The saying "use it or lose it" applies to your memory. And your best defense against a memory problem is to stay healthy and fit.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know All

Certain parts of the brain are key contributors in a highly dynamic interaction that gives rise to fear and anxiety. Using brain imaging technologies and neurochemical techniques, scientists are finding that a network of interacting structures is responsible for these emotions. Much research centers on the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure deep within the brain.

Find a memory trick that fits your "type." Some people find it easier to remember things they see; others can best remember things they hear or repeatedly write over and over again. Through trial and error, find out which of these approaches is best for you.

Amygdala(am-ig-duh-luh) A bunch of cells on each side of the brain. The word amygdala is latin for the word almond. That is what the area of cells looks like. This part of the brain is responsible for emotions.

The amygdala is believed to serve as a communications hub between the parts of the brain that process incoming sensory signals and the parts that interpret them. It can signal that a threat is present, and trigger a fear response or anxiety. It appears that emotional memories stored in the central part of the amygdala may play a role in disorders involving very distinct fears, like phobias, while different parts may be involved in other forms of anxiety.

Hippocampus(hip-po-camp-us) The hippocampus is a part of the cerebrum, and thats the area of your brain that deals with memory. There are different kinds of memory, short-term and long term.

Short-term memory describes information that the brain has recently received. Long-term memory deals with things that have happened in the past and this section of the brain transfers this old information to make it presently short-term memory so you can remember it in the present.

Other research focuses on the hippocampus, another brain structure that is responsible for processing threatening or traumatic stimuli. The hippocampus plays a key role in the brain by helping to encode information into memories. Studies have shown that the hippocampus appears to be smaller in people who have undergone severe stress because of child abuse or military combat. This reduced size could help explain why individuals with PTSD have flashbacks, deficits in explicit memory, and fragmented memory for details of the traumatic event.

Also, research indicates that other brain parts called the basal ganglia and striatum are involved in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

By learning more about brain circuitry involved in fear and anxiety, scientists may be able to devise new and more specific treatments for anxiety disorders. For example, it someday may be possible to increase the influence of the thinking parts of the brain on the amygdala, thus placing the fear and anxiety response under conscious control. In addition, with new findings about neurogenesis (birth of new brain cells) throughout life, perhaps a method will be found to stimulate growth of new neurons in the hippocampus in people with PTSD.

The Hypothalamus (hi-poh-tha-luh-muss) sits right in the center of the brain. The hypothalamus is like the bodys thermometer. It knows what temperature your body should be and it sends messages to your brain so that your body knows when to sweat or shiver.

The brain sends messages throughout the body using nerves. Nerves are bundles of thin threads that carry messages throughout the body. The name of this network of nerves that travel throughout the body is, The Nervous System.Many of the messages are sent through a large bundle of nerves called the Spinal Cord which runs down your back inside of your spine.

Your ears, eyes and skin are even working for your brain, sending messages through the nervous system about whats going on outside your body.

The brain stem is beneath the cerebrum and in front of the cerebellum. The brain stem connects the rest of the brain to the spinal cord, which runs down your neck and back. The brain stem controls all the functions that are necessary for your body to stay alive, like breathing air, digesting food, and circulating blood. It's in charge of your involuntary muscles - the ones that work automatically, without you even thinking about it.

There are involuntary muscles in the heart and stomach, and it's the brain stem that tells the heart to pump more blood when you're exercising, or your stomach to start digesting your breakfast in the morning. (Remember, the cerebrum has control over the voluntary muscles. Controlling all of the body's muscles is too big a job for one brain part!) The brain stem is also responsible for sorting through the millions of messages that the brain and the rest of the body send back and forth.