October 12th, 2009 → 12:39 am @ andre // No Comments
Most people would argue that memory is not as important today as it was 50 years ago. Reason? The portable gadgets available and their increasingly convenient nature. But I would seriously disagree with that.
I believe brain improvement, and therefore memory improvement, is arguably more crucial today than ever before in history. Why? Because there’s more demand on your brain that there ever was in history! Think about it. The richest people today are the ones who use their brains. It’s no longer the ones with the biggest muscles!
In the modern society, knowledge is power. That’s why there’s a record number of books released every year. That’s why there’s thousands of courses, seminars, workshops conducted worldwide. There’s definitely no lack of information, there’s only a lack in our memory power. Imagine what would happen if you can memorize (and thus learn) more than what the average people could?
After all, time is the only resource you can’t get more of. To be able to learn faster and more efficiently than any other is the best leverage you can get!
In this article, I want to show you how you can easily do that… even if you are in an age where you think that’s not possible. Excited yet?
Use it or lose it.
There’s more than a dozen memory techniques that you can use to remember anything from a list of random numbers to faces and names… but they would all be useless if you don’t keep your mind fit in the first place.
It’s like installing the latest operating system in a 10 years old computer. It just wouldn’t run!
I’m sorry to tell you that there’s no magic pill that you can eat…. or a secret technique that you can adopt to immediately improve your memory (if there is, everyone would be doing it). Just like any lasting changes you want to occur, a change in your lifestyle is required if you want to improve your memory. It’s just like losing weight – you need exercise and a healthy diet on a daily basis for the rest of your life if you want to keep healthy.
Unfortunately, most of us simply rely too much on technology to do our memorizing. This lack of use causes the lost of our very basic skill – memory. Here are a few changes I suggest you implement:
Naturally, you might want to take it easy on yourself. Your life would probably be a mess if you were to immediately get rid of these stuff! In the beginning, put in a conscious effort to remember all the happenings in your life while using these tools as a reminder. As your memory gradually improves, you can then slowly discard them.
Consume more brain-healthy food. The food you eat affects every function of your body – and this includes your brain.
The more balanced your diet is, the better your brain will function. As a general rule, this means you should consume more green leafy vegetables although I also recommend a medium portion of meat because vitamin B12, crucial for healthy cognitive functions, cannot be found in any plant sources.
For more information on brain food, simply follow the link my post on the subject.
Do your exercises. Contrary to what some people may have told you, physical exercise do have a positive effect on your mental health. If you want learn more of the effects of physical exercise on your brain health, simply follow the link to my post on the subject.
Brain exercises are similar to memory exercises, but unlike the latter, the former keeps the whole brain active. Why is this important to your memory?
Though no scientific study has proven this to be true, I’ve always believed holistic health is always crucial to the effective functioning of our body. For example, scientific studies today have shown a healthy heart benefits your mental health. If anyone said that a decade ago, doctors would have laughed and dismissed it as another quack.
By the same principle, I believe keeping your whole brain fit is crucial for the proper function of your memory. After all, only a few parts of your brain are involved in memory – that much we know as fact. Therefore, Brain improvement = Memory improvement.
But before you go out to purchase a brain fitness program, here’s a fair warning: not all programs are made equal. Here’s a post on how to find out if your brain fitness program is truly effective or just a waste of time.
Tags: improve memory, memory improvement
