5 Ways To Improve Memory
The secrets on how I remember everything, from what I read on a book a long ago to where I put my phone five minutes ago
WHY MEMORY IS IMPORTANT
The human mind is extremely fascinating, we all agree on that! However, to many things about it are still such mysteries that even scientists don’t comprehend yet. One of them is, for sure, memory. Now, to make it simple, there are two different types of memory — Long-term memory and Short-term memory — that are aimed to store information over a longer or shorter period of time. A long-term memory includes the remembrance of an event that happened quite a long time ago; it may be a goal you achieved, the day you got engaged even the password of your old phone… A short-term memory, on the contrary, is about the reminiscence of a recent happening as such what you eat yesterday.
Being, especially, a chess player, a musician and a “culture enthusiast” I find memory exceedingly important.
In reference to my empirical knowledge, in addiction of hours of reading sciences magazines, I can say I found these 5 effective ways that, at least for me, highly improve both long and short-term memory. Of course, as with everything in life, results come along with constancy and practice but you should almost instantly feel the progress.
1. LISTENING TO MUSIC
Listening to music sharps your mind, reduces anxiety, improves sleep quality… and guess what? It improves memory!
Also, some studies have shown how much listening to music affects positevely the people affected by Alzheimer in the process of recalling a past action.
As a classical trained pianist, listening to music and playing it has helped me to recall things quicker as I associate them with a specific soundtrack.
2. WRITING A DIARY
Writing a diary stimolates you to remember what happened during the day, in order to write it down. It turns out to consolidate your memories, building stronger connections.
I’ve been writing my diary for several years now. Since I don’t always find time to update my diary daily with the most resounding things that happened to me, I take one day per week to keep up with all the stuff I hadn’t had the chance to write. For example, If I’m busy from Monday to Saturday, then on Sunday I’ll be diving into writing.
Imagine that you have to recall what happened each day of the week in this moment. Would you be able to do it?
- Note: You can write it even online.
3. CREATE A MOVIE IN YOUR MIND
This creativity exercise combines different areas of your brain to work together.
- Sit in a comfy place.
- Close your eyes.
- Imagine a landscape
- Add details
- Add some music
4. KEEP YOUR MIND ACTIVE
It may seems corny but It’s actually needful. Activities for this purpose are: learning a new language or, more generally, learn any new skill, solving puzzles, reading…
A creature of habit who does mechanically their tasks everyday will eventually forget even what they’re doing. Have you ever stepped into a room to forget instantly why?
5. HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
Memory depends a lot on what you eat, whether you sleep enough or do workouts. Treat your body carefully and you’ll literally remember that.
Many times happened to me, due a loss of sleep, to memorize sequences of information way slower than I used to with a decent amount of sleep. It’s common but nothing that can’t be fixed with a little bit of mindfulness.
CONCLUSIONS
No matter what, you’ll always have a chance to improve yourself; maybe you’re already doing it unconsciously, otherwise today isn’t too late to start. It’ll take a little, sometimes it may look useless, sometimes it may feel a waste of time… but finally you’ll remember the efforts you put into the improvement process and hopefully you will have learnt to remember many others more.
This is exactly what happened to me and also affected the people surrounding me. Think about it for a while, isn’t pleasant to have reminiscences over the good old days with your best friend? Don’t you think they’ll be pleased by your attention, meaning you care about them?
Furthermore, memory keeps lessons alive through time. I’ll always remember how much I suffered from the loss of those who were, are, my beloved ones but I’ll keep in mind all of that situation taught me, that helped me to grow.
