Explaining how a clock works to your child? Proposing a new project to your boss? Or giving details to anyone else? Try using related gestures—for instance rotating your hands in circles like clock gears or drawing a slope in the air to indicate profits. In a recent study, volunteers caught on to new concepts more quickly when the talker used lots of hand movements that helped illustrate the ideas than when the same instructions were given with non-matching hand gestures, such as pointing or waving, reports the journal Association for Psychological Science.
[photo: Eddi_07]
Burning a scented candle or spraying a room with your favorite air freshener doesn’t only make your home smell wonderful, it stimulates areas of the brain that change your mood. “Scents can generate reactions in the frontal lobe and the hypothalamus that influence behaviors and personalities,” says Alan Hirsch, M.D., Founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. According to his research, if you want to be more… 
Trying to tally your grocery bill as you shop? Need to cut a recipe by one-third? Stumped by your kid’s homework assignment? Try talking aloud as you do the math. When researchers from the University of Granada in Spain videotaped students working on tough math problems, those who spoke aloud while doing the equations found the correct answers faster than those who did the problems in their head. This easy technique helps you understand the problem better and come up with new ways to reach the right solution, the researchers say.
Working on a important project on your computer? If you want to get it done on time, you might want to turn off the pop-ups that alert you when you get an email or IM. A new study out of the U.K.’s University 
Have to contact a bunch of people to give them the same message—for instance, to remind parents about an upcoming P.T.A. meeting or tell guests that the location of a birthday party has changed—but don’t have the time to make all those calls or texts? Log onto 
Stumped for a fact and Google isn’t helping you find it? You can ask the reference librarians at the New York Public Library (
Is stress or fatigue making it hard to focus and recall details? The amino acid l-theanine in green tea clears the fog and resharpens your brain. “It stimulates the 
Studies show that a good night’s sleep is as important as eating right and exercising since it offers so many health benefits including amping up your daytime energy, bolstering the immune system 
If you and your partner are trying for a new addition to your family, the latest research reveals surprising ways to speed up the process:
Which of these do you think is best at increasing daytime alertness and energy:
If you love the sweet scent and elegant beauty of hyacinths, you don’ t have to wait till spring to enjoy them. It takes just a few easy steps to coax hyacinths to bloom indoors during the winter months: 