How to improve your memory: 8 secrets to do it
With the hectic pace of everyday life, it happens very often that you forget something or find it difficult to memorize information if you are studying for an exam. All this does not mean having a bad memory or a so-called "short-term memory", but it does mean that we need to strengthen our ability to remember and retain details. Perhaps not everyone knows that a first step could be to include in our diet some foods, especially antioxidant ones, with multiple virtues.
"Memory is a capricious and bizarre being, comparable to a young girl: now she rejects in a completely unexpected way what she has given a hundred times, and then, when you don't think about it anymore, she brings it to us."
Arthur Schopenhauer
However, following a healthy lifestyle and consuming certain foods is not the only way to improve your memory. To do this, we recommend that you implement these 8 techniques, with which you can enhance your learning ability.
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1. Observe
The privilege of learning is not reserved for students. To boost your brain, there is nothing better than training yourself to memorize useful things for everyday life: the phone numbers you call most often, the words of your favorite song, the alarm code of your office and much more information. To do this, one must rely not only on one's memory, but also on the development of observation skills.
To train these faculties, practice with a photograph: try to observe it carefully and then cover it, trying to remember all the details. This technique is very useful, especially if repeated constantly.
2. Repeat out loud
This technique has always been the one that students are recommended to follow. A frantic study marathon even late into the night is not much use if the reading of the text is not accompanied by a repetition aloud. The effectiveness of this method was also ascertained from a study by Professor MacLeod who noted how those who repeat aloud or even just whisper can learn 10% better than those who do not follow this. modus operandi.
All this can be put into practice not only when studying, but in everyday life. Repeating the name of a person you have just met or the address where an appointment has been given will make it easier to memorize.
3. Write what you want to remember
Here is another secret that for years now every student to improve his memory and learn better what he has to believe. Surely, for the study, making the diagrams or summaries of the pages of text helps to create hierarchies between the various information, to find connections and differences between them and also to eliminate the superfluous ones. In addition to this skimming, handwriting increases learning ability and, with it, even memory. For this reason, if you want to be sure to memorize at best, you must always consider taking notes, noting everything on a notepad or on a "diary".
It has been noted that the dear "old" pen and paper are much more effective than writing on a computer. This is because it has been noted that writing and rereading one's own writing requires greater effort and concentration. If you want to learn and learn by writing on the computer it is essential that you reread aloud what has been written immediately afterwards.
4. Use memorization techniques
Writing and repeating aloud are certainly valid techniques for training and improving memory, but there are other even more specific ones that are born with the intention of strengthening and increasing it. In fact, since childhood, they teach us to use methods. twisted to memorize the most complex principles.
A not so difficult method to learn is the one called "of the loci". It is a strategy used since ancient Greece and consists in associating objects in terms of place or location. To apply this method, just imagine the information to be stored in a familiar place.
Finally, even if they are not born with the purpose of promoting memory, some board games are very good for this exercise of the mind. For example, checkers, scarab, chess, cards, crossword puzzles and many atria are all reflective activities that can help you train your brain and memory.
5. Reduce Stress
Saying that stress is bad may sound like a "cliché", but it isn't. It has been noted that a strong accumulation of stress, for a fairly extended period of time, can cause suffering and deterioration to the brain and, consequently, to the memory as well. Paying attention and memorizing concepts when you are in a state of high tension is therefore really difficult, if not impossible.
The strategies that can be used to reduce stress are different and vary from person to person. It is essentially about doing what makes you feel good and relaxes you. You can try, for example, to do yoga or meditate, to read a book before going to bed, to set aside a few hours a week for the care of your body, for a massage or to go out in peace with your friends. Furthermore, it is recommended to keep coffee consumption moderate, as caffeine can interact with the already high level of anxiety.
6. Improve your lifestyle
Paying attention to stress and mild depressive states that can enormously harm concentration and learning is the first step. However, to improve memory, you need to improve your lifestyle. This means limiting the consumption of certain substances, such as alcohol and tobacco, which alter the activity of some brain receptors.
In addition, it is recommended to play sports at least two or three times a week. Working out is not just about wanting to stay fit, but also about loving your body and mind. In fact, physical exercise, in addition to dissolving any accumulation of tension and helping to relax, improves the blood supply to the brain, thus increasing the amount of oxygen available to it. Thus, during and after physical activity, proteins are released which, in general, favor the health of the brain and, consequently, also of memory.
7. Sleep well
We will never tire of repeating it: sleep is essential for concentration and memorization. In fact, it is while we sleep that our brain classifies all the information absorbed during the day. This explains why, when one sleeps poorly or poorly, memories are disturbed.
The time that each adult needs to sleep varies from 7 to 10 hours, although approximately 8 hours are held as an indication of a good night's rest. Before falling asleep you can try reading a book, which is much more recommended than spending those minutes on the computer or checking your phone. In addition, going to bed at regular times every night not only promotes sleep but also helps you to concentrate and remember information in the long run.
8. Incorporate memory-enhancing foods into your diet
Finally, this is not a real technique, but a rule that can help your health from multiple points of view. In fact, a "healthy and varied diet plays a major role in the functioning of the brain. For this reason, you must always be careful about what you eat and try to consume the foods defined as" allies for the mind and memory ", especially if you notice. that you are going through a period where you forget information in the short term.
These foods are as varied as their nutritional properties. For example, they range from salmon and oily fish rich in Omega 3 to nuts, in which vitamins are also abundant, to eggs. Not to be forgotten are blueberries capable of preventing or delaying degenerative brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's, thanks to vitamin C which lowers lipid levels and optimizes the function of neurons.
Mistakes to avoid in order not to compromise the memory
After having seen the main methods to be able to improve memory as much as possible, it is also good to remember that in everyday life various mistakes are made which, instead, risk compromising it. These do not consist only in the consumption of substances such as alcohol, tobacco and coffee which, as already mentioned, can be harmful in the long run. These are well-established habits and beliefs in many people's daily lives.
- Try to want to memorize "everything and immediately": every student has known this scenario. The date of the upcoming exam and still too much information to learn to pass the test at best. Wanting to learn a large amount of concepts in a short time is not only not very productive, because the information really retained will be scarce, but also goes to the disadvantage of our own learning ability, which will be over-strained.
- Do not rely only on the use of technology: all the technological means we have are certainly a great help, but we tend to rely too much on their "service". Setting a reminder on your phone or computer just in case can work against you after a while because doing so will never train your memory. Always try to mediate between the convenience of innovation and the classic technique of writing with pen and paper.
- Do not be disheartened by always thinking that you have a bad memory: there is not an infallible memory and a bad one, but a trained one and one to be solicited. So, whether you're going through a study session or want to improve your learning ability in general, don't be discouraged. Put aside negative thoughts and focus only on what you need and want to remember.
