Memory: Use it or lose it

The more you work out your brain, the more you will be able to remember information. Improving your memory: Tips and techniques for memory enhancement

If our brains were computers, we’d simply add a chip to upgrade our memory. However, the human brain is more complex than even the most advanced machines, so improving human memory requires slightly more effort.

Just like muscular strength, your ability to remember increases when you exercise your memory and nurture it with a good diet and other healthy habits. There are a number of steps you can take to improve your memory and retrieval capacity. First, however, it’s helpful to understand how we remember.

What is memory?

Simply memory is the mental activity of recalling information that you have learned or experienced. That simple definition, though, covers a complex process that involves many different parts of the brain and serves us in disparate ways.

Tips for memory improvements

Do you feel that you have a poor memory?

You may just have some less-than-effective habits when it comes to taking in and processing information. Barring disease, disorder, or injury, you can improve your ability to learn and retain information.

Brain exercises memory, like muscular strength, is a “use it or lose it” proposition. The more you work out your brain, the better you’ll be able to process and remember information.

Novelty and sensory stimulation are the foundation of brain exercise. If you break your routine in a challenging way, you’re using brain pathways you weren’t using before.

This can involve something as simple as brushing your teeth with your non dominant hand, which activates little-used connections on the non dominant side of your brain. Or try a “neurobic” exercise - an aerobic exercise for your brain - that forces you to use your faculties in unusual ways, like showering and getting dressed with your eyes closed.

Take a course in a subject you don’t know much about, learn a new game of strategy, or cook up some recipes in an unfamiliar cuisine. That’s the most effective way to keep your synapses firing.

General guidelines to improve memory

In addition to exercising your brain, there are some basic things you can do to improve your ability to retain and retrieve memories Pay attention.

You can’t remember something if you never learn 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 intent focus to process a piece of information through your hippocampus and into the appropriate memory centre.

So, no multitasking when you need to concentrate! If you distract easily, try to receive information in a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted.

Tailor information acquisition to your learning style.

Most people are visual learners. They learn best by reading or otherwise seeing what it is they have to know. But some are auditory learners who learn better by listening. They might benefit by recording information they need and listening to it until they remember it.

Involve as many senses as possible.

Even if you’re a visual learner, read out loud what you want to remember. If you can recite it rhythmically, even better. Try to relate information to colours, textures, smells and tastes. The physical act of rewriting information can help imprint it onto your brain.

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.

Organise information.

Write things down in address books and date books and on calendars; take notes on more complex material and reorganise the notes into categories later. Use both words and pictures in learning information.

Understand and be able to interpret complex material.

For more complex material, focus on understanding basic ideas rather than memorising isolated details. Be able to explain it to someone else in your own words.

Rehearse information frequently and “over-learn”.

Review what you’ve learned the same day you learn it, and at intervals thereafter. What researchers call “spaced rehearsal” is more effective than “cramming.” If you’re able to “over-learn” information so that recalling it becomes second nature, so much the better.

Be motivated and keep a positive attitude.

Tell yourself that you want to learn what you need to remember, and that you can learn and remember it. Having an attitude that you have a bad memory actually hampers the ability of your brain to remember, while positive mental feedback sets up an expectation of success.

Mnemonics

Mnemonic devices to improve memory Mnemonics (the initial “m” is silent) are clues of any kind that help us remember something, usually by causing us to associate the information we want to remember with a visual image, a sentence, or a word.

Common types of mnemonic devices include:

Visual images - a microphone to remember the name “Mike,” a rose for “Rosie.” Use positive, pleasant images, because the brain often blocks out unpleasant ones, and make them vivid, colourful, and three-dimensional - they’ll be easier to remember.

Sentences in which the first letter of each word is part of or represents the initial of what you want to remember.

Millions of musicians, for example, first memorised the lines of the treble staff with the sentence “Every good boy does fine” (or “deserves favor”), representing the notes E, G, B, D, and F. Medical students often learn groups of nerves, bones, and other anatomical features using nonsense sentences.

Acronyms, which are initials that creates pronounceable words. The spaces between the lines on the treble staff, for example, are F, A, C, and E: FACE.

Rhymes and alliteration: remember learning “30 days hath September, April, June, and November”? A hefty guy named Robert can be remembered as “Big Bob” and a smiley co-worker as “Perky Pat” (though it might be best to keep such names to yourself).

Jokes or even off-colour associations using facts, figures, and names you need to recall, because funny or peculiar things are easier to remember than mundane images.

“Chunking” information

That is, arranging a long list in smaller units or categories that are easier to remember. If you can reel off your Social Security number without looking at it, that’s probably because it’s arranged in groups of 3, 2, and 4 digits, not a string of 9.

“Method of loci”

This is an ancient and effective way of remembering a lot of material, such as a speech. You associate each part of what you have to remember with a landmark in a route you know well, such as your commute to work.

Healthy habits to improve memory

Treating your body well can enhance your ability to process and recall information. Regular exercise increases oxygen to your brain and reduces the risk for disorders that lead to memory loss, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Managing stress

Cortisol, the stress hormone, can damage the hippocampus if the stress is unrelieved. Stress makes it difficult to concentrate.

Good sleep habits

Sleep is necessary for memory consolidation.

Sleep disorders like insomnia and sleep apnoea leave you tired and unable to concentrate during the day.

Not smoking

Smoking heightens the risk of vascular disorders that can cause stroke and constrict arteries that deliver oxygen to the brain.

Nutrition and memory improvement

You probably 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. Research indicates that certain nutrients nurture and stimulate brain function.

B vitamins, especially B6, B12, and folic acid, protects neurons by breaking down homocysteine, an amino acid that is toxic to nerve cells.

They’re also involved in making red blood cells, which carry oxygen. (Best sources: spinach and other dark leafy greens, broccoli, asparagus, strawberries, melons, black beans and other legumes, citrus fruits, soybeans.)

Antioxidants like vitamins C and E, and beta carotene, fight free radicals, which are atoms formed when oxygen interacts with certain molecules. Free radicals are highly reactive and can damage cells, but antioxidants can interact with them safely and neutralize them.

Antioxidants also improve the flow of oxygen through the body and brain. (Best sources: blueberries and other berries, sweet potatoes, red tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, green tea, nuts and seeds, citrus fruits, liver.) Omega-3 fatty acids are concentrated in the brain and are associated with cognitive function.

They count as “healthy” fats, as opposed to saturated fats and trans fats, protecting against inflammation and high cholesterol. (Best sources: cold-water fish such as salmon, herring, tuna, halibut, and mackerel; walnuts and walnut oil; flaxseed and flaxseed oil).

Because older adults are more prone to B12 and folic acid deficiencies, a supplement may be a good idea for seniors. An omega-3 supplement (at any age) if you don’t like eating fish.

But nutrients work best when they’re consumed in foods, so try your best to eat a broad spectrum of colourful plant foods and choose fats that will help clear, not clog, your arteries.

Your brain will thank you!