Have you ever felt exasperated when you bumped into someone at the store but absolutely couldn't remember their name? Sure, it happens to all of us.

　　Despite being the strongest computer on the planet, our brains do lapse. It's hard to blame them really. As humans, we spend much of or existence stuffing our brains with stuff.

　　No matter how powerful our brains are, they need recuperation time to be kept in shape. Think of it as a tune up for your brain. Skipping brain maintenance is as silly as the person wandering the parking garage because they forgot where they parked. Is that you? Are you that person? If so, fear not; we are all that person at some point.

　　Now I am not a brain surgeon and I am not going to suggest you do anything surgical or dangerous. I am however an astute student of human behavior so I always look for simple ways to super charge my brain.

　　Here are some things you can begin doing as soon as today to begin the great brain tune up:

　　Eat Almonds
　　Almond is believed to improve memory. If a combination of almond oil and milk is taken together before going to bed or after getting up at morning, it strengthens our memory power. Almond milk is prepared by crushing the almonds without the outer cover and adding water and sugar to it.

　　Drink Apple Juice
　　Research from the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) indicates that apple juice increases the production of the essential neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the brain, resulting in an increased memory power.

　　Sleep well
　　Research indicates that the long-term memory is consolidated during sleep by replaying the images of the experiences of the day. These repeated playbacks program the subconscious mind to store these images and other related information.

　　Enjoy simple Pleasures
　　Stress drains our brainpower. A stress-ridden mind consumes much of our memory resources to leave us with a feeble mind. Make a habit to engage yourself in few simple pleasures everyday to dissolve stress from your mind. Some of these simple pleasures are good for your mind, body and soul.

　　* Enjoy music you love
　　* Play with your children
　　* Appreciate others
　　* Run few miles a day, bike or swim
　　* Start a blog
　　* Take a yoga class or Total Wellness routine

　　Exercise your mind
　　Just as physical exercise is essential for a strong body, mental exercise is equally essential for a sharp and agile mind. Have you noticed that children have far superior brainpower than an adult does? Children have playful minds. A playful mind exhibits superior memory power. Engage in some of the activities that require your mind to remain active and playful.

　　* Play scrabble or crossword puzzle
　　* Volunteer
　　* Interact with others
　　* Start a new hobby such as blogging, reading, painting, bird watching
　　* Learn new skill or a foreign language

　　Practice Yoga or Meditation
　　Yoga or Meditation relives stress. Stress is a known memory buster. With less stress, lower blood pressure, slower respiration, slower metabolism, and released muscle tension follows. All of these factors contribute significantly towards increases in our brainpower.

　　Reduce Sugar intake
　　Sugar is a non-food. It’s a form of carbohydrate that offers illusionary energy, only to cause a downhill slump once the initial burst has been worn off. Excess intake of sugar results in neurotic symptoms. Excess sugar is known to cause claustrophobia, memory loss and other neurotic disorders. Eat food without adding sugar. Stay away from sweet drinks or excess consumption of caffeine with sugar.

　　Eat whole wheat
　　The whole wheat germs contain lecithin. Lecithin helps ease the problem of the hardening of the arteries, which often impairs brain functioning.

　　Eat a light meal at night
　　A heavy meal at night causes tossing and turning and a prolonged emotional stress while at sleep. It’s wise to eat heavy meal during the day when our body is in motion to consume the heavy in-take. Eating a light meal with some fruits allows us to sleep well. A good night sleep strengthens our brainpower.

　　Develop imagination
　　Greeks mastered the principle of imagination and association to memorize everything. This technique requires one to develop a vivid and colorful imagination that can be linked to a known object. If you involve all your senses - touching, feeling, smelling, hearing and seeing in the imagination process, you can remember greater details of the event.

　　Control your temper
　　Bleached food, excess of starch or excess of white bread can lead to nerve grating effect. This results in a violent and some time depressive behavior. Eat fresh vegetables. Drink lots of water and meditate or practice yoga to relieve these toxic emotions of temper and stressful mood swings.

　　Take Vitamin B-complex
　　Vitamin B-complex strengthens memory power. Eat food and vegetables high in Vitamin B-complex. Stay away from the starch food or white bread, which depletes the Vitamin B-complex necessary for a healthy mind.

　　I don't believe these are that tough. If you find yourself increasing stumped, give a couple of these a try.

　　Written by Shilpan Patel of Success Soul and cross-posted from Dumb Little Man, a web site that provides tips for life that will save you money, increase your productivity, or simply keep you sane.

　　你是否有這樣的經歷當你在商店撞見某個人時根本不能記起他們的名字，而那時你是否感到憤怒？肯定是這樣的，而這樣的事情會發生在我們每個身上。

　　大腦盡管是這個星球上最強大的計算機，但它確實會僵化。其實，我們很難真正指責它。作為人類，我們大多運用大腦往它內部填充原料。

　　無論我們大腦多么強大，它們都需要會休整時間一保持活力。把它當作你大腦的調整。不保養大腦是愚蠢的，就像一個人忘記把車停靠在哪里而在停車場游蕩一樣。你是那樣的嗎？你就是那種人嗎？如果是這樣，不要害怕；我們所有人有些時候都是那樣子。

　　我現在不是腦科醫生，我不準備建議你任何醫療或者危險的事情。但是，我是人類行為的聰明學生，所以我一直以來想找尋保持腦部活力的簡便方法。

　　下邊是一些開始調整大腦你今天可以開始做的事情：

　　吃杏仁

　　杏仁被認為是可以提高記憶的食品。如果在上床睡覺之前或者早晨起來之后喝上一杯杏仁油和牛奶混合物，它將增強我們的記憶力。杏仁奶茶的制作只需取出外部保護膜后壓碎添加水和糖就可以了。

　　喝蘋果汁

　　馬薩諸塞羅威爾大學研究表明蘋果汁有助于增加腦部的基本神經傳導素乙酰膽堿，進而增加記憶力。

　　高質量睡眠

　　研究表明長時記憶會在夜間睡眠替代了白天經驗過的印象而得以加強。這些回放可以編輯無意識的想法進而儲存這些意象和其他相關的消息。

　　享受簡單的快樂

　　壓力會抽光我們的智力。一個備受壓力折磨的想法會消耗我們大量的記憶資源從而留給我們一個遲鈍的大腦。養成一種習慣每天享受簡單的快樂來消解大腦的壓力。這些簡單的快樂對于你的大腦、身體和四項都會有　好處的。

　　欣賞你喜歡的音樂

　　與你的孩子一起玩耍

　　欣賞別人

　　每天跑幾英里、騎車或游泳

　　開一個博客

　　參加瑜珈或者完整健康計劃

　　鍛煉大腦

　　就如體育鍛煉是身體強壯的基本，智力練習對于一個敏銳、活躍的大腦同樣重要。你有沒有注意到相比成人孩子們的智力更佳？孩子們有游戲的想法。喜歡游戲的大腦會擁有更強的記憶力。參加一些要求你大腦保持活躍和輕松的活動。

　　嘗試隨意和縱橫拼字游戲

　　做志愿者

　　與別人互動

　　養成新的愛好比如寫博、閱讀、繪畫、觀察鳥的活動

　　學習新的技能或者外語

　　練習瑜珈或者默想

　　瑜珈或者默想能夠緩解壓力。壓力是記憶的阻力。壓力越小，血壓越低，較低的呼吸和新陳代謝，肌肉緊張也會有所緩解。所有這些因素對于增強我們的智力很有幫助。

　　減少糖的攝入

　　糖不是食物。它是一種碳水化合物提供假象的能量，只能導致迅速的衰竭一旦最初的能量消耗殆盡。過量的攝入會導致神經綜合癥。眾所周知，過量的糖會引起幽閉恐怖癥、記憶喪失和其他的神經紊亂。吃不含糖的食物。遠離甜飲料或者過量消耗含糖的咖啡因飲料。

　　吃全麥食品

　　全麥細菌包含蛋黃素，而蛋黃素有益于緩解動脈硬化問題，而這個問題也經常不利于大腦的功能。

　　晚飯適量

　　晚飯過于豐盛常常讓人輾轉反側，休息期間也會有持續的精神壓力。白天吃豐盛的食物是明智的，因為我們的身體在活動可以消耗掉這些攝入的食物。飯菜清淡并輔助于水果會有一個好的睡眠。夜晚好的睡眠可以增強我們的智力。

　　開發想象力

　　希臘人掌握了想象的原則并將之與記憶事情相聯系。這個記憶要求一個人開發出一個生動多彩的想象與熟知的事物相關。如果把所有的感官—　觸覺、感覺、味覺、聽覺、視覺在這個過程中都加以利用，你可以記住事情的所有細節。

　　控制脾氣

　　漂白的事物，過量的淀粉或者過量的白面包會導致神經柵作用。這回導致瘋狂甚至有些時候絕望的行為。吃新鮮蔬菜，＆足夠的水，默想或者練習瑜珈可以緩解這些有毒情感和導致壓力的情感波動。

　　吃維他命Ｂ合成體

　　維他命Ｂ合成體能都增強記憶力。吃含維他命Ｂ高的食物和蔬菜。遠離淀粉事物或者白面包，這些會消耗健康智力所必須的維他命Ｂ合成體。

　　這些當然不是機械的。如果你感覺自己問題越來越嚴重，可以同時嘗試幾項。