Sadly, you can’t press a few buttons on the keyboard to find a lost memory. Part of the brain’s function is to set aside unnecessary information. Read on for useful strategies to improve your memory.
Brain teasers and puzzles are entertaining and effective tools for sharpening your memory and challenging your brain. It’s similar to how you keep muscles in shape by exercising. Giving your brain exercise really helps it become much stronger, improving memory retention, focus, and concentration. Crossword puzzles, brain teasers, and word searches are all great memory-boosting games.
If you have lots of information you must memorize, you should aim to study this information at many different places. Doing this will allow you to dissociate what you’re learning from where you are, making it easier to recall wherever you are. When you study the information in a variety of places, it is more likely to be stored in your long-term memory.
Take time for relating the information you want to memorize to information you already retain. Synthesizing these related thoughts together will greatly increase your ability to file new bits of information into your memory. You can memorize things more quickly using this method.
Your library should have a good selection of books on memory improvement that you can borrow. There are many fine books on mind improvement and memory strengthening written by noted mental health professionals. They may provide you with the precise information you need.
To aid in memory improvement, you might want to try taking ginseng. It has been proven that the ingredients can help your brain absorb and retain information. Plus, it’s been shown to be great for your health overall. Another method that is also natural and effective, that you should consider if you want to improve your memory, is consuming green tea.
A great way to make your memory more effective is to teach other people. For example, if you are forgetting a story about when you taught your grandson to swim, talk about it to more people. Doing so will force your mind to review the facts involved, making it harder for the story to fade away.
Avoid trying to cram a large amount of information into your head. If you have to commit something to memory, break the information into short, manageable sections, and schedule brief study periods for yourself each day. You should never try to learn something all during one study session. Your mind can only absorb so much at a time, and you will simply lose most of the information you have tried to learn. Schedule study sessions for yourself often so that you can train your brain on a regular basis.
Although you may have left the classroom far behind, you should never stop trying to learn new ways of thinking. When you don’t try to learn new things, you aren’t exercising the area of your brain which controls memory. Just as you lose muscle if you don’t use it, you may find yourself having problems with your memory if you don’t keep it in practice.
Don’t doubt yourself. A lot of people assume that with age, your memory goes as well. This isn’t always true. In fact, stressing about possibly eventually losing your memory can actually do a number on your mind and hurt your short-term memory. When people begin to doubt your mental acuity, it becomes easier to believe that about yourself. Simply believing that you have a good memory can help it stay that way.
Speaking what you want to remember out loud can be very effective. As soon as you learn something like a name, repeat it out loud. By repeating these things out loud for you to hear will ensure you remember this information for future use. Repeat it multiple times until it is ingrained in your head.
In order to help your memory, try rehearsing things you know and relating them to what you are studying. To increase the speed at which you remember something for long term, you should attempt to associate it with someone that you truly know well.
Too much stress can make it easy to forget important information. If you are trying to learn new information, you should be in a relaxed environment. Give your mind the time it needs to remember what is needed rather than stressing further.
When you are are studying, have your material laid out in an organized, outlined form. This allows you to organize your information and divide it into clusters that are more easily remembered. Your outline doesn’t need to be long; any grouping system you come up with will work.
Mnemonic Devices
Try using mnemonic devices for remembering vital information. This technique is one where you pair something you need to remember together with something you already know well. Mnemonic devices are often songs, jokes and rhymes and make memorizing information fun. They can also cut down on frustration that studying may cause.
Paying attention is the best way to stave off memory loss. If you have a problem remembering names, try picturing the first name in letters after meeting someone new, and always ask for the proper spelling if there are multiple possible spellings for the name. You could try asking them how they spell their name as an icebreaker. Then, comment on it to retain it in your memory. Over the course of the conversation, repeat this measure to ensure that you store the information for the next time.
As is now evident, there are some easy things you can do to help improve your memory. Use the information here and start working your way towards a better memory.