TIPS FOR A BETTER MEMORY

You know sometimes, I hold conversations with people and they say they have a bad memory. So, before I go further, I first of all want anyone here to discard the notion that they have a poor or bad memory. There is no such thing as a "bad memory", and everyone can improve their memory. As long as you are not suffering from memory loss as a medical condition, there’s no reason why you can’t boost up your memory.

With that out of the way, if you want to improve your memory, there are a number of things you can do, from using a variety of mnemonic devices (memory technique to help your brain better encode and recall important information) to eating fruits that help boost one’s memory. If you're optimistic and dedicated, you'll be able to improve your memory, whether you want to win the World Memory Championships (Lol!), ace your history test, or simply remember where you put your keys.

Below are some very helpful tips on boosting our memory:

1. Use association to remember facts

To use association effectively, you can create an image in your mind to help you remember something. As a matter of fact, the mind loves to go pictorial and it also makes recall easier for the brain.

For example, if you have a hard time remembering that OBJ was the president when GSM was introduced into the country, then you can create a picture of the man, making several ‘happy’ calls with different phones, dropping and folding his ‘agbada’ (his typical dress code. Lol!). Trust me, if you need to remember this fact later on, you would.

2. Use association to remember numbers (time)

Let's say you keep forgetting the time for your several appointments, you could associate the time with something similar and see that you’ll remember. For instance, if you have a flight to catch by 2pm, try imagining that the plane has two wings just because that is the time of your flight. You can hardly forget.

3. Use chunking

Chunking is a way of grouping things together to help you memorize them. Random lists of things (a shopping list, for example) can be especially difficult to remember. To make it easier, try categorizing the individual things from the list. For example, list all of the fruits together, the dairy products together, and the bread products together. This will not only help you memorize the list, but it'll make your shopping experience much faster.

Chunking is what we do when we list a phone number with dashes. You want to try? Ok, which looks easier to memorize, 8564359820, or 856-435-9820?

You probably won't remember 17761812184818651898, but try putting a space after every fourth number. Now you can see that those numbers are years, and you can pick key events from each year to help you remember the string of numbers such as The Civil war in 1776, The Revolutionary War of 1812, One big invention in 1848, and so. (I made those instances up (Lol!).

4. Say things you want to remember aloud

If you have trouble remembering whether you took your medication every morning, just say, "I just took my medication at (look at the time and say it)!" right after you took it, to reinforce this idea in your mind. Saying this aloud will help you remember that you did indeed take your medication and the next day around that time, you would know there’s something you need to do.

5. Use rhymes 

This might look childish but hey it works, so what? As old as we are, we still chorus some songs to lay hands on some pretty basic information. Using a variety of common and silly rhymes can help you recall information. For example, if you're trying to figure out if April has 30 or 31 days, just say the old rhyme aloud: "Thirty days has September, April, June, and November." Then you'll remember that April does indeed have 30 days. You can compose your own rhymes for personal details.

Ever wondered why the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," and “A,B,C,D,E,F,G…” sound the same? It’s because (research grounded) children remembered the Alphabets better when they sang it than when they recited it.

Let’s stop with these tips for today… but not to worry, we’ll revisit this topic soon and by then, we’ll be discussing more points. Let’s try out some of those ones and see which one works best for us. They are research based tips and you would agree with me that those points are valid ones.

Have a nice week ahead and cheers to a better memory!