Can You Really Improve Your Memory? If you find yourself one day forgetting where you left your keys or mobile phone, or you entered the exam and did not remember anything from what you read, you may wish your memory was much better. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to improve your memory.
With these 10 proven strategies, you can effectively improve memory, promote information retrieval, and aid information retention.
Here are these methods:
1- Focus and Attention:
Focus and attention is one of the main components of memory. In order to preserve the information longer and be able to recall it whenever you want, you really need to pay attention to this point.
Let us give an experimental example to this: Put a regular bottle under the sun's rays and project the ray falling from that bottle onto a sheet of paper. If you wait for a long time, nothing happens to this paper.
Repeat the process again, but replace the bottle with a magnifying glass and shine the beam emanating from the lens onto the paper and wait a while, you will find that the paper has begun to ignite. The reason for this is that ordinary glass does not focus the incident ray on it, but rather scatters it, which makes the ignition matter very difficult, and the matter is different with the magnifying glass. The paper ignites because it focused the incident ray in one focused area, which generated the heat required for ignition.
The same idea applies to memory. If you read the material you want to memorize in an hour while you are focused and attentive, it is better than reading for ten hours while you are distracted and unaware of what you are reading.
It helps you focus when trying to read in a place that is free of distractions such as television, phone, music, and other media. Eliminating distractions can be a challenge, especially if you are surrounded by your roommates or noisy children. Try to set aside a short period of time to be on your own.
Ask your roommates to give you some time to read, or ask your parents to take the kids for an hour so you can focus on your work.
2- Structuring and organizing:
Structuring and organizing is one of the most important things that you should know, so you must structure the materials you study and organize them well and start with the most important and then important and try to collect similar concepts and terms together, and try to summarize the book with headings or make mental maps for the book that is read and this method has proven successful.
3- Use memory devices and link information to things you know:
Memory devices are a technique students often use to aid in information retrieval and this method is just a way to remember information. When you study unfamiliar material, take the time to think about how that information relates to what you already know. By establishing relationships between new ideas and pre-existing memories.
For example, associate a term that you want to memorize and that you should remember with a story, positive picture, or popular event that you know well. This is called mnemonics, and it is a method that uses positive images, humor, or novelty to fix information.
4- Mind Maps:
What is not hidden from many is that one of the major problems facing the student and the learner in general is the means of communicating information, and it is known that each teacher has a means that differs from the other professor or that the author presents the material in his own style, and the teacher explains the material in a different manner, and this represents a great challenge for students, which forces them to Do more and more tiredness in understanding the material.
Therefore, the means of education have tended to devise a method that facilitates the understanding of the scientific material. This method was represented by mental maps, which is drawing trees, divisions and drawings that organize information in an easy and simple manner, which increases the reception of information easily and easily. Of the topic and linking information in an organized manner that is easy to memorize.
And many people have greatly benefited from the visualization of the information they study. Pay attention to the pictures and graphs in your books. If you don't have mind maps or diagrams to help, try creating mind maps and diagrams to help you visualize the material. Draw diagrams or shapes in the margins of your notes or use highlighters or pens of various colors to group related ideas into your written study materials.
5- Reading Aloud:
Some people may not read aloud well, but you will be surprised to learn that research published in 2017 indicates that reading materials aloud greatly improves your memory of the material because this method shares the sense of hearing with the sense of sight, which increases the absorption of the material further.
You may find this difficult, but you will get used to it over time and it is worth a try.
6- Information sharing:
"Knowledge grew between two"
An old article, but its secret is amazing and the truth of those who said it is because if you share or study what you have learned with a friend, student, or even a teacher, this information remains firm for a long time. Psychologists have discovered that whoever shares what he learned with others enhances his understanding and remembrance of the material and this is tried
Use this approach in your own studies by sharing what you have learned with a friend or study partner and you will notice the difference, God willing.
7- Vary your study routine:
Another great way to increase your recall is to change your study and reading routine from time to time.
For example, if you are used to studying in a specific location, try moving to a different place during the next study session. And if you are studying in the evening time, try to spend a few minutes every morning reviewing the information that you studied the night before and so on, and if you are reading sitting, try to try reading while you are walking, and if you eat and then read, try to read, then eat, and so on.
8- Get enough sleep:
Researchers have long known that sleep is important for memory and learning. Research has shown that taking a nap is very important for memory because the brain gets tired just as the body does, so you should rest your brain and get enough sleep, which can actually help you learn faster and remember better.
One study published in 2014 found that falling asleep after learning something new actually leads to changes in the brain, and these changes would enhance and improve memory.
9- Attention to a healthy diet:
Healthy food is very important and has a great effect on strengthening memory, so nutrition experts advise to eat more vegetables, fruits, fish, almonds and other foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and you can get a healthy diet from a doctor or a nutritionist.
10. Exercise and chew gum:
Exercise and chewing gum help to increase blood flow in the rest of the body, as well as increase blood flow to the brain, which will preserve memory, which keeps it active and effective.
Correct breathing has an effective role in delivering oxygen to the brain cells by taking a deep inhale and holding it for 3 seconds or more and then expelling it completely, and this process is repeated several times a day, thus giving the body and the brain its right of adequate oxygen, which is considered the food of cells.