Read to: gain ideas and know-how for memory improvement techniques
The human brain is more complex than the most complicated and advanced machine, and memory improvement isn’t that easy. The power of our memory depends on the health and vitality of our grey matter. It is said that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks, but scientists have discovered that the brain has an astonishing ability to adapt and change, regardless of age.
This ability is also known as neuro plasticity – given the right stimulus our brain forms new pathways , alters existing connections and adapts. You can harness the natural power of neuroplasticity to increase your cognitive abilities, enhance your ability to learn new information, and improve your memory.
Exercise your brain and nourish it with deep sleep. Physical activity increases blood flow to the brain and the oxygen to our central nervous system. This reduces the risk of disorders that lead to memory loss (like diabetes and cardiovascular disease). In addition, exercising enhances the effects of the substance BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), which encourages growth, communication and survival of neurons. Of course, we don’t need to be Chuck Noris to get benefits from exercise. Studies have shown that as little as 20 minutes of walking a day does the trick.
Sleeping is also fundamental to memory consolidation, as brain repair occurs during the deepest stages of sleep. Further, our creativity and critical-thinking skills are compromised if we are sleep deprived, as our brain is unable to operate at full capacity. Read also: Defeat insomnia without pills
Have fun and laugh. Jokes and humorous conversations activate areas of the brain that are responsible for learning and creativity. Daniel Goleman comments on laughter in his book, “Emotional Intelligence: Why it can Matter More than IQ.” He says that laughter helps people think more broadly and associate more freely and adds “ in a good mood, we remember more positive events, as we think over the pros and cons of a course of action.” You can bring more laughter in your day if you try to take yourself less seriously and share life’s absurdities with fun and playful people. This will help you to relax and reduce the brain’s worst enemy – stress. Chronic tenseness destroys brain cells and damages the hippocampus – the field, involved in the formation of new memories and retrieval of old ones. To learn more about relaxation techniques, read those useful articles: Learn how to live stresslessly; Stressed out? Tips on meditation; Live life, cure depression
Boost brainpower with appropriate foods: Our grey matter is composed mostly of fat. Its cell membranes and myelin coverings require fatty acids. For this reason, we should regularly consume omega-3s, found in fatty fish (like tuna, trout and salmon) not only to enhance our memory, but also to lower our risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. The brain is around 60% saturated fat. Contrary to popular advice, saturated fat is not evil, it’s essential. It is also advisable to consume fruits (fresh and dried) and vegetables to supply our bodies with antioxidants and protect our cells from damage. Be careful with carbs – we
consume them when we want to reach the top of our mental game. The type we choose does matter: simple carbs like sugar and white bread give us a rapid boost, followed by a an equal energy crash; complex carbs like brown rice, oat meals, cereals, lentils and beans secure lasting and stable energy.
Challenge your brain, boost its capacity.
As we get older, our brain develops millions of neural pathways that process information quickly and allow us to form habits. Habits allow us to execute familiar tasks with a minimal mental effort. However, if we stick to old habits and do not continue learning our brain becomes stagnant. Like muscular strength, memory requires maintenance – the more you work it out, the better you will be able to process 
and restore information. your target activities should break your routine and challenge your brain to use and develop new brain pathways. You can choose different stimulli, as long as they are:
- new (unfamiliar and out of your comfort zone)
- provoking mental effort (like a Sudoku puzzle or studying a new language or instrument)
- entertaining, but not too difficult or unpleasant (so you remain motivated).
Then, learn to:
- Pay enough attention to memorize stuff. You need 8 seconds of intense focus to process the information into your memory.
- Use your senses: relate information to colors, odors, tastes, sounds, etc. When you rework physically the data, it gets transferred to your memory easily.
- Associate and enrich your knowledge: connect new data to information you already know, but keep interference (previously learned interferes with new material) to a minimum. The tactic here is to make the information you want to remember more meaningful: get familiar with it; use rhymes and patterns (to remember 345376388391 it is far easier to notice that every forth number is 3 as in 345-376-388-391).
- Use separate study sessions: if you are a student, don’t work on all your subjects at the same time. Don’t jump between literature, maths and physics. Study each one in a separate study session with breaks for better remembering and less interference between them.
- Rehearse: review what you have learned at intervals – it is more effective than cramming.
- Recite: take a pause while trying to memorize something, look away and try to remember the facts. If you can’t, then go back and re-read it. Consider saying the information out loud, this will force you to pay better attention.
- Use flashcards or message boards with definitions, explanations, or simple tasks you have to do the next month/week/year.
How to make memorization easier?
Mnemonic techniques are special clues that help us associate the information we want to remember:
- Acronyms are formed by using each first letter from a group of words to form a new one. This technique is useful when remembering a word in specific order like: for example, the word “homes” helps us to remember the names of the Great Lakes: Hurton, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior. Acronyms are useful for rote memory, but they don’t aid comprehension. Keep in mind that understanding is crucial for remembering.
- Acrostics also use the first letter of each word (or part of it) you are trying to remember, but instead of a new word, you use the letters to make a sentence: Kings Phil Came Over for the Genes Special (for the line: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Genus, Species) ; – “Every good boy does fine” to memorize the lines of the treble clef, representing the notes E, G, B, D, and F.
- Chunking breaks a long list of information into smaller, more manageable ones, like 678 994 300 opposed to 678994300.
- Method of Loci is an old technique used by ancient orators to remember speeches, and it combines the use of organization, visual memory and association. To implement the technique you need a vivid visual memory You need to identify a well known “path” and specific landmarks related to it. You have to place the items you want to remember along that route. For a shopping list, imagine potatoes in the entryway of your house, a milk bottle in the middle of the sofa, eggs going up the stairs and bread on the TV.
Interesting facts: How do actors memorize their lines?
The star of the one-woman show “Bad Dates”, presented by Merrimack Repertory
Theatre, Elizabeth Asplenlieder says that her most useful trick for memorizing lines is creating a quilt. She learns a piece and then goes back over the piece and adds to it. “ I kind of do the stitches around the pieces I’ve just learned. You’d have to be superhuman, I think, to memorize the script all in one fell swoop.” She confesses that her toughest time she has ever had in memorizing lines was with Joan Ackerman, doing “Ice Glen in 2005”: “we had the playwright sitting in the room, so we could change things. On the one hand, working on a new play, it’s a gift to have a live playwright. But the challenge was that we’d be changing the script constantly. It starts to be like a blender: “Which version am I doing?“ We had changes in the script right up to the opening-night performance.”
The star of Lyric Stage Company’s “Shipwrecked”, Allyn Burrows walks with his script. He gets out and walks saying his lines aloud. “You’re in motion, just like you’re in motion onstage” she explains. When he forgets a line onstage, he feels like “falling off a cliff”and “when it comes back to you, it’s only been a few moments, but it can feel like an eternity, you feel your face flush and you look your fellow actors, giving you a blank look. You have to just remember where you are. ”
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