A good memory is dependent on your brain’s health and vitality. Whether you are a working professional interested in doing everything you can to stay mentally fit, or a senior interested in maintaining and enhancing your grey matter as you age, there’s a lot you can do to enhance your memory and mental performance.
The brain’s incredible ability to reshape itself holds true when it comes to learning and memory. You can harness the natural power of adapting your thoughts to increase your cognitive abilities, enhance your ability to learn new information, and improve your memory at any age.
Focus Your Attention
Attention is one of the memory’s main components. You need to consciously attend to this information in order to transfer data from your short-term to long-term memory.
Try to learn in a place free from distractions like television, cellphones and other diversions.
Chunk It
South Africans recall their long 10-digit cellphone numbers despite being able to carry only seven pieces of information in their mind at one time. We’re doing it because we taught ourselves to group this information. We see three pieces of information instead of 10 — a three-digit area code, a three-digit prefix, and a four-digit number. Since we have been taught to ‘chunk’ the phone number in this way, most of us have no problem recalling a phone number. This technique works for virtually any piece of information. Divide the large quantity of data into smaller pieces, then concentrate on memorising certain pieces individually.
Active Studying
You have to study with purpose in order to understand thoroughly. It will be very difficult to remember what you read or hear during a lesson if you are passive in your study habits. One way to be someone who is consciously learning is to teach peers in a study group the knowledge you are researching. You can also evaluate the content you are learning objectively by comparing it with correlating information and asking questions about what you have learned and finding ways to apply new knowledge. You can improve your ability to retain complex or complicated concepts by incorporating effective learning methods into your personal study.
With new ways of studying, you are able to retain information at your own pace. GIBS Online offers digital programmes that will not only benefit you by improving your skills, but also by keeping your mind ‘as fit as a fiddle’.
Increase Your Caffeine Intake
Yes, you read correctly! Caffeine from sources like coffee and green tea can be good for memory. Countless studies have found that consuming caffeine after a memory test boosted how well the brain of the participants stored long-term memories. People who consumed about 200 mg of caffeine scored better after 24 hours on recall tests than those who didn’t. In the short term, caffeine may also boost memory. A study in Frontiers in Psychology found an improvement in the short-term memory of young adults taking caffeine in the morning.
Learn It The Way It Works for You
People often get caught up in thinking there’s a ‘one size fits all’ learning style when it comes to memorising new material. That’s simply not the case — different people prefer different methods for taking in new information.
Use the style that works for you, even if it’s not the way most people study.
For instance, some like to write things out in full when they’re learning something new. Others may benefit more from writing down what they’re hearing in the moment, and going back to take more detailed notes later in their own time.
Learning through digital programmes provides an excellent way to choose the learning style best suited to you. Sign up for a GIBS Online Digital Programme and boost your memory!
