Boosting your brain power with creative thinking can be a challenge. There are many things that can deter and distract the process. Here are just a few ideas to bust down those road blocks to creative thinking.

1. Learn to think for yourself
Often times productivity is valued over creativity. People who live or work in an environment that does not value creative thinking will most likely think only what they are told to think or what others think. When others ask you for your opinion, be as open and honest as you can.

2. Don’t be so dramatic
Watch out for those mood swings. Going from a very positive mood to a highly negative one will always block creative thinking. It’s like being a yo-yo: up one minute, down the next. It’s much better to not let your emotions get the better of you. Remember, things are rarely as good – or as bad – as you think they are.

3. Don’t be presumptuous
When you make presumptions, you are actually being lazy in your thinking. By simply not waiting to get all or enough information, you most likely will not come to the correct conclusions. There is a story of a customer who goes to the bank to cash a check. Shortly after he leaves, he returns and says: “Excuse me, I think you made a mistake.” The teller responds with “I’m sorry, but you should have counted your money before you left. There’s really nothing I can do, because once you walk away, we are no longer responsible.” The customer then says: “Oh, ok. Well then, thanks for the EXTRA 20 bucks!”. Look before you jump to conclusions.

4. Get Rid Of other lazy thinking habits.
Lazy thinking habits can be a major stumbling block to creative thinking. Try this experiment. Write down the Scottish surnames Macdonald, Macpherson, and Macdougall and ask someone to pronounce them. Now follow these with the word Machinery and see what happens. Most people are likely to mis-pronounce it. This is because we tend to think in patterns or in habitual ways. Obviously this kind of thinking can lend itself to a lack of creativity. Don’t think that, just because things happened in a certain way once before, that they will happen like that again.

5. Think Like A Child.
It has been shown that the neurological connections in a child of the age of two are often greater than those in the average adult. This is possibly because a small child has no limits to their thinking, as adults often do. If we use our brain like a child, without limits, we can actually begin to halt and reverse the brains aging process. With the right stimulus and a passion for learning, you can actually boost your brain’s ability to function more creatively.

By making some simple changes in your habitual thinking patterns, you will probably be amazed at how easy it will be to come up with some new, exciting, fresh ideas and solutions to many of life’s challenges.

Sponsered by Skadoogle

More Thoughts from Mellisa McJunkin – Health and Wellness Advocate

Question: What are you without an immune system?
Answer: You are dead.

As morbid as it may sound, it’s true. When your immune system is weak you will get sick. When your immune system completely fails you will die.

If I could show you a way to boost your Natural Killer Cells by up to 437%, would you be interested in hearing more? Of course you would.

Get Healthy and Wise with  Extreme Health 4Life

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More brain power is an essential key to success in nearly every area of life.  Your brain is much like a  muscle.  As the saying  goes; use it or lose it.  Many experts agree that you can grow your mental focus and intelligence quotient as much as you want.  Here are nine nice and easy to do tips to improve brain power:

1. Develop a regular exercise routine
Exercise benefits your brain cells by supplying high doses of much needed oxygen. When you exercise, the blood vessels in the brain begin to dilate. With the increased blood flow, more oxygen is transported to various parts of the body, but most importantly the brain. Physical activity and exercise not only allows more oxygen to flow, but  other vital nutrients as well. Toxins are more readily eliminated through sweating also. Beachbody Fitness is my favorite as far as fitness programs go because they have a huge selection and variety of workouts programs that you can do right in your own home.

2. Mind games
Since the brain is a muscle, it too must be used. Brain games of thought and concentration like cross word puzzles, word search, sukudo, or even a game of chess can  improve mental clarity and intelligence all at the same time.

3.) Deter the Distractions
On the other hand, distractions are an enemy to maximum brain power, so you must learn to calm your busy mind.  When you notice things that bother you, try to deal with them as soon as possible, rather than dwelling on them.  Whether it is a phone call, paying a bill, or writing things down on your to do list so that you won’t forget, just get it done.  Doing these things will come easier with practice, especially as your thinking becomes more sharp and your brain power boosts.

3. Eat (or drink)  the best breakfast.
Eating a healthy breakfast (one void of sugary carbs and high in protein) is one of the best things you can do for your brain.  Likewise, skipping one of the most important meals of the day will affect your brains ability to cope, reason and function. Besides breakfast, aim to eat (or drink) plenty of live raw fruits and veggies and their juices throughout the day.  Fruits and vegetables have the ability to detoxify the body and nourish your brain with important nutrients and essential antioxidants that help protect your brain from the harmful effects of free radicals. Beachbody also offers the most power packed nutritional drink called “SHAKEOLOGY the healthiest meal of the day” that is easy and delicious. See what the Doctors have to say.

4. Drink LOTS of water.
Besides fat, your brain is comprised of almost 80 percent water. This means that the brain is a lot like a sponge; when it is well hydrated it will perform more effectively.  Dehydration, even in the slightest amount can raise the stress hormone levels in the body, which can damage the brains tissues over the course of time.  A good rule of thumb is to drink at least 84 ounces of water a day. Pure clean water is best but if your like me you enjoy variety so you can  add a bit of fresh lemon juice and stevia for a delicious and nutritious way to stay hydrated. You can also drink herbal, non-caffeinated tea. White or green tea are packed with antioxidants and other phytonutrients that are very beneficial for health of the brain.

5. Keep journals and Lists
Writing down your thoughts and ideas are a great way to clear the mind of it’s clutter from the day.  When you write your thoughts onto paper, you are able to think  about them in a more powerful and creative way. Keeping a To Do list will also help you mind stay focused and less forgetful. This is a great way to improve your brainpower.

6. Think about things in a positive way.
Thinking positively is not some “pie in the sky” mentality. It is just another way to enable your brain to think more clearly and creatively.  When you are thinking about positive things, your mood and feelings will follow. This alone will allow your mind to function more smoothly.  Ask yourself questions like  What am I most grateful for right now?. The attitude to gratitude is one of the most powerful ways to boost brain power.

7) The beauty of sleep
Research shows that someone with sleep deprivation is equivalent to someone who is legally drunk. Make sure you sleep at least 7 hours of sleep. Research also shows that the best hours of sleep are from 10:00pm to 6:00am. Your body and your brain in particular, repair and rejuvenate during these sleep hours. Sleep also helps your brain to process new memories, practice new skills and solve problems.

8. Develop your creativity and your intuition.
Creativity gives power to your thinking. Raw computation can be done by computers now, but humans provide the creative thought that shapes our world. Intuition can be an important part of brain power. Einstein and others have relied heavily on their intuitive hunches.

9. Make a brain power commitment.
Studies show that it takes about twenty to thirty days of repetition to establish new habits. So be patient with yourself.  This means that you should plan to use these techniques such as exercise, eating healthy, staying hydrated and sleeping well for at least three weeks for the habit to form.

You can use many of the brain boosters here and get immediate results, but it is creating new habits that will give you the most brain power boost.

Mellisa McJunkin
Extreme Health and Wellness Activist

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More Thoughts from Mellisa McJunkin – Health and Wellness Advocate

Question: What are you without an immune system?
Answer: You are dead.

As morbid as it may sound, it’s true. When your immune system is weak you will get sick. When your immune system completely fails you will die.

If I could show you a way to boost your Natural Killer Cells by up to 437%, would you be interested in hearing more? Of course you would.

Get Healthy and Wise with  Extreme Health 4Life

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Sleep is a mysterious thing to me. I know I need it. I sometimes crave it. But at times it feels like an interruption when I have so many things to do in a day. Since sleep is inevitable, and without enough of it you will develop a host of heath problems, do you ever wonder what goes on “behind the scenes” in your body, as you drift off to sleep at night? Sleep is truly an anti aging miracle.

First of all, the blood flow to you brain drops as it is redirected to other parts of your body like muscles and internal organs. You central nervous system rests so that you (usually) do not hear sounds, smells or other distractions. Your body temperature drops and your breathing, blood pressure, metabolism and heart rate all slow down as well.

Eventually your body will enter into a state of “deep” sleep. During this time, your pituitary gland will begin to release your human growth hormone or HGH in precisely the correct amount. HGH helps your body repair skins, organs and bones. It replenishes white blood cells that are used to fight off sickness, disease or infection. And it builds and repair muscles. Muscle tissues can only repair themselves while you sleep.

There are two types of sleep – rapid eye movement or REM and non-REM. During times of non interrupted sleep, your body goes through four stages of non-REM sleep. When you first settle into sleep you enter into stage 1 where sleep is the lightest. Stage 2 is a little deeper and brain activity starts to slow down. Finally you will enter stage 3 and stage 4. During these stages the brain waves, known as delta waves are even slower. This is called the deep sleep pattern. These four stages of sleep total about 90 minutes. So what happens the rest of the time?

Eventually your brain waves will increase again and you will enter REM sleep..Like the name says, Rapid Eye Movement will occur beneath your closed eyelids. But your muscles will stay pretty relaxed and this is the time when you will dream. This stage lasts only about 30 minutes. After REM sleep your body will begin the cycle all over again 4 or 5 more times through the rest of the night. During each cycle the non-REM, or deep sleep time will grow shorter and REM periods will lengthen. Without enough REM sleep, you may suffer with mental problems, like learning or remembering. But without deep non-REM sleep, your body begins to break down and become weak and even diseased.

Stress, physical pain, other medical conditions, medications, children, schedule differences from others in the home are just a few of the reasons why our sleep can be disrupted at night. Some people just wake up easier at night. Our sleep patterns even change as we grow older but the need for adequate sleep doesn’t change. Researchers have found that some older people do not produce enough melatonin that is needed for deep sleep. Melatonin is a hormone that the body naturally produces, but can diminish as we age. Melatonin can be found in supplement form is most, if not all health food stores.

5 Problems that proper sleep can help cure or avoid

1) Stroke – Sleep apnea is a problem that some people have. Sleep apnea is characterized by shallow or disrupted breathing patterns. In severe cases, some people stop breathing for a significant amount of time. This thief robs the brain of oxygen, upsetting heart rhythms and causing spikes in blood pressure. Ultimately, if left untreated this condition could cause a stroke.

2) Heart Attack – When breathing is disrupted, the blood does not get enough oxygen as well. This causes the heart muscle to work harder and in effect weaken. This can be really bad for people who already have heart disease.

3) Memory, Cognitive Function and Coordination – Getting enough of the right kind of sleep and your ability to learn and remember things improves as well. Your brain, like every other organ in your body needs rest to rejuvenate itself. Stage 2 sleep is need to improve motor skills and coordination.

4) Immune Function – Sleep helps speed up the healing process. During sleep your body replenishes it’s immune cells that are needed to fight infection and disease.

5) Accident Prevention - Sleep deprivation is thought to contribute to nearly half of all accident-related deaths in the U.S. Some signs of sleep deprivation can appear just like a drug or alcohol induced state. Your best accident prevention strategy could be a good night’s sleep.

Sleep rejuvenates and heals the body and HGH is produced only during the time of deep sleep. Unfortunately, many things can disrupt our sleep patterns. To slow the aging process is vitally important to solve sleep problems before they cause serious health issues or diseases. Clearly the secret to staying young could simply be found in sleeping well every night.

More Thoughts from Mellisa McJunkin – Health and Wellness Advocate

Question: What are you without an immune system?
Answer: You are dead.

As morbid as it may sound, it’s true. When your immune system is weak you will get sick. When your immune system completely fails you will die.

If I could show you a way to not ONLY strengthen, fortify, and boost but ALSO educate your Immune System now with the ONE and ONLY patent protected product on the market proven effective in 100% of subjects tested to raise the level of IaG Antibodies by an average of 73% and boost your Natural Killer Cells by up to 437%, would you be interested in hearing more? Of course you would.

Well then, what are you waiting for? More sickness and disease to take over? Good Health is not expensive, it’s priceless. Wouldn’t you say?

Get Healthy and Wise with  Extreme Health 4Life

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No matter how pretty your face may be, if your skin is dull, you will always appear more tired and older looking. Dull skin has many different causes, from lifestyle choices to the genes you were born with. While skin may dull due to natural aging processes, dull skin is also caused by fatigue and stress. Just as often, the lack of vitamins and other essential nutrients such as Omega 3’s, drinking alcohol, smoking, exposure extreme temperatures, as well as frequent sun and wind exposure. Slow blood circulation, sickness and diseases also contribute to dull skin complexion. Of course there is also the issue of heredity. But if we discount that for the moment, and just focus on lifestyle choices, here are 9 easy to follow anti-aging treatments that will help heal a dull complexion.

Drink plenty of water
The body is composed largely of water. Your body expels plenty a lot water every day and therefore you need to drink a lot of water to keep it working properly, let alone re-hydrate the skin. Plenty of water will keep the body and skin hydrated.

Sleep
Our body not only rests it also rejuvenates, heals and repairs itself during the hours we sleep, and this includes your skin. Plenty of rest, especially during times of stress will help  the overall appearance you skin

Exfoliate
Our skin gets replenished every year, but why wait that long? Not exfoliating often enough allows the skin to accumulate dead and dying cells in its surface layers which dulls the skin. Not exfoliating regularly also causes the pores to become plugged with oils in the skin that attract dirt; ultimately, this will lead to black heads or other blemishes. Exfoliating twice a week will help keep the skin rejuvenated and refreshed.

Moisturize
Always moisturize the skin especially before applying make-up. Applying make-up before moisturizing the skin will ultimately result in dull complexion.

Food and Supplement choices
Dull skin complexion is often a sign of the body’s deficiency in HEALTHY fats and oils. Healthy foods and supplements that are rich in amino acids and oils such berries, nuts, avocados, olive or coconut oil help restore the glow to the skin.

Exercise
Proper exercise increases blood flow and oxygen levels in the body, both of which cause the skin to appear more refreshed. Sweating cleanses the pores and removes trapped dirt and even old skin. Exercise also excites the oil glands in the skin. When the oil from the body is moved out to the outer skin layers, it will coat the skin, rejuvenating it and making it healthier. Sometimes, sweating alone could liven up the skin.

Massages
Massaging the skin improves blood circulation. Neck and facial muscles really benefit from this. Massaging the face and neck with facial creams and massaging oils will not improve your skin tone but will also help tighten the tissues and facial muscles.

Deep Steam
Steaming your face with a hot towel once a week is a very effective method of cleaning deep seated dirt that have been imbedded into the skin. It also removes traces of make up that have not been removed well. The heat will also open the pores of the skin clearing away and flushing out toxins.

Facial Masks
Face masks are good at correcting irregularities in skin tone, removing dirt and debris along with toning and tightening the skin. A mask can be done weekly or monthly depending on your skin type.

Besides applying these 9 easy to follow anti aging techniques, avoiding things like alcohol, smoking, junk foods, and a sedentary lifestyle will do wonders in changing a dull complexion into one that is bright and youthful.

More Thoughts from Mellisa McJunkin – Health and Wellness Advocate

Question: What are you without an immune system?
Answer: You are dead.

As morbid as it may sound, it’s true. When your immune system is weak you will get sick. When your immune system completely fails you will die.

If I could show you a way to not ONLY strengthen, fortify, and boost but ALSO educate your Immune System now with the ONE and ONLY patent protected product on the market proven effective in 100% of subjects tested to raise the level of IaG Antibodies by an average of 73% and boost your Natural Killer Cells by up to 437%, would you be interested in hearing more?

Well then, what are you waiting for? More sickness and disease to take over? Good Health is not expensive, it’s priceless. Wouldn’t you say?

Visit Me Here to Get Healthy and Wise today with Extreme Health 4Life

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