A Recipe for an Improved Memory

Healthy Living
A Recipe for an Improved Memory
Healthy Habits

Competition is the catch word today! And crucial to competition is a good memory. For this, you got to get your grey cells working hard for you.

As our schedules get busier, we tend to forget more and more frequently. It often begins with trivial stuff. At this time we don’t pay attention to this problem. Then, we begin forgetting more important stuff. Then we start blaming it on our busy schedules. But still this problem is left unattended to till we finally pass it off as old age memory loss.

Memory problem differs from person to person and from time to time for the same person.

What causes poor memory?

• Poor diet is one of the major causes. • Researches have linked obesity or overweight problem to poor memory. • Hereditary is another known cause. • Medical problems like high fever can trigger this problem. • Severe stress is also a factor. • Sometimes, it could be the side effect of some prescribed drugs such as sedatives which can make the mind lethargic and lead to poor memory. • Age can also play a role in fading our memory.

What are the consequences of poor memory?

Poor memory affects not only our personal emotional life, but also our interpersonal life with family, friends and co-workers as well as our work and career.

Emotional life Forgetting important things such as house keys, mobile phone, prescriptions, wallets, phone numbers cause inconvenience that results in personal frustration.

Interpersonal life When an individual’s forgetfulness causes inconvenience to others, they show irritation. Such situations often result in bitterness in the relationship or, in extreme cases, end of relationship. In addition, it causes frustration within oneself and can become the cause of guilt, depression and dejection.

Work and career Poor memory results in plummeting career graph. If you are a student, you may have hard time remembering. This results in poor grades in exam which in turn affects for career chances. If you are employed, your poor memory reflects in your poor performance, this translates in lesser growth opportunities for you.

Situations could be much more complex. Your forgetfulness can cost dear to your company if you forget an important task, such as conveying a critical message to your boss or forgetting to mail a big tender application before the deadline. And if anything of this kind happens, you are sure to loose your job. If your boss does not press charges against you, consider yourself lucky.

How to improve your memory?

Take heart. You are not doomed!

If it is not a medical condition, you can improve your memory. But you will have to put in quite some efforts.

However, if after sincerely trying hard enough you feel that your efforts are not improving your memory than it’s best to opt for a medical diagnosis. It may sound far fetched, but it may be the onset of a serious problem like dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

To counter the natural decline in memory, we need to consciously improve our memory retention power. To do this we need to understand how the brain functions.

To remember something, our brain performs three functions which are: acquisition of information, its consolidation and its retrieval. To remember better, we need to pay attention to all the three faculties by following these easy steps:

• Start by being attentive, listen to things very carefully. • Humans understand visual codes better than audio, so try and read and see things more. • Try to use all your senses in the process of understanding, read, see and then speak it out. • Organize things and avoid a mess which can lead to confusion.

Next step is to improve the health of our brain. This is possible if you: • Take care of your body. • Sleep well and exercise regularly. • Avoid stress and anxiety. Yoga and meditation help not only in relieving stress and anxiety but also in improving memory and power to focus. • Avoid habits such as smoking and drinking. • Stick to a healthy diet. (You should consume food containing antioxidants such as Vitamin C, E, beta carotene, Vitamin B6, B12, folic acids and Omega-3 fatty acids. Legumes, citrus fruits, nuts and seeds, green tea, broccoli, cod liver oil, tuna fish, red tomatoes, melons, whole grains, strawberries, green leafy vegetables etc. are beneficial in improving general health as well as memory.

Some helpful tools to aid your memory: Many websites, books and academies offer games and activities to test and improve your memory, try them.

Exercise your brain by playing mind games such as chess, crossword and Sudoku. Use charts and /or mnemonic devices to remind you of things. They can be visual image, acronyms, rhymes, sentences, one liner.

The last and the most important ingredient of this recipe? Will power. Even if the results seem to be evading you initially, never give up. Try and try and improve the memory.

Remember to add the garnishing of a positive attitude.