Memory tips

Hello friends,

How good you are at remembering the different things in the box:

dates and times

English words

faces

items on a shopping list

names

song lyrics?

There is no such thing as a "bad memory", and anyone can improve their memory, as long as you are not suffering from memory loss as a medical condition.

If you want to improve your memory, there are a number of things you can do.

1

Greek philosopher Socrates famously said, “Learning is remembering.”

So how can we improve our memory? The key is to use your imagination.

Create an image in your mind to help you remember a word or an image.

For example, as you place your car keys in your purse, imagine your purse suddenly growing wheels and speeding away. This is absolutely silly, but this concrete image in your mind will forever help you link your car keys with the purse.

The more unique or unusual the image is, the easier it will be for your brain to remember it.

2

Use association to remember numbers. Let's say you keep forgetting your student ID every time you need to use it again. Just break down the number into smaller chunks and create images associated with those chunks. Let's say the number is 12-7575-23. Find a way to make these numbers meaningful. Let's say "12" happens to be your house number, "75" happens to be your grandmother's age, and the number "23" is Michael Jordan's jersey number. Here's what you can visualize to remember the number:

Picture your house with two copies of your grandmother standing to the right, showing that the house comes first. Then imagine Michael Jordan standing to the right of your grandmothers.

3

Use chunking. Chunking is a way of grouping things together to help you memorize them. Random lists of things (a shopping list, for example) can be especially difficult to remember. To make it easier, try categorizing the individual things from the list. For example, list all of the fruits together, the dairy products together, and the bread products together.

Chunking is what we do when we list a phone number with dashes. Which looks easier to memorize, 8564359820, or 856-435-9820?

4

Use rhymes.

Using a variety of common and silly rhymes can help you recall basic information. For example, if you're trying to figure out if April has 30 or 31 days, just say the old rhyme aloud: "Thirty days has September, April, June, and November."

Then you'll remember that April does indeed have 30 days. Here are some other rhymes to use as memory tools:

"In fourteen-hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue."

A child can learn the alphabet by singing it to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," which makes the letters rhyme.

5

Use acronyms.

You can use a popular acronym, or create one for yourself. You just create a word out of the first letter of each term. Here are some popular acronyms to use:

ROY G. BIV. This man's name can help you remember the colors of the rainbow: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.

FOIL. This will help you remember how to multiply two binomial terms: First, Outer, Inner, Last.

FANBOYS. This acronym can help you remember simple coordinating conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.

6

Use acrostics.

Acrostics are similar to acronyms, except instead of just remembering the acronym, you can remember a new sentence made out of the first letters of a set of words that you have to memorize in a certain order.

For example, you can say, "My very eager mother just sent us noodles." to learn the order of the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Here are a few more popular acrostics:

Never Eat Sour Watermelons. This is used for remembering the points of a compass in clockwise order: North, East, South, and West.

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. Use this to remember the order of operations in mathematics: Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction.

Using Mindful Approaches

1

Stop thinking that you have a "bad memory." Convince yourself that you do have a good memory that will improve. Too many people get stuck here and convince themselves their memory is bad, that they are just not good with names, that numbers just slip out of their minds for some reason. Erase those thoughts and vow to improve your memory. Celebrate even little achievements to keep yourself motivated.

2

Exercise your brain. Regularly "exercising" the brain keeps it growing and spurs the development of new nerve connections that can help improve memory.

Try some fun puzzle exercises everyday such as crosswords, Sudoku, and other games which are easy enough for anyone.

Get out of your comfort zone and pick something that is new and challenging, which makes you flex your brain muscles. Try to play chess or a fast-paced board game.

3

Give yourself time to form a memory.

Memories are very fragile in the short-term, and distractions can make you quickly forget something as simple as a phone number. The key to avoid losing memories before you can even form them is to be able to focus on the thing to be remembered for a while without thinking about other things, so when you're trying to remember something, avoid distractions and complicated tasks for a few minutes.

4

Take better pictures. Often we don't really learn people's names at first because we aren't really concentrating on remembering them.

One way to train yourself to be more observant is to look at an unfamiliar photograph for a few seconds and then turn the photograph over and describe or write down as many details as you can about the photograph. Try closing your eyes and picturing the photo in your mind. Use a new photograph each time you try this exercise, and with regular practice you will find you're able to remember more details.

5

Involve multiple senses. You can stimulate more parts of your brain by using as many senses as possible when memorizing information.

Write it out. The process of writing information by hand stimulates your brain and makes it easier to remember the information later. Typing is far less effective, however.

When you do type out information, use a strange font. When you finish, read it back.

Rehearse or relate the information. Tell yourself or tell another person the information. Hearing yourself recite the information will involve your sense of hearing. If you need to explain the information to the other person so that he or she can understand it, as well, your memory and understanding will be enhanced even further.

6

Use your environment. Change the normal location of things to remember to do something. If you need to remember something important, such as a person's birthday, just wear your wristwatch on your other wrist. You'll remember that there was something important you had to do when you see that the watch is out of position.

7

Use flash cards.

Flash cards are especially useful for studying. It's essentially a card with a question on one side and the answer on the other. (You can also put two things you want to associate on opposite sides of a flashcard.) In the course of learning a topic, you would have a stack of cards and would go through them testing yourself. Those that you got right you would put to one side and review a few days later.

Place the terms you remembered in one pile, and the ones you need to know in another. Keep going until all of the cards are in the "remembered" pile, even if you need to take breaks.

Go back to your flash cards the next day and see if you've still memorized the terms on them.

Trying Memory Tricks

1

Say things you want to remember aloud.

If you have trouble remembering whether you took your medication every morning, just say, "I just took my medication!" right after you took it, to reinforce this idea in your mind.

This also works to remember an address or a meeting time. Just repeat it aloud to the person who invited you: "The Pizza House at 7? That sounds perfect."

2

Remember a person's name.

When a person introduces themselves to you, picture them with their name written on their forehead. This will associate the image of that person with their name.

3

Move your eyes from side to side. Studies show that moving your eyes from side to side for just 30 seconds once a day will align the two parts of your brain and make your memory work more smoothly. Try this trick when you wake up in the morning.

As you can see, there are many different ways to build a stronger memory. But you can also improve your memory through diet, exercise and sleep. Take care!