How to Improve Your Memory
Wouldn’t it be nice to just remember the small things now days, like birthdays and phone numbers? As you may have achieved your weight loss goals by completing a round of the HCG drops, you may have developed goals to improve your overall health, including your memory. As time goes by, we have more and more technology taking the place of our memory. Whether you are looking to do well on a test or just remember where you placed your sunglasses, the good news is you can improve your memory!
How Memory Works
The brain has to be able to pull information at the drop of a hat, whether it’s a fact on hold (such as a telephone number) or an old memory that’s been sitting in storage for years (the memory of your first kiss). No one likes a library that loses books or puts them in the wrong place. Yet sometimes we find ourselves with a very poor librarian on our hands, one that doesn’t allow us to retrieve memories when we need them. Sometimes it’s little, like when we tear apart our homes looking for glasses that sit on top our heads, and sometimes these lapses in memories are more embarrassing, such as when we call a co worker “sport” because we simply can’t remember his name. There are a few things everyone can do to optimize the storage and checkouts in our private libraries of memories:
Tips to Help with Memory
– Eliminate stresses. Anything that causes major stressing in life, including anxiety or anger, will eventually eat away at the parts of the brain that are responsible for memory.
– Take a walk. If you’ve ever taken a break from work or studying to take a quick walk around the block, you may understand the rationale for this next tip. Exercise not only exercises the body, it exercises the brain as well.
– Association. A picture’s worth a thousand words, as the saying goes, so turning a list of random words into images may help you remember the words better.
– Pay Attention. Eight seconds is more than just a length of time that bull riders try to stay atop a bucking bronco; it’s the amount of time you need to completely focus your attention upon something to effectively transfer it from short-term to long-term memory.
-Eat Healthy. Studies show that eating a well-balanced diet can help you improve your memory as well. A lot of users of the HCG diet also claim that while on the diet they are thinking better and their memory has improved.
– The name game. This memory tip builds upon many of the tips we’ve learned so far. When you meet a new person, it’s important to pay attention to the name and the face. As soon as you learn the name, repeat it back to the person by saying, “Nice to meet you, so-and-so.” It’s not a cheap trick; researchers have found that people have a 30 percent better chance of remembering a name when they repeat it as soon as they learn it .
– Tie a string on your finger. Tying a string around your finger to remember something has become a bit of a punch line, but the reasoning for it makes sense. By putting something in your environment slightly askew, you create a visual reminder for yourself. The key, as with other methods, is to take the time to create a strong visualization for why there’s a string around your finger before you mindlessly tie it on.
Practice makes perfect. You can look at almost anything as a chance to practice these memory tips. Read sections of a newspaper or magazine and try to recall bits you read hours later. One of the simplest ways to practice these methods is to teach them to someone else. By explaining with examples, you’ll be reinforcing them in your brain. What methods and tips do you use to help with your memory? How has your memory changes since completing the HCG diet?