Boosting Your Memory: Tricks That Really Work
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Memory is important to people for a wide range of reasons, not least of which is learning and succeeding in an environment like school. Without the proper memory, you will never be able to retain the knowledge. This will lead to failing grades. This is just one of the many reasons you should be boosting your memory.
Group similar ideas and terms together for it to commit to memory more efficiently. Research has shown that memory is stored together in clusters in the brain. Organizing your thoughts and materials in a pattern and giving them some structure will greatly improve your chances of remembering what you have learned.
Boost your memory by eating more fruits and vegetables. Fresh produce is full of antioxidants, substances that have been shown to help prevent damage to your brain cells. Try eating richly colored fruits and vegetables such as broccoli, apricots, bell peppers and blueberries since they tend to have the highest concentrations of antioxidants.
Remembering and matching names with faces can be very difficult. Focus on the person’s face or a specific feature of their face; then try recalling an anecdote about them. With time and practice people’s names will spring to mind more readily.
To help you remember what you have to do for the day, set reminders. For instance, if you have to pay bills set an object on top them that’s out of place. Seeing the out of place object will be the reminder you need to pay your bills.
If you are searching for ways to boost your memory, then work with others and collaborate on ideas with them. When you do this, your brain fires in a different way than it does when you work on something alone. Bounce ideas off others and see how differently you begin to think.
Use mnemonic devices to help you remember important things. Mnemonic devices are special strategies that can be used to help you remember things, especially lists or numbers. These can include short poems or rhymes or associating certain words or names with other significant information. You can even use the first letter of each word you must remember to form another word that will help you remember each of the words on your list.
Make a word or phrase out of the initials of the terms you are trying to remember. A classic example is Roy G. Biv. It is made up of the first letters of the colors in the rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo, and violet are always there in your memory not just by name but by order as well!
Your brain is like a tool! Train your memory to be stronger and stronger! There are lots of special tests and tools you can find online or in books that actually test your memory using visualization and association techniques. In addition, there are books which teach people how to memorize lists of things, or other critical information for your brain to store until it is needed, similar to preparing for the college entrance exams or other well known tests.
When trying to remember something, it is important to relax. Memorization of information is better when one takes the needed time to store and recall concepts. As you age, you will find that it will take a bit more time to both cement information in your memory and to recall those memories. If you cannot recall something immediately, do not panic since that will make it even harder to recall. Memory always works better when one is relaxed and well-rested.
Little tips and tricks to help you memorize items, like study chapters and material, can go a long way to ensuring that you’re always learning to the absolute best of your ability. Don’t take for granted that you will be able to remember. If you have any trouble with boosting your memory at all, use the tips you’ve read here.