Markham Real Estate Today with Asif Khan

How to prepare for a seamless transition

1. Remember and repeat groups of words. Memorize your grocery list or friends' phone numbers.
   
   
   
2. Take classes to learn something you've always wanted to understand. Learn to play bridge, study Spanish or take a Photoshop seminar. It's up to you! Try something new and crazy, just to say you've done it!
   
   
   
   
3. Do games and puzzles such as crossword puzzles, Sudoku and Scrabble.
   
   
   
   
4. Read often, with a lot of different types of books. Take a magazine and dedicate specific time to it. Read the newspaper. Set your computer homepage to bring up news items of particular interest to you. Read them each time you open the computer.
   
   
   
   
5. Play computer brain games, such as Brain Age for Nintendo DS.
   
   
   
   

6. Test and monitor your memory and attention with special computer games.
   

   
   
   
7. Write or edit a wikiHow article every now and then.
   
   
   
   
8. Meditate often. Take calm, deep breaths out your nose only. Your brain (and entire body) needs lots of fresh air, so breathe deeply.
   
   
   
   
9. Eat foods containing omega fatty acids (known to boost intellectual stamina) such as flax and hemp seeds, and fish.
   
   
   
   

10. Perform math functions regularly.
    

    
    
    
11. Creating humor utilizes multiple parts of the brain. Sites like GiggleTrigger are a really fun way to exercise your brain.
    
    
    
    

12. Learn new words from a word-a-day calendar or dictionary.
    

    
    
    
13. Use your left hand if you are right handed, and reverse, to exercise the opposite side of the brain.
    
    
    
    
14. Mess around with a twisty puzzle.
    
    
    
    
15. Learn to read and play music (classical music is known to have the best effects.)
    
    
    
    
16. Use the Mozart Effect - classical music increases brain activity more positively than other kinds of music. Two pieces of Mozart's music; Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major (K. 448) and Piano Concerto No. 23 (K. 488), were found to have this effect.
    
    
    
    
17. Draw or paint.
    
    
    
    
18. Consider the different possibilities of how something could have gone, and explore these consequences. This improves creativity.
    
    
    
    
19. When trying to learn something or review for a quiz, listen to your favorite song on repeat. This is an association technique where your brain connects what you learned to what you heard. Plus, after a half hour of one song on repeat, you should know the lyrics!
    
    
    
    
20. Try commuting with varied routes, to prevent the brain from becoming monotonous.
    
    
    
    
21. Avoid watching TV for hours; solve puzzles while watching TV to increase multitasking.
    
    
    
    
22. Learn to play new games to increase mind and body coordination.
    
    
    
    
23. Never avoid breakfast, it's essential for your brain to function efficiently.
    
    
    
    
24. Imagine the fourth dimension of an object. (We can see three sides at a time, 3 dimensions, so imagine seeing four sides of an object such as a cube.)
    
    
    
    

25. Take a fresh morning walk for about 3 hours. It makes your mind fresh and helps in protecting from diseases
    

    
    
    
26. Learn to relax to clear your mind
    

Instructions

1. • 1

     Plant marigolds, catnip and rosemary in your garden and around your house. These plants all emit odors that are unpleasant to mosquitoes and will keep them away.

   • 2

     Pin several fabric softener dryer sheets to your clothes when you are outside. The sheets have a repelling effect on mosquitoes.

   • 3

     Spritz yourself with lemon eucalyptus oil. You can get this from a health food store. Put five drops of the oil in 1 cup of water, then put the mixture in a plastic spray bottle and give yourself two or three good sprays before going outside. The scent of the oil will keep mosquitoes away.

   • 4

     Burn citronella candles around your house when you are outside at night. Mosquitoes hate citronella. Make sure you create a ring of lit citronella candles around wherever it is you are planning to be when you are outside.

   • 5

     Remove any sources of stagnant standing water from around your home. Mosquitoes love standing water and use it as a breeding ground. Even a small planter pot that has been left outside and filled up with rain water is a potential breeding ground for mosquitoes, so get rid of it.

   • 6

     Put up mosquito netting all around where you are planning to be outside. You can get mosquito netting from most sports and camping supply stores. The netting has thousands of tiny holes in it that are big enough for you to see out of, but too small for the mosquitoes to fly through. This netting is widely used in Africa in areas that are prone to malaria.

Eight tips to help in your search

By Michele Dawson

And don't forget—once you make an offer, make it contingent upon the findings of a professional home inspection. If any major defects surface, you'll want to have the leverage to renegotiate or back out of the deal completely.

Dates: June 28, 2013 - 

Dance, in all its genres and forms, is the main theme of this year’s Canada Day celebrations. The WestJet Stage hosts performances by Elliott Brood and Alex Cuba over the weekend, while the Lake View Market and World Café provide shopping – and, of course, there’s fireworks in Canada Square.

Fireworks are on June 30 at 10 p.m. More info here.

Improving your memory is easier than it sounds. Most of think of our memory as something static and unchanging. But it’s not — you can improve your memory just as you can improve your math or foreign language skills, simply by practicing a few tried and true memory building exercises.

There are two kinds of memory — short-term and long-term. Short-term memory is the kind of memory our brain uses to store small pieces of information needed right away, like someone’s name when you meet for the first time. Research has demonstrated that short-term memory’s capacity is about seven pieces of information. After that, something has to go.

Long-term memory is for things you don’t need to remember this instant. When you study for a test or exam, that’s long-term memory at work. A memorably moment in your life, events with family or friends, and other similar kinds of situations also get stored in long-term memory.

So how do you go about improving your memory? Read on to find out.

Your Memory is in Your Brain

Although it may seem obvious, memory is formed within your brain. So anything that generally improves your brain health may also have a positive impact on your memory. Physical exercise and engaging in novel brain-stimulating activities — such as the crossword puzzle or Sudoku — are two proven methods for helping keep your brain healthy.

Remember, a healthy body is a healthy brain. Eating right and keeping stress at bay helps not only your mind focus on new information, but also is good for your body too. Getting a good night’s sleep every night is important as well. Vitamin supplements and herbal extracts aren’t the same thing as getting vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids naturally, through the food you eat.

Improve Your Memory

So you want to improve your memory? You need to focus on what you’re doing and the information you’re looking to encode more strongly in your brain. These tips will help you do just that:

1. Focus on it. So many people get caught up in multi-tasking, that we often fail to do the one thing that will almost always improve your memory — paying attention to the task at hand. This is important, because your brain needs time to encode the information properly. If it never makes it into your memory, you won’t be able to recall it later. If you need to memorize something, quit multitasking.
2. Smell, touch, taste, hear and see it. The more senses you involve when you need to encode memory, usually the more strong a memory it becomes. That’s why the smell of mom’s home-baked cookies can still be recalled as fresh as though she were downstairs making them just now. Need to remember someone’s name you met for the first time? It may help to look them in the eye when you repeat their name, and offer a handshake. By doing so, you’ve engaged 4 out of your 5 senses.
3. Repeat it. One reason people who want to memorize something repeat it over and over again is because repetition (what psychologists sometimes refer to as “over learning”) seems to work for most people. It helps not to cram, though. Instead, repeat the information spaced out over a longer period of time.
4. Chunk it. Americans remember their long 10-digit telephone numbers despite being able to hold only 7 pieces of information in their brain at one time. They do because we’ve taught ourselves to chunk the information. Instead of seeing 10 separate pieces of information, we see 3 pieces of information — a 3 digit area code, a 3 digit prefix, and a 4 digit number. Because we’ve been taught since birth to “chunk” the telephone number in this way, most people don’t have a problem remembering a telephone number. This technique works for virtually any piece of information. Divide the large amount of information into smaller chunks, and then focus on memorizing those chunks as individual pieces.
5. Organize it. Our brains like organization of information. That’s why books have chapters, and outlines are recommended as a studying method in school. By carefully organizing what it is you have to memorize, you’re helping your brain better encode the information in the first place.
6. Use mnemonic devices. There are a lot of these, but they all share one thing in common — they help us remember more complicated pieces of information through imagery, acronyms, rhyme or song. For instance, in medical school, students will often turn memorization of the bones in the body or symptoms of specific illnesses into sentences, where the first letter of each word corresponds with a specific bone or symptom. Learn about more mnemonic devices and memory here.
7. Learn it the way that works for you. People often get caught up in thinking there’s a “one size fits all” learning style for memorizing new material. That’s simply not the case — different people prefer different methods for taking in new information. Use the style that works for you, even if it’s not the way most people study or try and learn new information. For instance, some people like to write things down when they’re learning something new. Others may benefit more from recording what they’re hearing, and going back to take more detailed notes later on at their own leisure.
8. Connect the dots. When we learn, we often forget to try and make associations until later on. However, research has shown that memory can be stronger when you try and make the associations when you first take in the information. For instance, think about how two things are related, and the memory for both will be enhanced. Connect new information to existing information or experiences in your mind.

As we age, our memory sometimes seems to get worse. But it doesn’t have to. By following these eight tips, you can keep your memory sharp at any age, and improve it any time.

Earlier this week, some Canadian banks hiked the fixed rate on their five-year mortgage term by 20 basis points to 3.29%. Not surprisingly, housing bears are proclaiming that mortgage rates are now in an uptrend that will collapse the housing market. While we may be headed into an era of heightened volatility, I’m still not convinced the bell is tolling. Here are some reasons why.

1. Fixed-mortgage rates ticked up this week because they are priced off bond yields and the latter have been moving up as signs mount that the North American economy is gaining traction (leading to the Federal Reserve hinting that it may need to wind down its monetary stimulus). But when the economy lifts off into a self-sustaining phase, employment and income growth will also be gaining momentum—which, in turn, will offset the adverse impact of rising interest rates on house prices. There is nothing unusual about this dynamic: it appears regularly in the history of business cycles.

2. Empirical data does not support the thesis that higher mortgage rates inevitably translate into lower house prices. In fact, a study of monthly housing data from 1980 to mid-2010 by mortgage specialist David Larock found that the majority of rate increases in Canada did not lower house prices.

3. It is still an open question whether or not an uptrend has begun in mortgage rates. Usually more than one increase is required to make that call. But if an uptrend is beginning, it’s worth noting that variable-rate mortgages remain tied to the Bank of Canada’s lending rate—and it will not be adjusted upward until the housing market is able to take it in stride.

4. History shows that the initial rounds of increases in mortgage rates are actually bullish for the housing market because people mulling a house purchase are given a nudge off the fence. There is anecdotal evidence for this already: for example, as Rob McLister, editor of CanadianMortgageTrends.com, tweeted June 3: “Multiple lenders are reporting high application volumes [due to] people trying to beat rate increases.”

5. There is a fair amount of pent-up demand on the sidelines that could be encouraged by higher mortgage rates to enter the market.  As industry insider, Ann Hannah, told the Globe and Mail recently, “a growing number of households who put their decision to purchase on hold as a result of stricter lending guidelines are starting to become active again in the ownership market.” In addition, some of the people who have been renting or living with parents in hopes of buying a home at a lower price may be getting married, having kids, receiving salary increases, or otherwise simply deciding they can’t wait any longer.

6. If a rise in mortgage rates is beginning, the Canadian market has a much greater capacity to absorb it than the U.S. back in the 2000s. About 70% of mortgages in Canada are currently fixed-rate mortgages and most of those are for five-year terms. This means rate increases will feed into the market slowly since only a portion of these mortgages come due every year. Just before the U.S. housing crash, about 75% of mortgages in that country were on variable rates and the Federal Reserve was aggressively driving them up. Lastly, a recent National Bank Financial study found only 7% of borrowers under CMHC’s mortgage insurance program had low credit ratings, compared to 28% in the U.S. at the end of 2006.

7. The rate increase announced this week was for published rates. It is still quite supportive, and discounted rates are even lower, near 3% on the 5-year term. Furthermore, it would not be surprising if published rates lagged increases in bond yields (and/or discounted rates lagged published rates) for the reason mentioned in Tim Shufelt’s “The incredible shrinking mortgage rate.” As he writes: “a slowing housing market puts even more pressure on the banks to cut their [profit margins] as they battle for share in a dwindling market.”

8. True, there may come a time when the economy becomes overheated and the Bank of Canada needs to tighten. But that is far off in the future. And presumably, policymakers will be sufficiently chastened by what happened in the housing-meltdown countries to be more circumspect about precipitating housing busts. Finally, ongoing growth in incomes, along with the government’s tinkering with mortgage rules to keep a lid on prices, should have by then brought valuation down to safer levels.

A recent study by a Southern California university professor shows that the more people walk each day, the more energetic they feel and the better their mood.

"People seem to be interested in walking as a health benefit, but here, we're seeing it's not just cardiovascular health and other kinds of physical health that are important, but psychological health as well," explained Robert Thayer, a professor of psychology at California State University, Long Beach. "The more a person walks has a very real and immediate psychological effect that an individual can experience every day."

Thayer and a group of student researchers assessed 37 individuals (12 males and 25 females) over a 20-day period, during which time each participant wore a pedometer from his/her waist from the time they dressed in the morning until just before bed.

At the end of each day, participants completed several rating scales based on their judgments of the entire day, including self-ratings of self-esteem, happiness, overall mood and depression, as well as energy and tension. After making the self-ratings, they noted the number of steps taken that day according to their pedometers.

"We found that there was a clear and strong relationship between the number of steps they took and their overall mood and energy level," said Thayer, author of Calm Energy: How People Regulate Mood with Food and Exercise.

"It really indicates that we're talking about a wider phenomenon here than just 'walk more, feel more energy.' We're talking about 'walk more, be happier, have higher self-esteem, be more into your diet and the nutritiousness of your diet.' "

The study of was one of four Thayer and student researchers have done over the last several years.

"In this whole series of studies that we've done, the more you walk in a day, the more energy you experience," Thayer noted. "That's a little counter-intuitive because you would think that when you expend energy, you would not feel as energetic afterwards. But, it turns out that it produces more energy."

Walking, diet and mood

The purpose of this particular study was to determine if there's a wider set of correlations between the amount of walking each day and related mood states. In addition, the researchers sought to identify any relationship between daily walking and nutritiousness of diet as well as perceived health because this could indicate, according to Thayer, that people eat better and experience better health when they walk more.

"The amount of walking each day predicted a wide variety of positive psychological conditions," Thayer said. "Specifically the correlations between the number of steps and self-ratings indicated that when our participants walked more, they rated their diet as more nutritious. They also rated more highly their health, energy, overall mood, happiness and self-esteem, in that order."

The psychology professor pointed out that walking more is increasingly advocated by public health authorities as an excellent form of essential exercise, and recently in the popular media there's the widely advocated suggestion that people should walk 10,000 steps a day for optimal health.

But, there's little scientific evidence supporting this recommendation, and the average number of daily steps for Americans is unclear.

"Exercising would be the best thing for them, but they're too tired or too depressed to do it. So, it's important to get the word out and make people realize that if they get up and walk or exercise, they'll feel better."