Strategies to Strengthen Memory Skills

Memory is the power or process of remembering what has been learned. It can be bunches of information that you’ve learned from school, internet, and experiences, either good or bad. Memory is like a very big storage in our head. You yourself will be shocked from the things that are in store with it. When we remember or recall something, our memory is involved to it. Our memory is an essential in our daily lives, because once our memory failed to function, we will experience difficulties in remembering faces, numbers, and even directions. Won’t it be a burden for us and for others too?

As we get older, the capability of our memory fades away. As a human being, our memory will be needed for a lifetime in every simple ways we do. Our memory is very important in order for us to get into school, university, and get a career or profession that we want. The job of our memory does in remembering wholly depends on our actions. Daily intake of healthy foods will make our memory function properly. We don’t just eat to fill our stomach. We must consider the nutrients that we get from it to become physically healthy, and mind healthy. Food isn’t just enough. It requires teamwork with vitamins that will further make us healthy. Memory also needs energy to work. Aside from food, enough sleep after a long tiring day is a must. Just like our body, it also gets tired if overused. Physical and mental exercises also contribute to a good memory. Our memory also needs to be trained so it will be in good condition. We socialize every day, every hour, and every minute. Having an active interaction with the same or opposite gender will pro-long the stored memories in our mind.

Memory is very important yet, losing it is common these days. Humans are careless about their food intake. They just eat whatever they want or whatever satisfies their tummies. They’ll stay in front of computer and manipulate their accounts in social networking sites for such a long time and forget to have an active lifestyle outside. Humans don’t mind if they sleep or not. Some don’t like analyzing or mind challenge because they are too bored to think. They don’t socialize that much because it will only be a hindrance on what they do. If this cycle continues, it wouldn’t be shocking that most of us can’t remember a single thing anymore. Before it become worse, we must enhance our memory as early as we can. Enhancing it will be a good prevention for memory loss. It will benefit not just us, but also the other people around us. Enhancing our memory will help us in every simple way as much as possible.

Memory enhancement might not matter now, but we will realize later that it is a great investment for future. Considering the factors of memory enhancement like eating healthy foods and regular intake of vitamins, doing exercises, implementing good sleeping habits, and even socializing will result to a healthy remembering. When we take an examination, we think carefully of the answers. We know the answer a while ago but we forgot it just now. We need to take down notes or a memo but the pen went missing. We keep looking for it but it is just behind our ear. Isn’t it frustrating to experience these situations? It won’t be impossible to happen if we don’t enhance our memory, now.

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Memory plays an important part in our daily lives. It is involve in remembering faces, numbers, directions, facts and a lot of information we gather. Just like our body, our memory also have needs in order to live and do its purpose. Memory loss is so common these days. In order to improve our memory’s performance, we must consider taking care of our health, implementing good habits and often socializing. If it is used, it will continue to improve throughout your lifetime (Buzan T., 1991).

According to (Eastway R., 1991), one thing that is fundamental to a good memory is the health of the brain in which it sits. If our body needs good diet, so does our brain. There are kinds of food that will help us in improving our memory. One example of that is fish. Oily fish is the top scorer in foods that contain Omega-3. Fish also contains a fatty acid called DHA, which increases the levels of acetylcholine, a vital carrier involved in the memory’s function. Another one is food that contains anti-oxidants. Some people are unaware of what they take. There are some toxics that we unconsciously eat that can cause fundamental damage in our bodies, including our brain which is mainly responsible for our memory. Carbohydrates from bread and cereals can help to improve alertness, and the ability to form new memories and to retrieve the old ones. We are physiology different from each other, and what benefits in one person will not necessarily be the same for each one of us. Fish, anti-oxidants and carbohydrates will boost an average memory performance. The newest or the modern way to enhance our memory nowadays is taking up drugs. It can help but we must be careful in differentiating memory boosting drug and drugs that don’t retrieve old memories.

If we were really good thinkers, (Gordon B. & Berger L., 2003) states that we won’t neglect mental workouts. Jigsaws, crosswords and Sudoku are can be seen in the newspaper every day to entertain us. Behind those sheets are ways for an alert and smart mind. Regular mental exercises build ups the brain, same as how physical exercise builds muscles and strengthens the heart. Treating your body well can enhance your ability to process and recall information. Physical exercises reduce the risks of memory loss. Try to give your memory a workout, training it to keep it sharp (Harp T., 2003). After a long tiring day in school or office, a sleep is a must. When we sleep, we boost the capability of our brain in problem-solving and critical thinking skills. It is also an essential in learning new information.

We find it hard to remember something especially if we need to input too much information. Socializing can be one of the simplest memory techniques. According to Oscar Ybarra, a psychologist at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR), socializing was just as effective as more traditional kinds of mental exercise in improving memory and intellectual performance. Interacting with others can sharpen your memory because social interaction itself is challenging already because you have to deal with variety of people. If socializing isn’t your habit, it can’t affect you now but it will in the future.

One of the horrors of growing older is the certainty that you will lose memory and that the loss of vocabulary or incident or imagery is going to diminish your imagination (Eastway R., 2004). Memory is like a shadow. It will be always after us, but as soon as the darkness rose, it will fade away. Memory is a lifetime machine. It will continue to work for a lifetime as long as we take good care of it. Just like an ordinary machine, it needs to be maintained to function properly.

According to Matlin (2005), memory is the process of maintaining information over time. “Memory” came from the Latin word memorariandmemor, meaning “mindful” or “remembering”. Memory is our ability to encode, store, and recall information or past experiences with the help of the human brain. It is like a filing cabinet with a limitless capacity and speed. The work that our memory does widely depends on the owner: the humans. Scientific research has shown that the human brain starts remembering things 20 weeks after conception. In order to form new memories, information must be changed into a usable form through the process known asencoding. Once the information has been successfully encoded, it must bestoredin memory for later use. Most of this stored memory lies out of our awareness most of the time, except when we really need to use it. The retrieval orrecalling process allows us to bring stored memories into conscious awareness and use it in the present.

Memory relies largely on the cells in our brain, and as we get older, brain cells (neurons) die, and don’t get replaced. The number of connections between the calls (synapses) also tends to disappear with age. We typically have 100 billion neurons at the age of eighteen, but then proceed to lose them every day thereafter. Forgetting is a normal and inevitable part of the way that the brain works at any age. One benefit of forgetting is that it helps to remove unnecessary information from our minds. The brain is good at knowing how to forget information that it no longer needs. It is hard to know which would be worse- never being able to remember, or never being able to forget. Forgetting may be a natural part of how the brain works, but not all forgetting is beneficial. It’s frustrating not being able to remember all those things that you actually do want to remember. Forgetting happens most of the time for office workers, students, teacher or anyone, even those who don’t have a profession. No one wants it, but just like what is stated above, it is inevitable. Many people wish to improve it, but some of us become unconsciously careless. One thing that is important to a good memory is the health of the brain in which it sits. We want to keep our memory alive but we are the ones who are killing it. There are some factors on killing your memory. Trauma to the head can permanently damage brain cells. Players that involve their heads on a physical game are more prone to brain diseases. Another step is intoxication. Alcohol is the most available substance for this. It slows down the brain’s function when it is in the blood. The third way to decline the brain is to ignore it. The phrase ‘use it or lose it’ really does apply to the brain. Lastly, the food that you eat is very important for the brain. A diet of burgers and highly salted chips is probably the best combination for brain decay, because it avoids feeding the brain the nutrients that help it to function.

Memory improvement is significant on someone’s lifetime. What’s the use of a happy event if you can’t recall? What’s the use of reviewing for exams if you have poor memory? As we grow older, we worry about how we will remember a particular thing, if there’s something we can do to prolong it. Well, worry no more! There are plenty of things we can do to improve our ability to remember things, but of course it requires effort from the people who wants it. There are some particular foods and vitamins that are helpful for memory improvement. The nutrients we get from it are responsible for the health of our brain. Exercises, physical or mental, will train our memory to be sharp. Lastly, as we socialize, the effect it gives in our memory is positive. Most of it was done in our daily lives. Enhancing our memory is very simple right?

Eating well is good for your physical as well as your mental health. The brain requires nutrients just like your heart, lungs or muscles do. Like everything else in your body, the brain cannot work without energy. But which foods are particularly important to keep our memory happy and healthy? There’s no doubt that diet plays a major role in brain health. Omega-3 fats that can be found on oily fish as DHA (if you have higher levels of DHA in the blood, then the brain will operate more efficiently), which enables the body to use it easily. If you’re allergic to fish, you don’t need to worry because there’s a good alternative like linseed (flaxseed) oil, soya bean oil, pumpkin seeds, walnut oil and soya beans. They are good for healthy brain function, the heart, joints and general well-being. Nuts and seeds are also on the list. They all contain another important antioxidant: vitamin E. In one study, researchers found that people who consumed moderate amounts vitamin E—from food, not supplements—lowered their risk of Alzheimer’s Disease by 67%. Here’s for all the sweet lovers- chocolate. Sweeten your brain-boosting diet with the dark kind (at least 70% cocoa); it contains flavonoids, another class of antioxidants that some research links to brain health. Let us all become healthy by eating veggies. Vegetables don’t just help our body to become healthy, but also our minds. Getting adequate amount of vegetables, especially broccoli, cabbage and dark leafy greens, may help improve memory. Can your diet make you smarter? You bet. Research shows that what you eat is one of the most powerful influences on everyday brain skills. So why don’t we try switching into a good diet? You’ve become healthy not just by body, but also by mind.

Some people wonder if a tablet can really help boost a memory. Whether you suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or you just have memory problems, it’s been said that certain vitamins can help or prevent memory loss. There is no miracle cure for a bad memory, but there is still a way to improve it while it’s not yet bad. Research shows that B vitamins improve memory by creating a protective shield for the neurons in the brain. B vitamins break down homocysteine, which is an amino acid that poisons nerve cells. This vitamin also aid in the production of red blood cells, which carry oxygen, an important brain nutrient. Known for its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, this amino acid, Acetyl L-Carnatine (also known as ALCAR) helps with energy production necessary for optimal brain function. Another thing is Gingko Biloba. This herb has been shown to improve blood flow to your organs including your brain. Research concerning its effectiveness is mixed, though some studies indicated it may improve concentration. Unfortunately, much of the evidence for the popular cures isn’t very strong.

Leaving the foods and vitamins aside, let’s check how our habits can help nor destroy our memory condition. Physical fitness and mental fitness go well together. People who get regular exercise also tend to stay mentally sharp in their 70s and 80s. A study from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine concluded that individuals who exercised – by walking or by engaging in physically active hobbies had a lower risk for Alzheimer’s disease. So experts recommend that you build physical activity into your daily routine. Exercising in the morning before going to work not only spikes brain activity and prepares you for mental stresses for the rest of the day, but also produces increase of retention of new information, and better reaction to complex situations. Let’s just consider exercise as a drug. It can be good if is intake moderately. Most of the people believe that memory fades with age. Well, newsflash: it’s just partly true. Memory fades away because as we age, because we lower the activities in involving it. Increase our brainpower by doing mental exercises. Crosswords and Sudoku and variety of board games are proven to improve our memory’s condition. As we play these games, we’re like settling our memory in a battle field to train, and be strong. As long as we live, we must not stop learning. Although people vary widely in their individual sleep needs, research suggests that six to eight hours of sleep a night is ideal to improve our memory. Our memory gets tired too. Findings suggest that getting an average amount of sleep, may help maintain memory in later life. Both too much and too little aren’t good. Aim for the right amount.

Social interaction is a key ingredient—along with proper nutrition,physical exercise, brain training, and lifelong learning—in the recipe for cognitive sharpness. Socializing can be a challenge for people who live alone, but everyone must have a social life no matter where they live or how they feel. You don’t have to have numerous social events on the calendar or go to a party just to socialize. Simply talking to them is. Being with other people is good for your health and also for your memory. We’re not meant to survive alone. Relationships stimulate our brains—in fact, interacting with others may be the best kind of brain exercise. In one recent study from the Harvard School of Public Health, for example, researchers found that people with the most active social lives had the slowest rate of memory decline. This won’t be a hard thing to do since we’re talking in our everyday lives. Isn’t it simple?