Ten Ways To Become Smarter in 2013

The challenges of our world today require a mentally sound and alert mind to survive. We are everyday faced with the need to use wits to win, and only the smart seem to be capable of achieving real success.

You can demand more from your brain. Here are ten of the many ways through which you can increase your brain’s efficiency as you prepare for greater future challenges.

5 Steps To Get A Flat Tummy In 7 Days

You’ve been missing your routine at the gym very often thanks to your busy schedule (or plain laziness) and suddenly you realize that in one week you have to attend a wedding…

Skipping breakfast will make you gain weight!

If you think skipping your morning tea and bread will help you shed a few kilos, you could be mistaken.
Researchers claim people who miss breakfast not only eat more for lunch but also crave fatty and sugary foods, putting them at risk of gaining rather than losing weight.
It is thought that when we skip meals, our gut releases hormones that act on the orbital frontal cortex, priming it to steer our thoughts towards sugary and fatty treats.
While this might make sense in times of famine, when it is essential to get as many calories as possible, when food is plentiful, it could lead to us eating more than is good for us.
Dr Goldstone said: ‘Through the participants’ MRI results and observations of how much they ate at lunch, we found ample evidence that fasting made people hungrier and increased the appeal of high-calorie foods and the amount people ate.
‘Beware of going for long periods without eating because you are going to crave high-calorie foods much more because of changes in how your orbital frontal cortex works.’

Diet for your brain (recipes included!)

If you are preparing for the bar exam your diet is probably the last thing on your mind. Does it really matter that you had that pastry for breakfast? What if I told you that adding these 12 foods to your diet would improve your memory, increase your concentration, raise your mental energy level, and make you sleep better at night?

Just like a race car running on high, during times of stress your mind and body need good quality fuel to run well. But it’s during high times of stress that we tend to eat the worst. We don’t think we have time to eat healthy. We desperately need that soda to stay awake and definitely deserve that breakfast muffin. I remember being addicted to the Pete’s carrot ginger muffins when I was studying for the bar.

I’m not saying you can’t treat yourself or that you need to drastically change your eating habits. This is not the time to go on a diet, quit smoking or try to get off coffee. But if you simply add these 12 foods to your diet, you will be giving your brain real fuel, which can be a game changer in times of stress. I have also included a few of my favorite easy recipes below.

Top 12 Brain Foods

1. Water

Drink more water. 85% of your brain tissue is water. When you are dehydrated your brain shrinks and doesn’t function as well. You should be drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day. If you get headaches, it’s probably because you are not drinking enough water.

2. Green Tea

You may like coffee in the morning or diet coke in the afternoon, but if you’re willing to change it up occasionally, try green tea. It improves your focus and fights mental fatigue. It also includes antioxidants that enhance your memory.

3. Green Leafy Vegetables

Green vegetables are also Study Super Foods. The vitamins in broccoli help convert tryptophan into serotonin, your good mood brain chemical, and the large amounts of vitamin K in broccoli enhance cognitive function and improve brainpower. Try adding green veggies like spinach, broccoli and brussels sprouts to your diet. The easiest way to add green veggies is simply to add a salad to your lunch and dinner.

4. Avocados

Avocados are a “Super Study Food.” They contain good fats, which contribute to healthy blood flow to your brain and support proper brain function. I recommend adding 1/4 to 1/2 of an avocado to one meal daily as a side dish. Adding avocados to your eggs creates the perfect pre-study breakfast.

5. Fruits

Instead of grabbing those potato chips, grab an apple, banana or orange. It will give you antioxidants that boost your brain and body function. A great mid-day snack is bananas or apples with almond butter. You can get almond butter from most grocery stores or health food stores.

6. Oatmeal Topped with Yogurt and Blueberries

This is a great brain breakfast combo. Blueberries are possibly the best brain food on earth because they strengthen your neuron signals, which improves your brain function. They are also high in fiber and low on the glycemic index, so they won’t spike your blood sugar like that muffin or scone. Oatmeal and other whole grains boost blood flow to the brain and stick with you, keeping you full until lunch. And an amino acid in yogurt helps improve your mental alertness and memory.

7. Nuts and Seeds

Both nuts and seeds boost your brain power and improve your mood. Nuts like almonds, cashews or walnuts contain protein, fiber, and beneficial fats. Snack on nuts to clear up that mid-morning brain fog. Sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds are particularly good because they contain tryptophan, the amino acid the brain converts to serotonin. So these little seeds can also improve your mood and help you sleep. I love sunflower seeds in the shells because I have to work at them. It gives me something to do when I study to keep me awake. And ladies, because pumpkin seeds also contain lots of zinc, they have been shown to increase your libido – just something to keep in mind.

8. Eggs

Eggs contain high-quality proteins, vitamins and nutrients. One nutrient in eggs even boosts the memory center of your brain.

9. Fish

Fish is a good mood food. Salmon and tuna contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which can improve memory, and reduce anxiety and hyperactivity.

10. Brown Rice and Beans or Lentils

Beans and lentils are rich in quality protein, so they will fill you up, while also help stabilizing your blood sugar levels and energizing your brain. Brown rice contains the perfect mix of carbohydrates and fiber to fuel your brain while keeping you full.

11. Popcorn

Fat free popcorn is a whole grain. So snacking on popcorn (not the buttery or sugary kind) can help boost blood flow to the brain.

12. Chocolate

Yes, chocolate does actually make you happier. Dark chocolate, in moderation, enhances your focus and concentration. Dark chocolate is rich in antioxidants and contains several natural stimulants, which increase the production of endorphins.

Balancing Meals

For best brain results balance good carbohydrates with proteins. Your brain actually needs carbohydrates for fuel. But try to avoid any meals that are purely carbohydrates. A high carbohydrate meal will make you feel sleepy and sluggish later. And remember that carbs like candy, chips, white bread, pastries and pasta give quick energy, but don’t go the long haul. Healthy carbs like whole grains, fruits, veggies, and lentils provide longer lasting fuel for the brain.

I have included a few easy recipes below. If you have foods that you like to eat when you study, share them here.

Want more tips to improve your brain function? Lauren Firestein is the founder of the Mind Over Bar Course, an innovative course that focuses only on the mental challenges of the bar exam. The course teaches in-the-moment practices you can use study faster and easier and rock the bar exam.

Scrambled Eggs with Avocado
2-3 Eggs
½ Avocado, chopped into small cubes
Cheddar cheese
Canned Mexican flavored tomatoes (Rotel is my favorite brand.)
Chili powder
Cumin
Cilantro

As you scramble the eggs in a pan, add the chili powder and cumin. Once the eggs are almost done, add the canned tomatoes and cheddar cheese. At the end, fold in the fresh avocado and cilantro. Top with your favorite salsa.

For another variation: Replace cheddar with goat cheese, Mexican flavored canned tomatoes with fresh tomatoes, and chili powder, cumin and cilantro with fresh basil.

Tasty Brown Rice and Beans
Cooked brown rice
Your favorite type of canned beans – garbanzo, white cannelli, soy, lentils, black, etc.
Canned tomatoes of any flavor (Mexican flavored, Italian flavored, etc.)
Juice of one lemon

Combine all ingredients, microwave and enjoy.

Easy Lunch Tostada
2 corn tortillas
1 Zucchini, cut into small cubes
1 Squash, cut into small cubes
5-6 fresh cherry tomatoes, chopped (or canned tomatoes)
Olive oil
Mexi corn (canned or frozen)
1 can black beans
Salsa
Chili powder
Cumin

Preheat your oven to 400°. Put foil on a cookie sheet, drizzle a little olive oil on the foil and very lightly coat the tortillas with the oil. Bake them for 7-10 minutes, checking often as the burn quickly.

In a large pan, cook the zucchini and squash in a little olive oil for 3-4 minutes. Season with chili powder and cumin to taste. Once they are almost done, add the cherry tomatoes, mexi-corn, black beans, and 2 tablespoons salsa. Cook until everything is warm. Spoon mixture on cooked crisp tortillas.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts
1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts
3 tablespoons good olive oil
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Cut off the brown ends of the Brussels sprouts and pull off any yellow outer leaves. Cut them in half. Mix them in a bowl with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour them on a cookie sheet and roast for 30 to 40 minutes, until crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. Shake the pan from time to time to brown the sprouts evenly. Sprinkle with more kosher salt ( I like these salty like French fries), and serve immediately.

Yummy Green Salad
Baby spinach leaves
¼ cup Broccoli, chopped
¼ Cucumber, sliced
1 carrot, sliced (or use shredded carrots)
1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
¼ cup sliced almonds
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
Balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing to taste

Not all that glitters is gold. Research shows beautiful women could shorten your life span.

A beautiful woman is the envy of many. While being beautiful does have numerous advantages, there are also disadvantages – one of which is being harmful to men’s health. It has long been said that beautiful women are hard on men’s hearts and therefore, getting in contact with them might be harmful to men’s health, raising stress hormones to dangerously high levels, says a new study...

According to the study which was carried out by Spanish researchers, when men are in the presence of a beautiful stranger they view as “out of their league,” the risks are even higher, with cortisol levels rising so high that heart attacks and strokes become real possibilities.

“This is another case of hard science proving the obvious,” said a psychiatrist, Irvin Wolkoff, who was involved with the study.

In carrying out the study, the researchers tested 84 male students by asking each one to sit in a room and solve a Sudoku puzzle. Two strangers, one male and one female, were also in the room.

The outcome of this experiment showed that when the female stranger left the room and the two men remained sitting together, the volunteer’s levels of the stress hormone cortisol did not rise. But, when the volunteer was left alone with the female stranger, his cortisol levels rose, as measured by a saliva swab.

The researchers, also explained that for most men, the presence of an attractive woman may induce the perception that there is an opportunity for courtship.

It all boils down to evolution. Since cavemen days, men have been hardwired so that when they see an attractive woman, their cortisol response kicks in to tell men to seek out that woman for mating purposes, Wolkoff says.

Even though today’s man is sophisticated and enlightened, underneath, when he sees an attractive female, he feels stress about wanting to mate with her, and worrying about whether she might already have a mate or be unresponsive.

“So by definition, sexual encounters are in the same general category as fighting or fleeing. These are stressful situations,” he says.

Wolkoff says there’s nothing wrong with feeling cortisol or andrenaline in small doses. But he says if elevated levels are sustained over extended periods of time, stress can be very unhealthy.

Dr Charles Agadu, a physician explains: “When a man sees a beautiful lady, his cortisol level rises and when the level gets too high it could lead to cardiac problems”.

Cortisol is a one of the hormones secreted by the adrenal glands in the body and this hormone is also called the fright hormone, i.e the hormone that also produces the very well known adrenalin, Agadu said.

Facts have it that when some men spend just 5mins with a beautiful lady, it causes so much stress which is not good for the heart. So for such men ,their anxiety rate will be very high as their cortisol levels will rise even higher .This might cause heart attacks and strokes because exposure to physical and psychological stresses for a long time may chronically increase cortisol levels, Agadu explains further.

Agadu stated however that, cortisol impairs the immune system thereby worsening diabetes, hypertension and impotence. But this is not to say that on sighting a beautiful woman a man just develops heart attack on the spot, but constant contact and exposure to beautiful women over time is what could make cortisol level to rise to dangerously high levels to the extent of posing a threat to a man’s life.

An Abuja based psychologist , Rukayat Jubril says that naturally, when we see beautiful things we stop to look.

According to her, this is not particular to men alone because even when a woman sees a fellow woman that is very beautiful she stops to look and admire her. If a woman experiences this, then one should expect a more spontaneous reaction from the opposite sex.

"When a man sees a beautiful woman, what comes to his mind is an imagination of what she would look like without clothes. Again, he could get worried whether if he approaches her for a relationship she would accept", Rukayat pointed out.

Fear of rejection is what can easily trigger a heart attack , especially when a man is crazy about a particular woman. There is always this fear that he might be rejected. Living with the situation for a long period of time could eventually result in the cortisol level rising gradually until it gets too bad to trigger heart problems.

This is not to say that the heart starts malfunctioning as soon as a man sets his eyes on a beautiful woman. In a situation where this suddenly happens, then the man must have had an underlying critical heart condition, she stated.

Mindset has a great role to play in his situation. There are some men that are not moved at all when they get in contact with women while some on just seeing them get aroused. It all depends on individual, the psychologist concluded.

TIPS AND EXERCISES TO SHARPEN YOUR MIND AND BOOST BRAINPOWER (for students and Professionals)

A strong memory depends on the health and vitality of your brain. Whether you're a student studying for final exams, a working professional interested in doing all you can to stay mentally sharp, or a senior looking to preserve and enhance your grey matter as you age, there are lots of things you can do to improve your memory and mental performance.

Harnessing the power of your brain
They say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but when it comes to the brain, scientists have discovered that this old adage simply isn’t true. The human brain has an astonishing ability to adapt and change—even into old age. This ability is known as neuroplasticity. With the right stimulation, your brain can form new neural pathways, alter existing connections, and adapt and react in ever-changing ways.

The brain’s incredible ability to reshape itself holds true when it comes to learning and memory. You can harness the natural power of neuroplasticity to increase your cognitive abilities, enhance your ability to learn new information, and improve your memory.

Improving memory tip 1: Don't skimp on exercise or sleep

Just as an athlete relies on sleep and a nutrition-packed diet to perform his or her best, your ability to remember increases when you nurture your brain with a good diet and other healthy habits.

• When you exercise the body, you exercise the brain

Treating your body well can enhance your ability to process and recall information. Physical exercise increases oxygen to your brain and reduces the risk for disorders that lead to memory loss, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Exercise may also enhance the effects of helpful brain chemicals and protect brain cells.

• Improve your memory by sleeping on it

When you’re sleep deprived, your brain can’t operate at full capacity. Creativity, problem-solving abilities, and critical thinking skills are compromised. Whether you’re studying, working, or trying to juggle life’s many demands, sleep deprivation is a recipe for disaster.

But sleep is critical to learning and memory in an even more fundamental way. Research shows that sleep is necessary for memory consolidation, with the key memory-enhancing activity occurring during the deepest stages of sleep.

Improving memory tip 2: Make time for friends and fun

When you think of ways to improve memory, do you think of “serious” activities such as wrestling with the New York Times crossword puzzle or mastering chess strategy, or do more lighthearted pastimes—hanging out with friends or enjoying a funny movie—come to mind? If you’re like most of us, it’s probably the former. But countless studies show that a life that’s full of friends and fun comes with cognitive benefits.

Healthy relationships: the ultimate memory booster?

Humans are highly social animals. We’re not meant to survive, let alone thrive, in isolation. Relationships stimulate our brains—in fact, interacting with others may be the best kind of brain exercise.

Research shows that having meaningful relationships and a strong support system are vital not only to emotional health, but also to brain health. In one recent study from the Harvard School of Public Health, for example, researchers found that people with the most active social lives had the slowest rate of memory decline.

There are many ways to start taking advantage of the brain and memory-boosting benefits of socializing. Volunteer, join a club, make it a point to see friends more often, or reach out over the phone. And if a human isn’t handy, don’t overlook the value of a pet—especially the highly-social dog.

• Laughter is good for your brain

You’ve heard that laughter is the best medicine, and that holds true for the brain as well as the body. Unlike emotional responses, which are limited to specific areas of the brain, laughter engages multiple regions across the whole brain.

Furthermore, listening to jokes and working out punch lines activates areas of the brain vital to learning and creativity. As psychologist Daniel Goleman notes in his book Emotional Intelligence, “laughter…seems to help people think more broadly and associate more freely.”

Looking for ways to bring more laughter in your life? Start with these basics:

Laugh at yourself. Share your embarrassing moments. The best way to take ourselves less seriously is to talk about the times when we took ourselves too seriously.

When you hear laughter, move toward it. Most of the time, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again and feed off the humor you find in it. When you hear laughter, seek it out and ask, “What’s funny?”

Spend time with fun, playful people. These are people who laugh easily–both at themselves and at life’s absurdities–and who routinely find the humor in everyday events. Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious.

Surround yourself with reminders to lighten up. Keep a toy on your desk or in your car. Put up a funny poster in your office. Choose a computer screensaver that makes you laugh. Frame photos of you and your family or friends having fun.

Pay attention to children and emulate them. They are the experts on playing, taking life lightly, and laughing.

Improving memory tip 3: Keep stress in check

Stress is one of the brain’s worst enemies. Over time, if left unchecked, chronic stress destroys brain cells and damages the hippocampus, the region of the brain involved in the formation of new memories and the retrieval of old ones.

The stress-busting, brain-boosting benefits of meditation

The scientific evidence for the mental health benefits of meditation continues to pile up. Studies show that meditation helps improve many different types of conditions, including depression, anxiety, chronic pain, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Meditation also can improve focus, concentration, creativity, and learning and reasoning skills.

Meditation works its “magic” by changing the actual brain. Brain images show that regular meditators have more activity in the left prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain associated with feelings of joy and equanimity. Meditation also increases the thickness of the cerebral cortex and encourages more connections between brain cells—all of which increases mental sharpness and memory ability.

Improving memory tip 4: Eat a brain-boosting diet

Just as the body needs fuel, so does the brain. You probably already know that a diet based on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and “healthy” fats will provide lots of health benefits, but such a diet can also improve memory. But for brain health, it’s not just what you eat—it’s also what you don’t eat. The following nutritional tips will help boost your brainpower and reduce your risk of dementia:

• Get your omega-3s. More and more evidence indicates that omega-3 fatty acids are particularly beneficial for brain health. Fish is a particularly rich source of omega-3, especially cold water “fatty fish” such as salmon, tuna, halibut, trout, mackerel, sardines, and herring. In addition to boosting brainpower, eating fish may also lower your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. If you’re not a fan of fish, consider turning to fish oil supplements. Other non-fish sources of omega-3s include walnuts, ground flaxseed, flaxseed oil, pumpkin seeds, and soybeans.
• Limit calories and saturated fat. Research shows that diets high in saturated fat (from sources such as red meat, whole milk, butter, cheese, sour cream, and ice cream) increase your risk of dementia and impair concentration and memory. Eating too many calories in later life can also increase your risk of cognitive impairment. Talk to your doctor or dietician about developing a healthy eating plan.
• Eat more fruit and vegetables. Produce is packed with antioxidants, substances that protect your brain cells from damage. Colorful fruits and vegetables are particularly good antioxidant "superfood" sources. Try leafy green vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, romaine lettuce, Swiss chard, and arugula, and fruit such as apricots, mangoes, cantaloupe, and watermelon.
• Drink green tea. Green tea contains polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that protect against free radicals that can damage brain cells. Among many other benefits, regular consumption of green tea may enhance memory and mental alertness and slow brain aging.
• Drink wine (or grape juice) in moderation. Keeping your alcohol consumption in check is key, since alcohol kills brain cells. But in moderation (around 1 glass a day for women; 2 for men), alcohol may actually improve memory and cognition. Red wine appears to be the best option, as it is rich in resveratrol, a flavonoid that boosts blood flow in the brain and reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Other resveratrol-packed options include grape juice, cranberry juice, fresh grapes and berries, and peanuts.

For mental energy, choose complex carbohydrates.

Just as a racecar needs gas, your brain needs fuel to perform at its best. When you need to be at the top of your mental game, carbohydrates can keep you going. But the type of carbs you choose makes all the difference. Carbohydrates fuel your brain, but simple carbs (sugar, white bread, refined grains) give a quick boost followed by an equally rapid crash. For energy that lasts, choose complex carbohydrates such as whole-wheat bread, brown rice, oatmeal, high-fiber cereal, lentils, and whole beans.

Improving memory tip 5: Give your brain a workout

By the time you’ve reached adulthood, your brain has developed millions of neural pathways that help you process information quickly, solve familiar problems, and execute familiar tasks with a minimum of mental effort. But if you always stick to these well-worn paths, you aren’t giving your brain the stimulation it needs to keep growing and developing. You have to shake things up from time to time!

Memory, like muscular strength, requires you to “use it or lose it.” The more you work out your brain, the better you’ll be able to process and remember information. The best brain exercising activities break your routine and challenge you to use and develop new brain pathways. The activity can be virtually anything, so long as it meets the following three criteria:

1. It’s new. No matter how intellectually demanding the activity, if it’s something you’re already good at, it’s not a good brain exercise. The activity needs to be something that’s unfamiliar and out of your comfort zone.
2. It’s challenging. Anything that takes some mental effort and expands your knowledge will work. Examples include learning a new language, instrument, or sport, or tackling a challenging crossword or Sudoku puzzle.
3. It’s fun. Physical and emotional enjoyment is important in the brain’s learning process. The more interested and engaged you are in the activity, the more likely you’ll be to continue doing it and the greater the benefits you’ll experience. The activity should be challenging, yes, it should also be something that is fun and enjoyable to you. Make an activity more pleasurable by appealing to your senses—playing music while you do it, or rewarding yourself afterwards with a favorite treat, for example.

Use mnemonic devices to make memorization easier
Mnemonics (the initial “m” is silent) are clues of any kind that help us remember something, usually by helping us associate the information we want to remember with a visual image, a sentence, or a word.

Mnemonic device	Example
Visual image - Associate a visual image with a word or name to help you remember them better. Positive, pleasant images that are vivid, colorful, and three-dimensional will be easier to remember.	To remember the name Rosa Parks and what she’s known for, picture a woman sitting on a park bench surrounded by roses, waiting as her bus pulls up.
Acrostic (or sentence) - Make up a sentence in which the first letter of each word is part of or represents the initial of what you want to remember.	The sentence “Every good boy does fine” to memorize the lines of the treble clef, representing the notes E, G, B, D, and F.
Acronym - An acronym is a word that is made up by taking the first letters of all the key words or ideas you need to remember and creating a new word out of them.	The word “HOMES” to remember the names of the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.
Rhymes and alliteration - Rhymes, alliteration (a repeating sound or syllable), and even jokes are a memorable way to remember more mundane facts and figures.	The rhyme “Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November” to remember the months of the year with only 30 days in them.
Chunking - Chunking breaks a long list of numbers or other types of information into smaller, more manageable chunks.	Remembering a 10-digit phone number by breaking it down into three sets of numbers: 555-867-5309 (as opposed to5558675309).
Method of loci - Imagine placing the items you want to remember along a route you know well or in specific locations in a familiar room or building.	For a shopping list, imagine bananas in the entryway to your home, a puddle of milk in the middle of the sofa, eggs going up the stairs, and bread on your bed.

Tips for enhancing your ability to learn and remember

• Pay attention. You can’t remember something if you never learned it, and you can’t learn something—that is, encode it into your brain—if you don’t pay enough attention to it. It takes about eight seconds of intense focus to process a piece of information into your memory. If you’re easily distracted, pick a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted.
• Involve as many senses as possible. Try to relate information to colors, textures, smells, and tastes. The physical act of rewriting information can help imprint it onto your brain. Even if you’re a visual learner, read out loud what you want to remember. If you can recite it rhythmically, even better.
• Relate information to what you already know. Connect new data to information you already remember, whether it’s new material that builds on previous knowledge, or something as simple as an address of someone who lives on a street where you already know someone.
• For more complex material, focus on understanding basic ideas rather than memorizing isolated details. Practice explaining the ideas to someone else in your own words.
• Rehearse information you’ve already learned. Review what you’ve learned the same day you learn it, and at intervals thereafter. This “spaced rehearsal” is more effective than cramming, especially for retaining what you’ve learned.

culled from www.helpguide.org

Two-year-old smokes 40 cigarettes per day!!

 Taking a deep drag on his cigarette while resting on the steering wheel of his truck, he looks like a parody of a middle-aged lorry driver.

But the image covers up a much more disturbing truth: At just the tender age of two, Ardi Rizal's health has been so ruined by his 40-a-day habit that he now struggles to move by himself.

The four-stone Indonesia toddler is certainly far too unfit to run around with other children - and his condition is set to rapidly deteriorate.

But, despite local officials' offer to buy the Rizal family a new car if the boy quits, his parents feel unable to stop him because he throws massive tantrums if they don't indulge him.

His mother, Diana, 26, wept: 'He's totally addicted. If he doesn't get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick.'

Ardi will smoke only one brand and his habit costs his parents £3.78 a day in Musi Banyuasin, in Indonesia's South Sumatra province.

But in spite of this, his fishmonger father Mohammed, 30, said: 'He looks pretty healthy to me. I don't see the problem.'

Ardi's youth is the extreme of a disturbing trend. Data from the Central Statistics Agency showed 25 per cent of Indonesian children aged three to 15 have tried cigarettes, with 3.2 per cent of those active smokers.

Child advocates are speaking out about the health damage to children from second-hand smoke, and the growing pressure on them to smoke in a country where one-third of the population uses tobacco and single cigarettes can be bought for a few cents.