Improve your memory!
Are you having trouble recalling recent/distant events or simply want to bring your recall skills to their genetic limits? Then this concise guide will help you reach that goal. What practices and techniques are useful in improving memory and which, on the other hand, are detrimental and rather amnesia-inducing are all topics of discussion.
What stores and drives memories
It would be difficult to interweave and extrapolate on all the aspects responsible for our memory, but to give you a general picture the following concepts are of significant importance when trying to understand the sources and mechanisms behind memory formation and retention:
1. Hippocampus - a brain region responsible for cognition and the integration of newly acquired information into long term memory. The malfunction/inhibition of this brain region is often the culprit in the cannabis induced forgetfulness, cognitive dysfunction, in depression, and the neuro-degenerative plague known as Alzheimer's disease.
2. Synaptic plasticity - Reinforcement of neural connections and their pruning is involved in memory/skill formation and inhibition, respectively. Doing something habitually will strengthen certain neural connections and will allow for pruning of less necessary ones, in other words practicing some skill and/or developing cognitive skills will have an impact on your actual neurology!
3. Receptor density - upregulation (increase in receptor density) and downregulation (decrease in receptor density) of various receptors are implicated in affecting not only cognitive functions. The NMDA receptor, for instance, is involved in learning, memory, and acuteness of perception thus increasing density of such would generally lead to positive consequences in your memory department.
Now that we have reviewed the basics essential to cognition and memory retention let us see what we can do to alter them in our favor!
1. Hippocampus - a brain region responsible for cognition and the integration of newly acquired information into long term memory. The malfunction/inhibition of this brain region is often the culprit in the cannabis induced forgetfulness, cognitive dysfunction, in depression, and the neuro-degenerative plague known as Alzheimer's disease.
2. Synaptic plasticity - Reinforcement of neural connections and their pruning is involved in memory/skill formation and inhibition, respectively. Doing something habitually will strengthen certain neural connections and will allow for pruning of less necessary ones, in other words practicing some skill and/or developing cognitive skills will have an impact on your actual neurology!
3. Receptor density - upregulation (increase in receptor density) and downregulation (decrease in receptor density) of various receptors are implicated in affecting not only cognitive functions. The NMDA receptor, for instance, is involved in learning, memory, and acuteness of perception thus increasing density of such would generally lead to positive consequences in your memory department.
Now that we have reviewed the basics essential to cognition and memory retention let us see what we can do to alter them in our favor!
What YOU can do to improve your memory
I have always had problems recalling certain distant events and my short term memory fell short too due to persistent brain fog caused by depression. In order to rid myself of such an impractical drawback, and so be able to thrive in medical school, I decided to start researching and experimenting with a diversity of approaches and after long hours of spending time in this manner I was able to thin out the least effective methods and focus on the most yielding techniques which, when practiced regularly and followed correctly, enabled me to even surpass the original goal I had in mind. The following are definitely worth the time and effort if you are trying to lessen troubling cognitive impairments or just plainly want to improve your memory be it for studying purposes or improving your quality of life:
1.Nootropics
Nootropics are medication that facilitate enhancements in cognition, memory and learning. You will find prescription medication, supplements, herbal material such as teas and others in this group. It is not uncommon for nootropics to support neural growth (neurogenesis) and protect existing neurones (neuroprotection) by varying mechanisms. They are generally well tolerated posing no toxicity nor giving rise to side effect, apart from the positive effects, so you don't need to be apprehensive about their use. The most common and popular representative of this family is a supplement called Piracetam, which increases the density of NMDA receptors (see above) and "sensitizes" AMPA receptors (close relatives to NMDA) bringing memory and cognitive benefits not only to Alzheimer's and similarly cognitively impaired patients, but to healthy individuals as well. Opposite mechanism to Piracetam practices alcohol which "desensitizes" these NMDA receptors. This is the main reason behind alcohol-induced memory impairment and neurotoxicity. I have had good results with this supplement in improving focus and making memory retention an easier task without having to worry about any surprising side effects as this substance has been around for decades and thus has been subject to a legion of studies. Nevertheless, you can not solely rely on a pill to make your memory grandiose, because that is not going to happen, contribution from your side is required. Consider this approach as a catalyst to achieving your goal, a solid memory, and combine it with techniques discussed next for best outcomes.
2.Meditate
Practicing meditation and mindfulness can truly benefit your focus and harmonize cognitive elements making them more efficient and easier to maintain. This increase in order will make storing memories and lucidly navigating within those memories possible. Not only does meditation bring psychological benefits, or virtual if you like, but even causes morphological (physical) changes within your brain as this statement from a study supports: "Using magnetic resonance imaging, we observed higher gray matter density in lower brain stem regions of experienced meditators compared with age-matched nonmeditators." I try to practice meditation daily for at least 10-20 minutes, which might not seem a lot, but is sufficient enough because persistence is more important than intense, short-lived output (remember how habits lead to changes in neurology?). If you feel like spending more time meditating than that then certainly go ahead and utilize the extra benefits. Meditation mostly enables me to process, understand and consolidate the techniques and exercises dedicated to improving memory, which are of primary concern and will be discussed next, rather than drastically improve memory on its own.
3.Memory Improvement Techniques
What I have learned on my journey towards an astonishing memory is that the primary path to attaining a proficient recall ability is comprised of frequently practicing exercises which have been developed specifically for boosting memory. As I have already discussed above, practice brings about strengthening of applied neural connections and hence is so important to master anything conceivable. The memory-enhancing techniques include learning to engage and connect various senses to events desired to be remembered, creating mental palaces (a.k.a method of loci), making connections among unrelated objects, modifying sub-modalities (mental images), and many other similar practices, which often borrow from psychology. This might sound like a lot of work and unknown terms, but if one has a proper guide and 5-15 minutes a day then with a tiny speck of effort even the greatest layman will quickly start impressing himself and others with his extraordinary cognitive integrity and memory. Before I started practicing any of such techniques I was solely relying on meditation and supplements, which gave me some results but nothing overwhelming. Therefore I did what I always do when I want to take it to a whole new level - turn to literature and research thoroughly. I acquired a handful of books on memory improvement, among the worthy ones was this guide, and only then I began noticing real changes, bringing me out of my brain fog into a state flooded with lucidity. From then on memorizing became gradually easier, which could have been observed in my grades - I went from an average of 75% to 90% within a time of 5 weeks. Therefore I encourage you to really look into the various memory improvement techniques and start practicing those that seem appealing to you.
Another worthy piece of literature you might want to consider is Rhetorica ad Herennium, which is an archaic, yet fully relevant and applicable, book filled with tips on utilizing memory. The necessity of remembering perfectly was even more demanded in the times before Gutenberg era, before print was invented. Because books and information were scarce back then you had to get the most out of a single or few readings. It was originally written in Latin, but there are many translations, one of which I included in a link further below.
Another worthy piece of literature you might want to consider is Rhetorica ad Herennium, which is an archaic, yet fully relevant and applicable, book filled with tips on utilizing memory. The necessity of remembering perfectly was even more demanded in the times before Gutenberg era, before print was invented. Because books and information were scarce back then you had to get the most out of a single or few readings. It was originally written in Latin, but there are many translations, one of which I included in a link further below.
Remember that persistence comes first, not intensity. Start small, gradually integrating more and more techniques, until you feel what is sufficient, and then maintain it: 5-15 minutes a day is more than plenty enough provided that you are practicing the proper techniques correctly. If you practice frequently then generally in a matter of few weeks (3-4 in my case) you will feel radical improvements. After I have integrated the herein mentioned tips into my daily schedule, I was able to comprehend and retain the extracted information from 50 pages, approximately 1 chapter, in my medical books into my memory in a matter of one read-through compared to my usual several times of re-reading. In other words I saved myself a lot of time, which is not what many med students can say.