encourages more connections between brain cells—all of which increases mental sharpness and memory ability.

Have a laugh

You’ve heard that laughter is the best medicine, and that holds true for the brain and the memory, as well as the body. Unlike emotional responses, which are limited to specific areas of the brain, laughter engages multiple regions across the whole brain.
Furthermore, listening to jokes and working out punch lines activates areas of the brain vital to learning and creativity. As psychologist Daniel Goleman notes in his book Emotional Intelligence, “laughter… seems to help people think more broadly and associate more freely.”
Looking for ways to bring more laughter in your life? Start with these basics:

Laugh at yourself. Share your embarrassing moments. The best way to take ourselves less seriously is to talk about the times when we took ourselves too seriously.
When you hear laughter, move toward it. Most of the time, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again and feed off the humor you find in it. When you hear laughter, seek it out and try to join in.
Spend time with fun, playful people. These are people who laugh easily—both at themselves and at life’s absurdities—and who routinely find the humor in everyday events. Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious.
Surround yourself with reminders to lighten up. Keep a toy on your desk or in your car. Put up a funny poster in your office. Choose a computer screensaver that makes you laugh. Frame photos of you and your loved ones having fun.
Pay attention to children and emulate them. They are the experts on playing, taking life lightly, and laughing. 

Eat a brain-boosting diet

Just as the body needs fuel, so does the brain. You probably already know that a diet based on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, “healthy” fats (such as olive oil, nuts, fish) and lean protein will provide lots of health benefits, but such a diet can also improve memory. For brain health, though, it’s not just what you eat—it’s also what you don’t eat. The following nutritional tips will help boost your brainpower and reduce your risk of dementia: 

Get your omega-3s. Research shows that omega-3 fatty acids are particularly beneficial for brain health. Fish is a particularly rich source of omega-3, especially cold water “fatty fish” such as salmon, tuna, halibut, trout, mackerel, sardines, and herring.
If you’re not a fan of seafood, consider non-fish sources of omega-3s such as seaweed, walnuts, ground flaxseed, flaxseed oil, winter squash, kidney and pinto beans, spinach, broccoli, pumpkin seeds, and soybeans.
Limit calories and saturated fat. Research shows that diets high in saturated fat (from sources such as red meat, whole milk, butter, cheese, cream, and ice cream) increase your risk of dementia and impair concentration and memory.
Eat more fruit and vegetables. Produce is packed with antioxidants, substances that protect your brain cells from damage. Colorful fruits and vegetables are particularly good antioxidant "superfood" sources.
Drink green tea. Green tea contains polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that protect against free radicals that can damage brain cells. Among many other benefits, regular consumption of green tea may enhance memory and mental alertness and slow brain aging.
Drink wine (or grape juice) in moderation. Keeping your alcohol consumption in check is key, since alcohol kills brain cells. But in moderation (around 1 glass a day for women; 2 for men), alcohol may actually improve memory and cognition. Red wine appears to be the best option, as it is rich in resveratrol, a flavonoid that boosts blood flow in the brain and reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Other resveratrol-packed options include grape juice, cranberry juice, fresh grapes and berries, and peanuts.

Identify and treat health problems

Do you feel that your memory has taken an unexplainable dip? If so, there may be a health or lifestyle problem to blame.
It’s not just dementia or Alzheimer’s disease that causes memory loss. There are many diseases, mental health disorders, and medications that can interfere with memory:

Heart disease and its risk factors. Cardiovascular disease and its risk factors, including high cholesterol and high blood pressure, have been linked to mild cognitive impairment.
Diabetes. Studies show that people with diabetes experience far greater cognitive decline than those who don’t suffer from the disease.
Hormone imbalance. Women going through menopause often experience memory problems when their estrogen dips. In men, low testosterone can cause issues. Thyroid imbalances can also cause forgetfulness, sluggish thinking, or confusion.
Medications. Many prescription and over-the-counter medications can get in the way of memory and clear thinking. Common culprits include cold and allergy medications, sleep aids, and antidepressants. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about possible side effects.

Is it depression?

Emotional difficulties can take just as heavy of a toll on the brain as physical problems. In fact, mental sluggishness, difficulty concentrating, and forgetfulness are common symptoms of depression. The memory issues can be particularly bad in older people who are depressed—so much so that it is sometimes mistaken for dementia. The good news is that when the depression is treated, memory should return to normal.

Take practical steps to support learning and memory

Pay attention. You can’t remember something if you never learned it, and you can’t learn something—that is, encode it into your brain—if you don’t pay enough attention to it. It takes about eight seconds of intense focus to process a piece of information into your memory. If you’re easily distracted, pick a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted.
Involve as many senses as possible. Try to relate information to colors, textures, smells, and tastes. The physical act of rewriting information can help imprint it onto your brain. Even if you’re a visual learner, read out loud what you want to remember. If you can recite it rhythmically, even better.
Relate information to what you already know. Connect new data to information you already remember, whether it’s new material that builds on previous knowledge, or something as simple as an address of someone who lives on a street where you already know someone.
For more complex material, focus on understanding basic ideas rather than memorizing isolated details. Practice explaining the ideas to someone else in your own words.
Rehearse information you’ve already learned. Review what you’ve learned the same day you learn it, and at intervals thereafter. This “spaced rehearsal” is more effective than cramming, especially for retaining what you’ve learned.
Use mnemonic devices to make memorization easier. Mnemonics (the initial “m” is silent) are clues of any kind that help us remember something, usually by helping us associate the information we want to remember with a visual image, a sentence, or a word.

6 types of mnemonic device
1. Visual image – Associate a visual image with a word or name to help you remember them better. Positive, pleasant images that are vivid, colorful, and three-dimensional will be easier to remember. Example: To remember the name Rosa Parks and what she’s known for, picture a woman sitting on a park bench surrounded by roses, waiting as her bus pulls up.
2. Acrostic (or sentence) – Make up a sentence in which the first letter of each word is part of or represents the initial of what you want to remember. Example: The sentence “Every good boy does fine” to memorize the lines of the treble clef, representing the notes E, G, B, D, and F.
3. Acronym – An acronym is a word that is made up by taking the first letters of all the key words or ideas you need to remember and creating a new word out of them. Example: The word “HOMES” to remember the names of the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.
4. Rhymes and alliteration – Rhymes, alliteration (a repeating sound or syllable), and even jokes are a memorable way to remember more mundane facts and figures. Example: The rhyme “Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November” to remember the months of the year with only 30 days in them.
5. Chunking – Chunking breaks a long list of numbers or other types of information into smaller, more manageable chunks. Example: Remembering a 10-digit phone number by breaking it down into three sets of numbers: 555-867-5309 (as opposed to 5558675309).
6. Method of loci – Imagine placing the items you want to remember along a route you know well, or in specific locations in a familiar room or building. Example: For a shopping list, imagine bananas in the entryway to your home, a puddle of milk in the middle of the sofa, eggs going up the stairs, and bread on your bed.

Simple Tricks to Sharpen Thinking and Memory Skills

Using these memory-enhancing techniques can help improve your ability to learn new information and retain it over time.
Repeat
One of the golden rules of learning and memory is repeat, repeat, repeat. The brain also responds to novelty, so repeating something in a different way or at a different time will make the most of the novelty effect and allow you to build stronger memories. Examples of using repetition include:

• Taking notes
• Repeating a name after you hear it for the first time
• Repeating or paraphrasing what someone says to you

Organize
A day planner or smart phone calendar can help you keep track of appointments and activities and can also serve as a journal in which you write anything that you would like to remember. Writing down and organizing information reinforces learning.

• Try jotting down conversations, thoughts, experiences.
• Review current and previous day’s entries at breakfast and dinner.
• If you use a planner and not a smart phone, keep it in the same spot at home and take it with you whenever you leave.

Visualize
Learning faces and names is a particularly hard task for most people. In addition to repeating a person’s name, you can also associate the name with an image. Visualization strengthens the association you are making between the face and the name. For example:

• Link the name Sandy with the image of a beach, and imagine Sandy on the beach.

Cue
When you are having difficulty recalling a particular word or fact, you can cue yourself by giving related details or “talking around” the word, name, or fact. Other practical ways to cue include:

• Using alarms or a kitchen timer to remind you of tasks or appointments.
• Placing an object associated with the task you must do in a prominent place at home. For example, if you want to order tickets to a play, leave a newspaper ad for the play near your telephone or computer.

Group
When you’re trying to remember a long list of items, it can help to group the items in sets of three to five, just as you would to remember a phone number. This strategy capitalizes on organization and building associations, and helps to extend the capacity of our short-term memory by chunking information together instead of trying to remember each piece of information independently. For example:
If you have a list of 15 things on your grocery list, you can group the items by category, such as dairy, produce, canned goods, and frozen foods

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3 Types of Boyfriends - Which Type You Are?

When it comes to types of boyfriends out there, guys tend to fall into one of three groups - or somewhere in between these three.

Some types of boyfriends are the type that no girl wants but can't seem to avoid. And some are the type that every girl wants.

Which type of boyfriend are you?

Boyfriend # 1

The Bad Boyfriend

This is the guy that doesn't treat his girlfriend the way she deserves to be treated and tends to go after girls with low self-confidence because, honestly, he couldn't get any other girls.

He does many things to her including some or all of the below:

• Cheating - He does it over and over knowing she will take him back.
• Lying - He hasn't told her the truth in their whole relationship
• Abusing - Either mentally or physically making her feel bad and sad
• Using - He uses her for what she can offer him and almost expects it in a way
• Not Meeting Her Needs - He doesn't pay attention to her needs, likes, or wants, both inside the bedroom and outside...she doesn't get any of that from him because he doesn't care enough to learn how to provide for her needs

This type of boyfriend is the lowest of all boyfriends, and if you are this guy then you need to understand that she will eventually get a backbone to her and dump your sorry ass!

No woman deserves to be treated like this, and you may think that you are holding all the cards right now but soon you will realize that all you've done is made yourself miserable, her miserable, and set a path of being alone for the rest of your life.

Boyfriend # 2

The Decent Boyfriend

This is the boyfriend that tries - sometimes. He tries to understand what she wants and needs and tries to give it to her.

His traits are generally as follows:

• He screws up a lot, but he tries to make it up to her.
• He doesn't know exactly what she wants, but he tries to please her with whatever he does know.
• He loves her, but he wishes she was less nagging, and he gets upset about her nagging instead of trying to fix the problem.
• He forgets her birthday and their anniversary, but he makes up for it with gifts.
• He gets along with most of her friends and her family.
• He's okay in bed but doesn't spend a lot of time trying to please her - he pretty much gets to the sex quickly.
• He would rather watch TV or play video games than talk to her.
• He's not very romantic, and he hardly every surprises her with things or special occasions
• He doesn't like expectations put on himself by her, and he tries not to do anything to extravagant so that she will start to expect stuff.

This type of boyfriend pleases her, to some degree, but he doesn't really get herand put effort into understanding her - which for women, mean their needs are not being met. Women like to be understood and have a companion who makes them feel good about themselves.

This guy makes women question a lot of things about the relationship, and they often go through moods of feeling contused about him and the relationship - even about themselves sometimes. The confusion shows itself as anger or tears mostly, which makes him confused and hurts her even more. It is a vicious cycle.

If you are this type of guy then you may want to rethink how you interact with women in relationships. You are never going to be in a healthy and good relationship with her until you start communicating properly and understanding her needs...and meeting those needs.

Boyfriend # 3

The Pretty Much Perfect Boyfriend

Obviously this guy is a catch and women would love to have him as a boyfriend.

He's not without some faults, but when it comes to their relationship he puts more effort in than the other guys.

His traits are generally as follows:

• He understands what she needs emotionally and he gives it to her
• He understands what she needs sexually and he gives it to her
• He communicates well - which includes both talking and listening
• He doesn't lie or use her but instead shares his life with her
• He is patient with her and her emotions and he is always there for her to lean on
• He surprises her with things that show her how much he cares about her
• He doesn't let her get down on herself and instead lifts her up
• He views her as a lover and a friend
• He has high self-confidence
• He allows her to be herself without trying to change or control her

This guy understands his woman, and if he doesn't understand something about her, then he does a little research and figures out how to please his woman. He's not a pushover but he's a genuinely nice guy who cares about her and her feelings and their relationship being strong and happy.

He feels good about himself and his relationship and he's pretty much a happy guy.

The Others

Of course there are other types of boyfriends as well, but it is fair to say that most types of boyfriends fit into the above three categories.

However, here are a few other types of boyfriends:

• The guys who let themselves get used and abused - These guys don't have confidence in themselves and they let women treat them like garbage. They are used for their money or kindness, and then generally tossed aside because they offer no real value to the women in terms of an intimate relationship.
• The guys who just don't get it - These guys are in between the bad boyfriend and the decent boyfriend. They don't get what she wants and needs and they don't put a lot of effort towards finding out. But they also don't intentionally abuse her in any way. What they don't understand is that by not trying to figure out what she wants, they are making her suffer emotionally.
• The guys who distance themselves - These guys understand what she wants but won't give it to her. They don't want to get to close to her (for fear of getting hurt) so they hide their cards and keep their mouth closed so they don't have to move to the next level in the relationship.

Be a Better Friend And Boyfriend

• Stay Loyal & True, With Subliminal MessagesGood friends are worth their weight in gold, always there when you need them and never too busy to listen. But friendship is a two-way street, and to keep the friends you've got you need to be reliable, dependable, supportive, and caring.

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How Guys Can Be Sexy and Attractive ? How to look handsome:?

How to look handsome? How to be a sexy guy? What can men do to be more attractive? Contrary to what a lot of guys would like to believe, overall personality and body language play a larger role than bulging biceps and oversized egos. Don’t be fooled by glossy magazine columns which label six pack abs as the epitome of sexiness. This post is a real-life guide on what makes men look more handsome from the perspective of girls and women.

1) Get fit: Join a gym or lift weights at home

Fitness and body image is undoubtedly a big part of looking attractive. Join a gym or buy fitness equipment which you can use at home. Shed those extra pounds away so that you can carry a lean-bulky frame.

Women will drool over a ripped body but don’t take this thought to an extreme. Girls don’t necessarily like those monstrous bodies that bodybuilders like to have. Just take a look at some of the top Hollywood heartthrobs and you will see that all you need is broad shoulders, toned torso and legs to match.

2) Groom your body hair

Body hair is somewhat of a gray area because as a guy, you don’t want to be over-obsessed about grooming the hair on your body. At the same time, bushy body hair is probably not the best way to go. Don’t get carried away and just remember this rule of thumb – trim your body hair evenly.

Buy a nice grooming tool for men and use its settings to give yourself an even trim on your body. It is a misconception that only guys who are metrosexual should remove excess body hair. Even the average joe can add a touch of sexiness to his personality with a little trimming.

3) Don’t worry too much about the facial fuzz

Guys shouldn’t really be stressed about facial hair as long as they have got it all under control. Unkempt and messy beards may be a turnoff for some, but a manly stubble is something that can make you look very sexy.

Whether a guy should have facial hair or not is something subjective. Some girls might like a clean shaven look while others may prefer their men to have a beard. So don’t worry and fret about your facial hair. As long as you groom it and it doesn’t look filthy, you really don’t have too much to worry about.

4) Look healthy and neat

Although this is quite a generic tip for guys to look handsome, it is probably the most important one. Girls like guys who look neat and healthy. No woman would want to go out with someone who looks filthy.

This doesn’t apply just to impress women. You will look a lot more handsome if you look neat and healthy. It will even be easier for you to make new friends simply because you will look more approachable.

5) Speak confidently and make eye contact

Most perceived handsome men have one thing in common when it comes to the way they talk – a sense of confidence oozes from their voice tone. You must practice this trait if you want increase your hotness quotient.

Don’t speak too meekly and make sure that you have a clear speech. Don’t stop sentences halfway and avoid trailing off as your sentences come to an end. Follow it up by making eye contact when you talk to people. Whether it is a flirty conversation or a friendly chat, girls really like it when guys make eye contact while chatting them up.

6) Don’t sit with your legs crossed tightly

In a woman’s head, the typical image of a macho handsome man would probably not be a guy sitting on a sofa with his legs tightly crossed like a girl. At the same time, sitting with your legs so wide apart that your body language seems arrogant will work against you.

Keep your legs apart when you sit and if you like crossing your legs, put one on top of the other while making sure that there is some space between your thighs.

7) Smile often: Women will find you more attractive

Girls don’t like looking at guys who seem grumpy and angry all the time. No matter how blessed you are with your looks, you will never be the epitome of handsomeness if you don’t smile.

Get into the habit of smiling at people when you meet them. A sweet smile when you bump into a stranger is also not uncalled for. Remember that a smiling face is the first thing that women notice in men after making eye contact.

8) Take notes from a handsome male celebrity

There are many men in Hollywood who are worth noticing for their looks, body language, behavior and dressing sense. Whether it is Bradley Cooper, George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey or someone else who you admire – take notes from the way they carry themselves.

Don’t try to imitate your celebrity idol. Just look at their on and off-screen personas and be aware of what it takes to portray a handsome image.

9) Take personal hygiene grooming seriously

Personal grooming includes all the little bits and pieces of your everyday hygiene. From clipping your nails regularly so that your fingers don’t look dirty to brushing your teeth regularly so that you have fresh breath all the time – make sure that you don’t let a small mistake ruin your overall sex appeal.

Overlooking little details when it comes to personal hygiene and grooming can be a major turn-off. For example – regardless of how attractive you are, bad breath will be the death knell of your attempts to chat up a pretty girl you met at a cafe.

Regardless of whether you have short or long hair, you will look good as long as you style it in a way that suits your personality.
Regardless of whether you have short or long hair, you will look good as long as you style it in a way that suits your personality.

10) Style your hair

Your hair adds a lot of character to your face, which is the first thing girls will notice. Give your sex appeal the boost that it deserves by styling your hair before you step out.

The trick to getting it right when it comes to styling your hair is to keep it as simple as possible. The typical image of a handsome man isn’t that of a guy fretting about his curls or his waves. Shampoo your hair regularly, use a nice hair gel and style your hair before you step out.

11) Smell nice every day

Being handsome isn’t just about looking sexy. A manly fragrance oozing out of your body can add a whole new dimension to your image. On the other hand, bad body odor is a massive turnoff.

From classic ones like Cool Water by Davidoff and Obsession by Calvin Klein to celebrity fragrances like Usher by Usher for Men, just a couple of sprays before you step out has the potential to add panache and maturity to your personality.

If you don’t want to spend too much money on a fragrance, just buy one of the popular deodorants from the supermarket shelves.

12) Learn how to make conversation with girls

All the effort you put in to look handsome will be in vain if you don’t notch up your conversational skills. Being a sexy guy is all about understanding a woman and the things you can talk about to make her laugh.

Don’t shy away from the possibility of making a conversation with a girl you like. A few witty lines and engaging a woman in a genuine conversation while talking about something that lights up a twinkle in her eyes might be all it takes to get her to go out with you on a date.

13) Carry a good posture: Confident yet non-aggressive

Some guys mess it up when it comes to displaying a confident personality. There is a fine line between being confident and being really aggressive. Women don’t necessarily find aggressive men hot.

Keep your back straight and hold your shoulders broad but don’t tense your muscles. Don’t hold your hands away from your body like a mean bodybuilder. Being approachable is a core part of looking like a handsome guy. Girls will find it difficult to approach you if you strut around town putting up a macho and arrogant body language.

14) Don’t be fidgety

The epitome of a real man is a guy who remains calm in all situations. It might be impossible to achieve this surreal image in real life but the key is to avoid being fidgety – from a body language and behavior perspective.

Think your decisions through and don’t make unnecessary movements with your hands, feet or your body. A guy’s body language plays a key role in his overall sex appeal. If you want yours to be hot, try to be in control.

15) Make a defined style statement but don’t be eccentric

Everyone has their own sense of style. Whether you want to pull off the perfect hipster look or you want to channel the classic gentleman, don’t shy away from following your gut when it comes to making a style statement. The most important thing about style is that you should be comfortable with what you are wearing.

Your style is a representation of who you are, so don’t suppress it. All you have to do is make sure you don’t wear something eccentric or something that is way out of line.

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Make your life Best. Read Health and Fitness Tips

Health is the most precious thing in the world for an individual. Its loss may cause destruction of one’s whole life. So it is recommended to take proper precautions for its sustention. Here are some important health and fitness tips to make the life healthy and fit.  If you find them helpful please provide your comments.

1. Drinking Water

It varies from person to person or conditions but approximately you should drink a gallon of water every day . Maximum activities of human body are dependent on water for their proper functions. There is no one right answer to how much water you need, as it depends on each person and their lifestyle you may need to modify your fluid intake depending on how active you are, where you live, your health, and if you are pregnant and/or breastfeeding.

Lack of appropriate quantity of water may cause a lot of disorders, so it is recommended to take a proper quantity of water daily.

2. Proper Exercises

For a hygienic body daily or interval base exercises are necessary which keep body fit. In exercise walking is the best exercise for heart fitness, overweight, proper digestion, refreshment of mind and proper functions of internal organs. Exercise boosts your metabolism, burns more fat, and takes less time to complete. Exercises depend on situations of person but generally it is recommended to walk two miles daily or as much as possible for an individual. Other exercises like weight lifting, jumping and swimming etc. make the body function work properly.

3. Use of Balanced Diet

Food is the basic need for the functions of human body. The human body needs a specific quantity of different ingredients for function so, it is recommended to use such a diet which contains all proper ingredients like protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and iron. Fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, pulses and food containing carbohydrates must be used in a proper quantity. These things contain the most quantity of diet which a human body needed.

4. Proper Sleeping

A suitable sleeping is the most important thing for a fit body and its absence may cause a lot of disorder and even severe disease if you are adopting all above tips but you are not taking a proper sleep all your body function may disturb. Sleeping time varies from age to age but for child minimum time is 8 hour for a young person minimum 7 and for aged persons 6 hours sleeping is necessary. For pregnant ladies more time is needed for sleeping as compared to normal ladies.  Disturbing sleep may also cause physical disorders. Here some more health and fitness tips and tips to sleep better.

5. Taking Rest

All human body organs needed rest for their normal functions human body is like a machine and if this machine is over worked is may lose its balance. Over work both physical and mental may cause loss of health and much disorder. Continuous work and absence of rest is bad for a healthy body. There is no specific time for taking rest but as much rest as your body feels fresh and comfortable is recommended. It is also recommended for ladies and especially for pregnant ladies to take as much rest as possible because they needed it more than a normal person.

6. Entertaining Activities

For proper work human brain and body need aesthetic activities which make your mind work properly that is control center of whole human body. If you have a sound and proper functional mind you may possess a sound body and human body needs such activities which refresh your mind. For this activity visit of pleasure place, meeting friend, visiting clubs and cinemas is suggested.

7. Participating in Sports

In-door and outdoor games are key for a successful life. Games which demand mental exertion and physical energy are important for good health. Especially for ladies, who are less involved in sports activities as compared to men it is recommended to participate in sport activities. Indoor games like chess snooker and cards may increase your mental capability. Outdoor games cover a vast area depending on your interest and physiques are also necessary.

8. Cleanliness 

Cleanliness is the part of most civilization’s moral values as well as part of world religions. It soothes both your body and mind. Water is the most common agent used for cleanliness which has amazing positive effects on human mind and body. Cleanliness saves you from a lot of epidemic diseases and makes body fresh. Cleanliness not in the matter of hygiene but in food saves you a lot of worries.

9. Apt Dressing

In the matter of dressing no specific genre can be suggested but the dressing which makes your body comfortable must be preferred. Sometime very tight dressing may make the body uncomfortable and disturbs health as well as your work.

10. Following a schedule

Thing can only be useful and beneficial if they are performed at their proper time and one’ access may not disturb other or they must be given their required time. Food, exercise, sleeping, rest and sport if performed at their proper time they will be effective and beneficial for body otherwise their irregular practice may be futile. So it is suggested to follow a proper schedule.

Please Share your opinions via comments in below.

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Doctor Knows Best: Health Tips from Top Doctors

How to Head Off a Headache
Start double-fisting beverages the minute the throbbing begins. "I'll have a bottle of water in one hand and a coffee in the other," says Jennifer Ashton, MD, author of Your Body Beautiful and cohost of ABC's The Revolution. That's because many headaches are caused by dehydration, while caffeine is known to curb them. If the drinks don't alleviate the pounding in an hour, she pops ibuprofen.

Read More:: Sex before sport – Does it boost performance?

Take a Time Out
"As soon as I feel an illness coming on, I go to sleep for at least nine hours," says Hilda Hutcherson, MD, clinical professor of ob-gyn at Columbia University Medical Center. "I also lie on the floor with my legs elevated and propped against the wall and breathe deeply for five minutes." It helps lower stress, which weakens the immune system.

Soothe Sore Muscles

Even TV-star docs don't get daily massages, so Travis Stork, MD, instructor of emergency medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville and a host of The Doctors, does the next best thing: He uses a foam roller after his workouts to break up scar tissue and help his muscles recover. Some of the most neglected parts of the body are the glutes. "These are the big muscles that shape your buttocks and run posteriorly from the back of the hip bone to the top of the thigh bone, and they play a major role in helping you to maintain your posture," Dr. Stork says. To give your glutes some TLC post-workout, sit on a roller and tilt your body to the right until you feel a deep massage in your right glute (buttock); slowly move back and forth for a few minutes and then switch sides. The roller can also be effective for your IT band (the thick tissue that runs down the side of your leg from your hip to your knee) as well as all of the muscles in your lower extremities.

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Beat Burnout

Get serious about leisure time, says Robynne Chutkan, MD, assistant professor at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and founder of the Digestive Center for Women in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Dr. Chutkan doesn't work on Fridays, and she has a relaxing routine for her day off — meditation, yoga, massage, and browsing in a bookstore. "The rest of my week is pretty hectic, so having a Friday schedule with plenty of 'me' time really keeps me balanced," she says. "I see quite a few medical problems from too much work and not enough leisure, and I encourage my patients to strive for balance in their lives." Carve out a small portion of each day — or set aside several hours — to do something you enjoy

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Eat Extra Veggies
Instead of having a garden-variety green salad, Margaret McKenzie, MD, assistant professor of surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, tosses napa cabbage, radicchio, edamame, and carrots with ginger-soy dressing. "It gives me a lot of vitamins, antioxidants, and protein and makes me feel full," she says.

Manage Stress
"I make it a point to meditate pretty much daily," says Sanjay Gupta, MD, CNN chief medical correspondent and a neurosurgeon in Atlanta. Try doing it in a quiet room — without music and with natural light — for a few minutes each day. "I silently focus on a word in my mind. The one I usually use is gentle, but you can pick any word that doesn't evoke a strong emotion," Dr. Gupta says. Resting your mind regularly equips you to better handle stressful moments when they pop up, he says.

Stay Sharp
An app a day keeps brain farts away. Gary Small, MD, professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of The Alzheimer's Prevention Program, plays Scrabble and Words With Friends on his smartphone most days. These word games are perfect brain boosters, because they build not only verbal and math skills but also spatial abilities as you position letters to create words. "Combining several mental tasks strengthens multiple neural circuits," Dr. Small says. "It's like cross-training for your brain."
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Kick-Start Your Mojo
Mark Moyad, MD, a FITNESS advisory board member and the director of preventive and alternative medicine at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, regularly changes up his workout partners to keep from getting bored and stay motivated. Once a week he takes a Spinning class with his wife. Another day he meets up with buddies for a run. "If one of us slacks off, the other person can pressure him or her to step it up," Dr. Moyad says.

Fight Cravings
Mehmet Oz, MD, host of The Dr. Oz Show, eats raw walnuts (about one ounce) a few times a day for their hunger-quashing protein and heart-healthy fat. "The rap against nuts is that they're high in calories, but research is showing that our bodies may not actually absorb all the fat they contain," Dr. Oz says. "So we probably end up taking in fewer calories than what's listed on the package."

Sleep Easier
Make your bedroom spalike: Dim the lights at least an hour before you go to bed; ban cell phones, laptops, and the TV; ask your partner for a foot rub. "I do deep breathing exercises," Dr. Hutcherson says. "Sometimes I play relaxing music softly."

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Prevent Skin Cancer
In addition to getting annual skin checks from your dermatologist, recruit your hairstylist to scope out your scalp each time you visit, says Mona Gohara, MD, a FITNESS advisory board member and an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Scalp cancers often occur because people neglect to protect their heads, especially the part in their hair, with sunscreen or hats. And the cancers go undetected because they're hard to spot. "Tell your hairdresser to look for any sores that are bleeding or crusting or don't seem to be healing," Dr. Gohara says.

Fuel Up for the Day
The most important meal is breakfast, says David Katz, MD, director and founder of Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in Derby, Connecticut. He often has two breakfasts, divvying up his morning meal so that he eats half before his workout and half after. "It helps with portion control, and it establishes a daily eating pattern," Dr. Katz says. Plan your breakfast at night to start the next day on a healthy note.

Satisfy a Sweet Tooth
James Beckerman, MD, a cardiologist at the Providence Heart and Vascular Institute in Portland, Oregon, and author of The Flex Diet, eats a handful of semisweet chocolate chips when he gets a sugar craving. Recent research from the European Heart Journal found that people who consumed the most chocolate reduced their risk for cardiovascular disease and strokes compared with nonchocoholics. "I'm a firm believer that if you like something, don't try to make a substitution that you won't enjoy as much," Dr. Beckerman says. "You can have a small portion as long as 90 percent of what you eat otherwise is healthy."

Tame Tension
Try this move Dr. Oz swears by: Stand upright, bend over, and lean forward as if you're touching your toes. Let your head and arms hang down and relax your lower back and hips. Hold for a minute or two. "It forces the back, hips, and neck to loosen up, which helps you instantly de-stress so you can get back to focusing on the task at hand," he says.

Outrun PMS
"I get pretty bad cramps, and the last thing I want to do is move, but I always feel a thousand times better after I exercise," Dr. Ashton says. Regular aerobic exercise can help reduce PMS. Her personal prescription: 45 minutes of moderate cardio, like jogging, to work up a good sweat and slash symptoms.

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Sex before sport – Does it boost performance?

Sex before sport – Does it boost performance?

Contrary to the common belief that abstinence from sexual activity can boost athletic performance, a new research suggests that having sex the night before competition may have positive impact on performance.

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"Abstaining from sexual activity before athletic competition is a controversial topic in the world of sport," said lead study author Laura Stefani, Assistant Professor of Sports Medicine at the University of Florence, Italy.

"We show no robust scientific evidence to indicate that sexual activity has a negative effect upon athletic results," Stefani said.

For the study, the authors sifted through hundreds of studies with the potential to provide evidence, however big or small, on the impact of sexual activity upon sport performance.

After setting a number of criteria to filter out the most reliable of these studies, only nine were included in the review.

One of these found that the strength of female former athletes did not differ if they had sex the night before.

Another actually observed a beneficial effect on marathon runners' performance.

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"Unless it takes place less than two hours before, the evidence actually suggests sexual activity may have a beneficial effect on sports performance," Stefani said.

This review demonstrates the need for proper scientific investigation into the impact of sexual activity on sport performance, clarifying any ethical, gender and sport differences

The authors concluded that because the current evidence debunks the long-held abstinence theories, athletes should not feel guilty when engaging in their usual sexual activity up to the day before competition.

The research has been published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Physiology.

Sex before sport doesn't negatively impact performance


Over the course of the Rio Olympics, 450,000 condoms were distributed around the athlete's village. This may be surprising considering the common view that abstinence from sexual activity can boost athletic performance. These long-standing views have now been challenged by a recent analysis of current scientific evidence.

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"Abstaining from sexual activity before athletic competition is a controversial topic in the world of sport;" said Laura Stefani, an Assistant Professor of Sports Medicine at the University of Florence, Italy, and lead author of this review;"We show no robust scientific evidence to indicate that sexual activity has a negative effect upon athletic results."

The authors sifted through hundreds of studies with the potential to provide evidence, however big or small, on the impact of sexual activity upon sport performance. After setting a number of criteria to filter out the most reliable of these studies, only nine were included in the review.

One of these found that the strength of female former athletes did not differ if they had sex the night before. Another actually observed a beneficial effect on marathon runners' performance. While these small handful of studies provided some clues about the real effects of sex on sport performance, Dr. Stefani and her colleagues were disappointed with the research on this subject to date.

"We clearly show that this topic has not been well investigated and only anecdotal stories have been reported;" explained Dr. Stefani; "In fact, unless it takes place less than two hours before, the evidence actually suggests sexual activity may have a beneficial effect on sports performance."

The review also revealed that males were more frequently investigated than females, with no comparison of effects across genders. In addition, it highlights that cultural differences in attitudes towards sexual activity may influence how much or how little impact it may have. Dr. Stefani emphasizes other factors that have been ignored.

Make your life Best. Read Health and Fitness Tips

"No particular importance has been laid on the psychological or physical effects of sexual activity on sports performance, or upon the different kinds of sports."

This is an important point, given each sport's different mental and physical challenges.

This review demonstrates the need for proper scientific investigation into the impact of sexual activity on sport performance, clarifying any ethical, gender and sport differences.

The authors conclude that because the current evidence debunks the long-held abstinence theories, athletes should not feel guilty when engaging in their usual sexual activity up to the day before competition.

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