Our memory, like a living being, has its own character. When you need to remember something important, she is harmful, refuses. When you need to throw some nonsense out of your head, on the contrary - it keeps it, like some kind of treasure …
SHE IS SO DIFFERENT …
What types of memory do not exist: visual, auditory, emotional, motor. And this is not a complete list. Thanks to the latter, we, even after thirty years, will remember how to ride a bicycle or ice skate. But I would like to say special thanks to the Creator for the olfactory and gustatory memory. Smell the smell of a fried cutlet - and now the saliva is running, and its taste on the tongue is almost palpable.
Our brain stores the information received from several seconds to several years. Four more types of memory are responsible for this.
Instant lasts, as the name suggests, 0.1-0.5 seconds. It allows us to retain an accurate image of the information just received (raw, unprocessed). For example, a bus that appeared on the horizon or a bird flying by.
Short-term memory lasts about 20 seconds. Operational - from a few seconds to several days. Long-term - from several minutes to ten years.
Depending on whether the memorization process occurs consciously, memory can be involuntary - when you do not have a goal to remember something and arbitrary - when you have such a goal, for example, you urgently need to learn several tickets for an exam.
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It’s a paradox, but if we get acquainted with some material with sincere interest, not trying to remember it, but simply trying to understand and comprehend it, then we will remember it much better than if we set ourselves the goal of learning it by heart.
Psychologists advise parents of preschool and primary school children to adopt this lovely feature of our memory. Don't force children to memorize letters and numbers. Make the kids interesting, turn the lesson into a game, and they will remember everything themselves.
But do not forget that memory, like people, has bursts of activity. The first, morning, falls on the interval between 8 and 12 hours, then it begins to gradually decrease. After 17 hours, memorization improves again and, if you are not very tired, then by 19 hours it reaches the second, evening peak.
And one more important point. All people, according to how they remember information, are divided into visuals, audials and kinesthetics.
First, in order to remember information, you need to read it. It will be text, a diagram, table, picture or graph - it doesn't matter. But for most visuals, the latter is still preferable. After all, they are easier to grasp with a glance, which means they are easier to remember.
It is enough for audialists to listen to the information as it will be remembered by itself. They can study textbooks all night long without memorizing anything, and then listen to one single lecture and memorize everything without writing down a single line.
For kinesthetics, in order for at least something to remain in the head, information needs to be written down and felt.
Dandelion and chamomile
To improve memory, doctors advise taking nootropic drugs (nootropil, fezam, phenotropil) and adaptogens (extracts of ginseng, Chinese magnolia vine, eleutherococcus). The action of the funds from the first group is aimed at activating metabolic processes in the brain. Adaptogens, on the other hand, help to cope with physical and mental overload, to maintain internal balance in the body, which is important for the brain. Also, adaptogens allow you to economically use energy obtained from food, and affect some biochemical processes related to memory mechanisms.
Herbs also help to improve memory, both directly and indirectly: activating blood circulation in the brain, preventing the development of atherosclerosis.
FOOD FOR MEMORY
For the normal functioning of the brain, first of all, we need vitamins of group B. What is it? B1 is wholemeal bread, buckwheat, peas, yeast. B6 is grain products, legumes, liver, kidneys. B9 - liver, green vegetables, legumes, beets, eggs, cheese, nuts, cereals. B12 - liver, kidneys, meat, fish, milk, cottage cheese, cheese, eggs.
So that your memory does not let you down, be sure to feed it with glucose. And remember, no matter how many sweets the body receives, the brain will always take for itself at least half. That is why students constantly crave sweets during the session.
Your memory will thank you for the proteins. Therefore, dairy products, meat, fish, poultry and eggs should regularly appear on your table. These products are the source of a complete set of amino acids needed by nerve cells.
Add to this the polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fish oils, nuts, oil and sunflower seeds in olive oil.
Lean on fresh vegetables and fruits that provide the brain with essential micronutrients and vitamins, and you will forget about memory blackouts.
TRAINING, AGAIN TRAINING …
Now let's talk about how you can improve your memory. The easiest way you've known since childhood: memorizing poetry. By the way, have you ever wondered why rhymed lines settle so easily in our gray cells? Oddly enough, it is not only (and not so much) in rhyme as in rhythm. If the information does not come in a continuous stream, but in separate portions, similar in size and structure, then the brain is, as it were, tuned in to a certain wave, and it is easier for it to record the received data.
Another great way to train your memory is by making a shopping list. The trick is that you don't need to take it with you: make a list, read it carefully and forget it at home … Of course, at first you will have a hard time, but after a couple of weeks you will be able to easily memorize a list of three dozen items.
HEALING BREW
If you begin to memorize the necessary information worse, use any of the recipes listed below, but remember that the course should last at least two months.
Mix two tablespoons of thyme herb and rose hips, two tablespoons of dandelion roots and chamomile flowers, one tablespoon of meadowsweet herb, sweet clover, mint and coltsfoot, clover flowers, raspberry leaves and plantain. Pour boiling water over with two glasses, leave for two hours, then strain. Take 1/4 cup infusion four times a day with or without food.
Using the same scheme, you can prepare a decoction from one tablespoon of burdock and calamus roots, nettle leaves, lemon balm and sage, blueberries, hawthorn, juniper and rose hips, knotweed and burdock herb, chamomile and calendula flowers. Rub rosemary essential oil into your whiskey at night, and mustard oil into the back of your head.
TEST
What memory do you have?
The test consists of three stages, for the first two you need an assistant, otherwise the results cannot be considered reliable. You can carry out the third stage yourself, just try to be impartial and objective towards yourself.
1. Ask your assistant to read 20 unrelated words to you twice. After a minute, write down those that you could remember.
2. Reproduce the sequence of 20 characters (letters, numbers or geometric shapes) depicted on a sheet of paper, looking at them for no more than 30 seconds. You can complicate the task a little by using several categories of symbols at once and depicting them in different colors.
3. Try to remember 20 events (facts) from childhood to the present day. It could be the first day of school, an independent vacation without parents, the names of your classmates, fellow students, phone numbers, a coming-of-age celebration.
Evaluate each of the three parts of the test separately.
If you managed to reproduce correctly:
- 17 or more words (symbols, facts, or events) - great results. You have an amazing memory.
- 14-16 - you have an excellent memory;
- 11-13 - good result;
- 8-10 - you have a normal memory, but it makes sense to develop and improve it;
- 7 or less - you have, as they say, a leaky memory. It would not hurt to train her.
If you scored the lowest scores in all three parts of the test, you should seriously think about the state of your memory and consult a doctor.
Yulia AGAFONOVA