Have you ever heard the cry – “I have SUCH a bad memory!”? Or perhaps you’ve made that exclamation yourself?
In our everyday lives – both at work and in other activities – there is a need to process, store and retrieve many different pieces of information. When we find ourselves forgetting an important detail, missing a vital step in a process or battling to recall an interaction, it can be incredibly frustrating and leave us feeling anxious.
But never fear! Memory is not an innate gift or ability. It is an ongoing, brain-wide process. Our brains are elastic, unique and powerful and it IS possible to improve the memory processes within our brain. Let’s examine a little more about how memory works and the simple steps we can take to improve our recall abilities.
Types of Memory
Neuroscience generally agrees that there are 3 types of information storing processes within our brain:
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Sensory register – this is information that is gathered passively from our environment, usually through visual and auditory cues. Literally everything you see, hear, smell and feel is being processed through your brain, often unconsciously.
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Short-term memory – this is information that is stored in our brain for a time – either to be repeated (short-term) or to be used and manipulated (working memory). Our working memory process is the area where we have the most control and can make improvement.
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Long-term memory – this is our permanent database, so to speak. Information is moved to our long-term memory when our brain takes our working memory and begins to change our neural pathways, making new connections. We can store implicit memories that happen automatically (like driving a car) and explicit ones (such as events and knowledge that we actively choose to recall at a given time). Unfortunately, our brains are never completely impervious to damage but long-term memories are stored for an extended time, almost indefinitely.
Improving Our Memory
The first (and perhaps most important) step in improving our memory lies in getting information to move from a sensory register to our short-term or working memory. The key here is attention.
Think about a typical day – if you encoded literally every single sight, feeling, smell and sound, your brain would overload. Much of what our senses take in is filtering in and out of our brain and not stored. What about something we want to remember? Such as someone’s name, how to do a task or login information. When we come across something we want to remember, we need to signal our brain by paying attention.
Some tips to help us do this include:
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Avoid multi-tasking – forcing our brain to switch between tasks or other sensory information can cause things to become a bit muddled and result in gaps in our attention, creating gaps in our information storage processes.
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Remove distractions – your brain is always on the go. That means that even while you are actively paying attention to a single task, your senses are still absorbing all the background activity. Without meaning to, our brain can become distracted by the sights and sounds happening around us. To help keep our focus, we should do our best to create an environment of mental quiet. This can include turning off the tv, only listening to music without lyrics (or perhaps not listening to music at all), organising our work area and making sure our body is comfortable (it’s possible to be distracted by the thought “I really need a jumper in here”).
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Set time limits – in order to help focus on the task at hand and not the many others on our list, try setting a timer and working exclusively on a single task for that specified amount. Other time limit tricks can include setting deadlines, taking regular breaks (we are less likely to be distracted by the thought of lunch if we know that we have already planned a designated break for eating) and rewarding our productive activity periods (when the timer goes off, reward that focused time with a stretch, a fresh coffee or a 5 minute Instagram scroll).
Hacking Your Brain
After we’ve paid close attention, we can take further steps to improve and strengthen our working memory. This is the stored information that we need to use or repeat. There are several small actions we can take when first learning and using that information to hack our brain and build more neural pathways.
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Involve your auditory and linguistic processing skills by saying it out loud.
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Get your body and muscle memory involved (kinaesthetic processing) by a doing action and teach it to someone else. It works your brain in a different way.
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Give the information some context and build a story around it by asking why. Think of how much easier it is to remember the plot of a good movie as opposed to a dry list of random dates or names. Story and context add the colour that makes information stick out in our brain.
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Rehearse and repeat – repetition of a task or speaking out loud can help to cement the information into our memory banks.
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Make connections between the new information and information that is already stored in your brain. One way to make these connections is to create a visual representation of the information, perhaps in the form of a mind map.
Taking Care of Your Brain
The brain is a physical organ and, like the rest of our body, it needs care to keep working in tip-top condition. Caring for our brain can include:
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Sleep – our brain gets tired so make sure you switch it off and get enough sleep. “Pulling an all-nighter” seems like a good idea as a study cram but it actually works against you. With a tired brain you will struggle more and more. Getting enough sleep allows your brain to refresh and allows information to be encoded as longer term memory.
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Exercise – regular physical activity (particularly the kind that gets you sweating and your heart pumping) can boost the size of your hippocampus (the part of your brain involved in memory and learning) as well as stimulating the release of growth factors that affect the health and abundance of brain cells and the growth of new blood vessels in the brain. In a less direct manner, exercise improves our overall mood and sleep and can help to reduce stress and anxiety (which can often cause cognitive impairment).
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Diet – high-quality fuel helps your brain to worker better and faster, including your memory systems. Foods with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants nourish your brain. We also want to eating omega-3, folic acid, magnesium, iron and a steady supply of glucose as found in carbohydrates (the healthy kind found in wholegrains, vegetables, fruit, rice, potatoes and lactose).
And there you go! We don’t have to battle to obstacle of a poor memory forever. We can actively take care of our brains and improve our memory processes. Which idea do you think you’ll add to your routine?