Royane Real

By Royane Real

Are you looking for easy ways to improve your memory?  Here are a few simple tips that can make your memory work better:

1)  Make up little rhymes and songs to help you remember important information.  It's often a lot easier to remember facts that have been made into a song or a rhyme, such as  "Thirty days hath September, April, June and November'.

2) Your brain will work better if it has a good supply of oxygen.  When you are trying to learn something, remember to breathe deeply and smoothly.  Don't just breathe shallowly with the upper chest.  Make it a habit to breathe in such a way that your abdomen moves smoothly up and down, in and out.  This will ensure better oxygenation.

3) When you need to remember something important, find a way to create an image about it in your mind that is very funny or bizarre.  Your brain finds it much easier to remember things that are unusual, or funny or scary, while it easily forgets things that don't stand out in any way.

2) Don't be afraid to make written lists of what you need to do or to remember.  When you keep a written list this will free up your brain to remember other things that are more important.

3) Be sure to get enough sleep.  While you are sleeping, your brain uses this time to consolidate your memories and new information into its long term memory storage.  Lack of sleep interferes with this process.

4) When you need to remember a long string of letters, or a long string of numbers such as a telephone number, break the information up into small units or chunks of two or three numbers or letters at a time, such as 555 - 216 -  9827.  Most people will find it very hard to remember 9 or 10 numbers in a row, but they can easily remember two or three numbers in a row.   

5) Repetition and review will help your brain remember the material better.  When you need to learn and remember something, give yourself time to review the same material again the next day for a few minutes and then a week later for a few minutes.

6) It's easier to remember information when you understand it really well.  If you are confused by something you are trying to learn, break it down into smaller parts or steps, and ask for help in understanding each part.

7) Your brain is better at remembering what study at the beginning of your study period, and at the end.  Your brain is less able to recall material from the middle of your study session.  You can create more beginnings and more endings of your study sessions by getting up more often for a break.  If you take a break every forty minutes for ten minutes, you will remember better than if you take one fifteen minute break every hour and a half.    

8) If you are studying something for school or for a presentation, be sure you have scheduled plenty of time to review it a few times.   Leaving everything until the last minute and cramming doesn't really help you to remember the material.  

9) Improve your memory by giving your brain lots of memorization exercises.  One way to do this is to memorize a few lines from a new poem or a short paragraph every day. 

10) Get a basic children's arithmetic book with simple number exercises such as 1 + 8 =  ___   or 5 X 3 =  ___  and commit to doing fifty such calculations every day as quickly as you can.  Research has shown that quickly doing very simple arithmetic problems activates a lot of your brain.

11) The standard North American diet is not very good for your heart or your brain.  Avoid eating junk food, sugar, trans fats or hydrogenated oils and refined carbohydrates.  Instead, choose a diet that includes lots of fresh vegetables, fruits, ocean fish, and whole grains.   

12) Reduce the stress in your life by simplifying your schedule, delegating more tasks to others, getting regular physical exercise and practicing daily meditation.  Long term stress can interfere with your ability to concentrate and to think clearly, and with your ability to form memories or to recall them later. 

13) When you are trying to learn and remember something important, say it out loud either to yourself or to other people.  Making the effort to speak the words and hearing yourself say them will get more of your brain cells involved in forming the memory.

14) When you need to learn something new, a good way to understand it and remember it much better is to get a study buddy or a conversation partner,  and try teach the other person what you are learning.  This is a good way to signal your brain that what you are learning is important. 

15) Learn how to create and use mind maps to organize your information.  A mind map will show you at a glance how the different parts of what you are learning can fit together, and many people can learn better by using mind maps than by writing out notes the traditional way.

16) If you are having problems with your memory, ask your doctor or pharmacist whether any prescription drugs you are taking might be the cause of your memory difficulties.  If any of your prescribed drugs are known to cause memory problems, ask if you can be prescribed a lower dose, or switched to another medication altogether.

17) Depression interferes with the brain's ability to remember.  If you have a history of depression, or if you easily get overwhelmed by stress, have your doctor evaluate you.  If you are suffering from depression, be sure to get treatment for this condition. 

18)  Heavy alcohol and drug use can interfere with learning and memory.  Avoid overusing these substances if you want your brain to stay in tip top shape. 

21)  Practice staying present in the moment and paying attention to the details of each experience.  This will help you to better remember all the details later.

22) Include a lot of berries in your diet that have dark red and blue colored skins.  In an experiment where aging rats were fed a diet high in blueberries, their memory losses reversed and they grew new brain cells. 

23) Focus on doing one task at a time and concentrating on one topic at a time.  When you try to do too many things at once, your mind will be distracted and it will be difficult to perform every task as well as you need to, and difficult to remember what you need to remember.

24) If you are a diabetic or if you have high blood pressure, work with your doctor to get these conditions under control.  Left untreated, diabetes and high blood pressure can eventually lead to problems with how your brain works.

25)  Your brain can easily become dehydrated, so be sure to drink enough fluids.  Instead of filling up on coffee and pop drinks, drink water instead.  How much water should you be drinking to stay hydrated?  Dr. Batmanghelidg recommends half a fluid ounce of water per pound of body weight.  That means that if you weigh 120 pounds, you should drink at least 60 fluid ounces of water.  That's about eight cups of water daily.

26) Many studies have shown that the brain benefits from regular physical exercise.  Find some form of exercise you really enjoy, and make it a regular part of your life.

This article was written by learning expert Royane Real, author of the popular book “How You Can Be Smarter - Use Your Brain to Learn Faster, Remember Better and Be More Creative”

To learn more ways to boost your brain power, download it at http://www.lulu.com/real   

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