Memory is related to individual intelligence. Intelligence is our ability to process information placed before us, come to a conclusion and make a decision based on our conclusions. In order to process information you must recall both long term and short term memory.

The average person will test out with an IQ score of 100. The most intellectual will achieve a score of 180 to 190; few have ever exceeded these numbers. As your memory deteriorates your scores will go down as well.

Over the past 100 years, IQ scores have increased at an average rate of three IQ points per decade in most parts of the world. This has been explained by better nutrition, smaller families, better education, and heredity.

It is believed that 50% to 80% of a childs intelligence is attributable to the childs parents and the genes that they passed on to the child. Studies of twins raised apart substantiate these beliefs. It had been widely believed that through education, we can improve upon our intelligence, but this is often not the case. Vocabulary size, for example, is more effected by heredity than by environment even though every word that one knows has to be learned. In our society words are readily available to everyone and the number of words that we learn has more to do with our genetic predisposition to learn than the vocabulary of the people around us.

A recent study, April 2008, at the University of Michigan and Bern suggests that intelligence and thus memory can be marginally altered and changed over time through the use of challenging activities thus producing changes in gene expression patterns of the brain.

This then leads to the conclusion that the brain is similar in many respects to the muscles of our body; exercise and good diet will maintain and improve both intelligence and memory.

As we age one of the first parts of our brain function that we experience difficulty with is our memory. Studies have shown that the deterioration of memory can be curbed through mind exercise. One of the leading mind exercise programs is The Zox Training System; a ten minute per day brain exercise program that develops the part of your brain that sits ideal in most people. It unlocks built-in but seldom taped into Photographic Memory, increases your reading speed and your long tern memory plus reduces stress and improves overall efficiency.

The first step in any exercise program, whether body or mind, is to benchmark your current condition. For mind benchmarking I recommend, SmartestofUS.com, an online website that administers a genuine IQ test with no hooks attached. It's also a good way to measure your progress.