Improving your memory

[biggestmexi]

Hey Dr. Steve,

Is there any way to improve your memory. Mine's a shitbox. I can remember something but only certain things. But mostly I have trouble remembering recent things. Like this morning (for some reason) I was trying to think what i ate for dinner. Nothing for about 10 minutes. I almost woke the GF up to ask her. What gives. Why is my memory so bad. It has been my whole life. For what I CAN remember. I am only 23 now. Could it be something with the Menier's ? Also when I get my fits from Menier's is there any chance of a black out. I havent read anything about it but I figured I would ask because I got a little Dizzy this morning.

Thanks,

Aaron.

[Dr Steve]

Hey Dr. Steve,

Is there any way to improve your memory. Mine's a shitbox. I can remember something but only certain things. But mostly I have trouble remembering recent things. Like this morning (for some reason) I was trying to think what i ate for dinner. Nothing for about 10 minutes. I almost woke the GF up to ask her. What gives. Why is my memory so bad. It has been my whole life. For what I CAN remember. I am only 23 now. Could it be something with the Menier's ? Also when I get my fits from Menier's is there any chance of a black out. I havent read anything about it but I figured I would ask because I got a little Dizzy this morning.

Thanks,

Aaron.

Aaron:

First the Meniere's (for everyone else, see the previous thread on this (http://www.ronfez.net/forums/showthread.php?t=72457))...no real risk of blacking out, but if you get a bad vertigo attack while you're driving, it could cause you to be at increased risk for a wreck (imagine you're driving and all of a sudden your brain tells you the road has turned upside down). Also, since you've always had a crappy memory, it's not related to the Meniere's.

Now, how to improve your memory? There are things you can do, and they all depend on what kind of memory we're talking about. There's short-term memory, long-term memory, audio memory, visual memory, etc.

If you have trouble remembering people's names, make sure you SAY THEIR NAME OUT LOUD when you're introduced to them (a good time to do this is when you're shaking their hand for the first time). This increases the sensory input to your memory banks...one of the secrets to improving memory is to attack the problem from several angles, so this technique points out a general principle.

In medical school, we used mnemonics and memory tricks to memorize things like the cranial nerves...this again allows you to attack a memory problem from more than one angle. You can do the same thing! For example, say you want to memorize a shopping list: envelopes, paperclips, milk, catfood, condoms, and bananas. I would memorize this by first visualizing the envelope. I'd then visualize the following: put a paperclip on it. Drop the envelope/paperclip into a pitcher of milk, which I then pour into a bowl of catfood. The cat plays with a condom, which he then installs on the banana.

You can probably come up with a better visual list than that, but if you make it visual and make each step follow (no matter how absurd), you will remember this list 10 years from now. Practice with a list of 10 words every day, coming up with a visual image that links each word together. By combining the word-memory with the picture-memory, you've made the list very easy to remember.

If you forget stuff your significant other tells you...how about PAYING ATTENTION to what they say? :-) Simple focusing on what others are saying to you (while creating mnemonic lists on the fly, if you need to) can make a huge difference. :-) It takes about 8 seconds of focusing on something to commit it to memory...if you're trying to remember something your sig-ot said to you while you were playing Call of Duty 4, well, you can forget it. :smile:

People think I have a great memory, because I always remember their birthdays and stuff. However, I have a TERRIBLE memory...I just have a great palm pilot and I use it every day. I put EVERYTHING I need to know and do in there; it reminds me so I don't forget. If my wife mentions she'd like something for Christmas...into the palm pilot it goes; that way I never forget stuff like that.

Review anything you learn today again tonight before bed. This is the trick of "copying your notes" in high school. People who take notes in class, then copy them that night before bed tend to retain information better. I used to hate vacations because they ended before they started (or seemed to)...now I write a journal every day of what we did on vacation (just a list of things, really, nothing elaborate) and now vacations seem to last longer and I remember all the cool crap we did.

Ginko Biloba probably won't help you...try googling "improving memory"...there are some cool sites out there on this.

Oh! and that brain game for nintendo DS (my memory is so bad I can't remember the name) has been shown to improve memory; it'd be a fun thing to do during a commute (as long as you're not the one driving!)

hope this helps


your pal,


steve

[Disaster]

I have a different view or this topic. I had a bad head injury which lead to brain sugary I lost half my long term memory and for at least 8 years after my short term memory was Swiss cheese some days I would remember very little others much more. Several things finally started to help me, first I agree with the Doctor a good palm pilot is awesome if you use it. You have to and use it for everything and I do mean everything at first you will start to figure out what you don’t need to put in there but when you first get it put phone numbers and names and addresses and everything in there. When it comes to names I still suck with remembering new names but I repeat them in my head at least a dozen times after I am told who someone is. Something else you need to make your life easier anything you do on a regular basis make sure it’s the same time and the same day. Like I have a rehab on Mondays at 3:30 every week I don’t have to think about that anymore it just happens I show up I don’t need to remember it anymore my body just knows on Monday to be at rehab at 3:30. Post it notes great in a pinch to write something down and lists keep lists for the next day and cross things off as you do it. The main idea behind most of this is to free your mind of the small things so you can try and remember the bigger stuff. I don’t know I need to say this but drinking don’t help but that’s your choice. I am still learning new ways of getting my memory to work better and still learning to read and write. Its late and I had a long day so if this doesn’t make the best sense I am sorry feel free to write me a note on here if you have any questions and I can help more I will reread what I wrote tomorrow and add anything I can think of if it helps more. I am now a speaker for the Brain Injury Association of New York State I speak around the state and starting to speak around the country to people with head injuries and helping them with there memory and other problems from brain injuries. I hope this made sense and helped.