Super Mind Power, Part 2

Brain Fitness: Anti-Aging to Fight Alzheimer's Disease, Supercharge Your Memory, Sharpen Your Intelligence, De-Stress Your Mind, Control Mood Swings
by Robert Goldman, M.D.

(Page 2 of 2)

Super Mind Power is not only how much we remember but what we remember. For instance, it is the extraordinary empathy of Oprah Winfrey, and her ability to connect with individuals and with the masses. It is the ability to tap into our creative selves as, for example, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and Meryl Streep do when they transform themselves into characters. This feat takes not only intense dedication but tedious hard work and arduous repetition. Their mind power includes the ability to suspend their egos to adapt to the mood, manner, and very essence of fictional characters.

Another example of Super Mind Power is the brilliant and fluid stream of comic genius within Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, and Billy Crystal. They have trained their minds, memory, and creative talents to be able to improvise, but it has taken years of mind power training to make this ability look simple and effortless. Tiger Woods may well be on his way to becoming the greatest golfer in history because of his Super Mind Power — his ability to focus, concentrate, and hone his talent with constant practice.

The idea of Super Mind Power has enthralled us since childhood. This is the appeal of superheroes, from Superman to Batman to an array of other comic book heroes. And for each superhero, there has been a supervillain — a brilliant Lex Luthor or Darth Vader who has tantalized us with his possible mental powers. It has always been the Super Mind Power of the characters, more than their physical power, that has captured our imaginations. Today, the popularity of shows like Star Trek, movies like E.T., and alien creatures like those in Independence Day attests to our fascination with intelligence and the power of mind over matter. Similarly, the universal appeal of vampires, black magic, crystals, and ghosts speaks to our interest in the power of the mind to control others or read thoughts. We love the idea that our minds can move mountains, so to speak.

Each of us wants to learn our own secret brain-enhancing techniques. For some, this is what drives religious devotion. Intense faith has enabled people to walk again, regain hearing and vision, and make chronic pain disappear. Hindus and monks undergo great trials of pain and deprivation, armed only with their mental powers. The powers of the mind have given them strength and made "miracles" happen.

The goal of this book is to help you learn the Super Mind Power techniques of the superstars, the supersuccessful, the superpowerful. It will give you ideas for ways to change your life by turbocharging your mind and brain to increase your memory, concentration, focus, determination, discipline, imagination, creativity, and energy, while decreasing your fatigue, stress, and need to sleep. Learn which supernutrients can power up your mind and which new super brain medications are out there to pump up your thinking power. Learn how a supernap can quick-charge your mind and how special antistress techniques can rejuvenate your cerebral core. And learn about the latest advances in preventing Alzheimer's and other mental diseases.

Advances in science and medicine are all around us. Computer capabilities are doubling every eighteen months, and medical knowledge is doubling every three and a half years. In just twenty years, we will know much more than we do now about how to live longer and better. In 1799, the average life span was 25 years — as it had been for centuries before. But today we age very differently.

By 1899, just a century ago, the average life span had reached 48 years. Now it is almost 80 years, and scientists are predicting that average life spans will reach 120 to 150 years by the year 2049. When the first United States census was taken in 1790, half the population was under age sixteen. In 1990, less than one-quarter of the population was under sixteen. It is predicted by the U.S. Census Bureau that by the year 2025, the country will have two sixty-five-year-olds for every teenager. The percentage of Americans over age sixty-five has risen 300 percent in the last century; those aged sixty-five to seventy-four up 800 percent; those seventy-five to eighty-four up 1,300 percent; and the number of those over eighty-five has increased by 2,500 percent!

We are all definitely living longer, but how do we keep our minds young? How do we preserve and protect our experiences and wisdom? What are we going to do with the growing number of years in our lives? You want to have the mental mind power to participate in all that's ahead.

We are living in an exciting time of history. The advent of the new science of antiaging medicine means that aging is not inevitable, and you need not lose your memory, concentration, focus, and happiness as you age. Along with Dr. Ronald Klatz, I am one of the original twelve physicians who created the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, the world's first medical society of physicians and scientists dedicated to combating the degenerative disease of aging. Since its inception in 1993, it has grown to over 5,400 members in more than forty-four nations. It is showing the world that we can change the way our bodies and minds age if we use the secrets of Super Mind Power.

With the mind-boggling advances in gene therapy, nanotechnology, genetic engineering, organ regeneration, and drug development, we are going to live longer and healthier, and we need a Super Mind to help us take advantage of these added years.

The greatest tragedy for anyone is loss of memories, for these are our most valuable possessions. They are the core of our personal identity, and there is a lot you can do to protect yourself from "mind robbers," and losing these irreplaceable valuables.

In this book there are self-tests, brain booster information charts, and numerous quizzes to help you gauge where your mind power is now and what you might do to enhance your performance. There is also information about the new and exciting brain medications now under development, which may soon be available so that everyone can boost their brainpower.

The programs and techniques in Brain Fitness are your protective barrier against the greatest team of thieves of all time — age and deterioration — which are out to steal your greatest possession, your mind. Learn the secrets of Super Mind Power!

Copyright © 1999 by Robert Goldman, M.D.; Contributions by Lisa Berger and Ronald Klatz. Excerpted by permission of Main Street Books, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

About the Author

Dr. Robert Goldman is a physician and surgeon who also holds a doctorate in steroid biochemistry. He is cofounder with Dr. Ronald Klatz of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, which has thousands of members in more than thirty-seven countries, and of the National Academy of Sports Medicine. The two are also the coauthors of Death in the Locker Room and Stopping the Clock. They both live in Chicago, Illinois.