Poor memory and memory improvement techniques

When your memory betrays you

It feels pretty bad when you suddenly forget what you were going to say while doing a presentation in front of some audience. it also feels bad when you discover that you can't enter your house because you have forgotten to take the key with you before going out!!

Memory functions includes storing and retrieving information successfully. When there is a problem with either storing or retrieving the information then you may need to take some actions to improve your brain’s memory functions.

poor memory or untrained memory?

In many cases people incorrectly judge their ability to remember and relate this problem to poor or bad memory however the truth is that, in most cases, your memory just needs to be trained in order to function well.

Provided that you don’t suffer from a disease that causes memory impairment like Alzheimer your memory can be easily improved by applying some memory improvement techniques.

memory improvement techniques

I have divided the memory improvement techniques into two parts, the first part contains tips for memory improvement that you should do and the second contains a list of things that may have negative affect on your memory so that you could avoid them.

what can improve your memory

memory improvement tip#1, training: just as your muscles needs training so does your memory. What is meant by training is being more dependent on your memory than on external objects. For example if you are used to write everything you want to remember then you are not training your memory well
memory improvement tip#2, diet: your diet have got an impact on your memory functions. Following a healthy diet that contains variety of foods will help you to improve your memory. Fish and vegetables are believed to be good for memory improvement.
memory improvement tip#3, group items together:your short term memory can hardly store more than seven items together, if you want to remember more than 7 items like for example a 10 digit phone number then group it together. For example instead of recalling the number 0161542392 as 10 separate numbers you can recall it in groups of numbers like “016” “154” and “2392”. Your mind will treat those as three items instead of ten
memory improvement tip#4, understand the information well: when you understand the logic behind the information you want to recall you will find it much easier to remember it than if you studied it by hard without understanding it
memory improvement tip#5, train your whole brain: memory is just a function of the brain, if the whole brain is trained to work well then memory functions are going to be good. Learning a new language or learning a complex skill can help you improve your brain functions and so your memory
memory improvement tip#6, rehearse just before going to sleep: just before you sleep you become highly receptive. whatever you will read or study at that time may be easily recalled later on
memory improvement tip#7, use your whole brain: your left hemisphere of your brain is responsible for words ,logic, numbers and sequences while your right hemisphere is responsible for rhythm ,colours and imagination. when you receive the information make sure to use some sort of visual images or rhythm in order to store the information using both parts of your brain, this will make recalling the information much easier
memory improvement tip#8, exercising makes you more receptive to information:just after you finish exercising you become much more receptive to information, studying at that time would make recalling the information much easier

what can make you have a poor memory

poor memory cause #1, insomnia: if you have sleeping problems or if you suffer from insomnia then most probably this will be reflected on your weak brain functions, in order to solve this problem make sure you know how to deal with insomnia or to get enough sleep if you don’t sleep well
poor memory cause #2, not receiving the information properly: if you didn’t receive the information in a proper way then you may find it hard to recall it. stress and anxiety can prevent you from receiving the information in a proper way. If you are always anxious or under continues stress then make sure to deal with both emotions else you may have a poor memory
poor memory cause #3,check your NLP representational system: according to NLP some people have visual representational systems while others have auditory representational systems. People with visual representation systems remember faces or images easily but have problems remembering numbers, on the contrary people with auditory representational systems remember numbers easily but have problems remembering faces. Knowing your own representational system can give you more clues on why you don’t remember certain things well.
poor memory cause #4 getting involved in many activities at the same time, getting involved in many activities at the same time may make you a little distracted and so you may have poor short term memory, usually type A personalities have this kind of problem because of the large number of activities they do.
poor memory cause #5 lack of attention lots of people blame their memory while in many cases the problem is just with attention, some people don’t give much attention to what they are doing and so they forget about it. suppose you were walking in the street then saw a horrible accident, will you forget this accident and wont be able to recall it? Of course not, but why? Because you gave it your full attention when you saw it