Are you like most people. You go to a party at a friends house and your are introduced to some new people. After you are introduced and shake hands with the standard “nice to meet you”  the name of that person completely escapes you. What about when you are wondering all over the house looking for your keys, and after the panic sets in of losing your keys, you discover they were in your hands the whole time?

The good news is that your short memory is not a lost cause. Increasing you memory takes a bit of practice and a conscious effort to do so. Follow these five secrets to increase your memory.

1. When you meet somebody for the first time and you shake hands repeat their name and as you’re shaking their hand. When you say their name look for a word association. So lets say you meet Larry and Larry has long hair. Register in your mind Larry is hairy.  Word association creates a mind trigger.

2. Take the time to understand the information given to you. As you remain fixated on a piece of information that  few seconds or minutes of intense focus will help your mind to process the

Facts. So when you set your keys down focus on an object that has nothing to do with keys. When I put my keys down I always remember that I put them next to my bible. I associate the bible as the key to a spiritual and loving life.

3. Repetition is another area to target. When consciously absorbing information just relate items to on another like in the above examples. Now it’s time to get to work memorizing. Remember the association of items in any order that you choose. Then repeat those associations with over and over in your mind.

4. After you have done step three a few times then it’s time to just relax and let your mind go blank for a few short minutes. Then go ahead and bring that information up in your mids eye again. Repeat this exercise two more times. Once you complete this you can be sure that the information is engraved in your long term memory bank.

This entire program is designed to be repeatedly practiced. If it seems like you aren’t getting it right away that’s okay. Just like anything else practice is of the utmost importance to expanding your memory.

This is the best way, I have learned, to helping with the deterioration of my memory.

The answer is yes.  That is if you are the older sibling.

Siblings were IQ tested showed that the older sibling tested higher on intelligence tests.  No there was no magic brain juice in the womb but as you read on this will make more sense. On average older siblings score 2-3 points higher on intelligence tests because of their birth order.

The reasoning that first born have a higher IQ result is because of of the amount of attention they are given throughout their lives. Parents tend to favor the older child based on the amount of time and money dedicated to the development of that child. As more children are born to those parents the amount of attention paid to the subsequent children is spread thinner.

The older child is also more likely to be a college graduate, particeipate in athletics, takes some sort of abnormal class and more. The older child is also thrust into their family as the one that has to be responsible for his or hers younger brothers and sisters.  The older child always seems to be the one put “in charge” while the parents are away.

While this is going on in the family younger siblings feel like that they have to excel in something that the older sibling may not be very good at, like sports or feel like they have to be the most popular one. Many times the “black sheep” of the family is one of the younger siblings because they are looking for attention in negative ways.

When favoritism is showed to a child it is usually the older one that is the “favorite”. Of course as siblings we really think that mom and dad do have favorites. But they don’t really love the other one more. Do they?