Depression, a lower education level, being physically inactive, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and smoking were contributing factors in the amount of memory loss a person can suffer, with depression being the biggest factor in all ages. Of course, our modern lifestyles can lead to increased stress that goes towards memory loss in our younger years but overall mental health is important to ward off those moments of forgetfulness.
How Can I Sustain Or Improve My Memory?
1. Chunking Technique
Our short term memory is the most noticeable when it comes to memory loss. Most of us are able to hold around four to seven items in our short-term memory – try memorising a long shopping list and you may struggle past the seventh item. A way around this and improving your short-term memory, in the long run, is to create meaning to elicit memory improvement. For example, rearranging the first letter of each item to create a word or several words like sweet potatoes, tomatoes, apples, radishes, fennel, ice cream, spaghetti, honey can be remembered as STARFISH. Studies have shown people can go from remembering seven-digit sequences to eighty-digit sequences from using this technique. [2]
2. Creativity And Association
Our imaginations are dying to be used so when it comes to memory, being creative with our effort to remember can go a long way. Creativity is driven by memory so activating your creative mind with remembering numbers, items and names can help immensely. So creating stories in a sequence, be it a journey you embark on where you meet people who represent items or numbers, allows you to make unique associations and makes it easier to remember. This is commonly called the story method and can help you remember chronological orders as well as sequences. [3] For example, a study asked people to remember many groups of three different words such as ‘bike’, ‘dog’ and ‘street’. One group was asked to remember through repetition while another group was asked to form a story with each set of three words such as ‘a dog riding a bike down the street’. Those that created stories were able to recall the word combinations much better than the ones that relied on memory alone.
3. Visual Cues
Most people remember images better than verbal or written information so associating items with pictures can create mental hooks that improve long and short term memory. Using visual cues causes the brain to focus which is what it needs to remember. Reviewing images you’ve associated with something also causes reinforcement within the brain that is needed for good memory skills. Visual cues go towards reducing learning time, improves comprehension, enhances retrieval, and increases retention so it’s one of the most effective ways to improve your memory skills. [4] For example, if you’re learning a new language, some words may be so unfamiliar that it can be hard to recall them. However, you could find a similar sounding word in your own language and create a visual accordingly. For example, the Spanish word for ‘folder’ is ‘carpeta’ so you could imagine a folder laying on a carpet to help you remember the word.
4. Up Your Vitamin B12 Intake
If you feel your memory fails you sometimes or you’re constantly in a brain fog, then it could be down to a deficiency in vitamin B12. A deficiency can lead to a wide variety of mental disorders from depression to dementia, that’s why it’s important to keep your vitamin B12 intake topped up. Taking a vitamin B complex supplements will quickly restore depleted levels in the body and making sure you eat foods rich in the vitamins like shellfish, liver, red meat, eggs and cheese will also help keep your memory at an optimum level.
