HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY

LEARN FASTER, REMEMBER MORE, GAIN FOCUS AND INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY

INTRODUCTION
TYPES OF MEMORY
SENSORY MEMORY/IMMEDIATE MEMORY
SHORT TERM MEMORY/ WORKING MEMORY
LONG TERM MEMORY
WHAT CAUSES MEMORY LOSS
AGE
STRESS
TIPS AND TRICKS TO IMPROVE MEMORY
BRAIN WORK
AVOID DISTRACTIONS
CAFFEINE
LAUGH MORE
LOOK AT THE FOODS YOU EAT
REPEAT
CHUNKING
EXERCISE
SLEEP
SOCIAL HEALTH
MEDITATION
MINDFULNESS / SELF AWARENESS
CHANGE YOUR ENVIRONMENT
MNEMONICS
CHEW GUM
TALK TO YOURSELF
LUCA METHOD
VISUALISATION
LOCI METHOD
LEARN A LANGUAGE
SQUEEZE A STRESS BALL
WRITE IT DOWN
LISTEN TO MUSIC
TEACH SOMEONE ELSE
DO CROSSWORD PUZZLES
MIND MAPS
CONCLUSION
Introduction
Have you ever noticed that some people are able to effortlessly remember even the most boring

details, and quickly understand new things, and wished that you too could be like that? Well, you can.

To unlock the full potential of your brain, you need to keep it active and acute. Besides getting out

flashcards, what can you do to help remember things better and learn new things quicker?

Memory isn't like a muscle, something specific you can exercise, it involves organising

information in your brain. To improve your memory, you need to change and re-organise the way you

think and thus helping to support how your memory works.

Before we get started, think about all the times you've been told to remember something.

Maybe it was something you needed to memorize for a test in school or maybe you had to memorize

something for a work presentation, or recalling trivia. Have you ever been taught to memorize? That's

what this ebook is all about. It's about improving your memory. We'll cover a variety of principles

and techniques that can be used to improve your memory. We'll go over how your memory works and

how you can apply specific techniques to enhance your memory in a assortment of situations.

We all remember information in different ways. Do you learn new things better by reading,

watching someone else, by trying the task yourself or by listening? Maybe a combination of them

works better for you.

It is important to understand that memory traces are not perfect little packets of information that

lie inactive in the brain, waiting to be summoned forward to give an accurate account of past

experiences. We often have errors in our memory, which would not exist if memory traces were
perfect packets of information. Consequently, it is incorrect to think that remembering involves simply

“reading out” a faithful record of past experience. When we are required to remember past events, we

reconstruct them with the aid of our memory traces—but also with our present belief of what

happened. Memory is a construction of what you actually recall and what you believe happened.

Memory refers to the capacity to store and recover information over time. For some

information our memory is very good, but our dynamic cognitive processing of information assures

that memory is never an exact reproduction of what we have experienced.

Another way of understanding memory is to think about it in terms of stages that describe the

length of time that information remains accessible to us. Information begins in sensory memory,

moves to short-term memory, and eventually moves to long-term memory. But not all information

makes it through all three stages; much of it is forgotten. Whether the information moves from short

term memory into long term memory or whether it is misplaced from memory entirely depends on

how the information is attended to and processed.

What causes some people to lose their memory while others stay sharp as a tack? Genetics

play a role, but so do choices. Proven ways to protect memory include following a healthy diet,

exercising regularly, not smoking, and keeping blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar in check.

Living a mentally active life is also important, too. Just as muscles grow stronger with use, mental

stimulation helps keep mental skills and memory in tone.

There is no such thing as a "bad memory". Everyone has the ability to improve their memory,

as long as you are not suffering from memory loss as a medical condition. If you want to improve your
memory, there are a number of things you can do.

By the time you’ve reached adulthood, your brain has developed millions of neural paths that

help you process and recall information, solve familiar problems, and perform familiar tasks with

minimal mental effort. But if you always stick to these well-worn paths, you aren’t giving your brain

the stimulation it needs to keep growing and developing.

Memory is not a finite resource, and with techniques like repetition, association, and

visualization, you can improve your memory before it starts to fade. This ebook demonstrates to

readers of all ages how to improve their ability to recall information.

In many ways, our memories form who we are. They make up our core biographies. They tell

us who we're attached to, who we've touched during our lives, and who has touched us. Our

memories are crucial to the essence of who we are as human beings. What causes some people to

lose their memory while others stay sharp as a tack?

Are certain kinds of "brain work" more effective than others? Any brain exercise is better than

doing nothing. The activities with the most success are those that require you to work beyond your

comfort zone.

And although the majority of our memories before age three or four are gone, there are plenty

of ways we can contribute to brain health moving forward.

You have most likely walked into a room and suddenly realized you can’t remember why you

needed to be there in the first place. Don’t worry, you’re not getting more forgetful—chances are it
was the act of walking through a doorway that made you go completely blank! Researchers have

found that participants in studies were far more likely to forget what object they had just placed in a

container if they were asked right after walking through a doorway than if they carried the object the

same distance in a single room. Scientists have yet to figure out why, but something about entering a

new environment causes our memory to restart.

The hippocampus — or part of the brain accountable for memory regulation — is thought to

have about seven spaces that hold an unknown amount of memories at a time. Our short-term memory

allows us roughly 30 seconds to process and use information we receive before it's replaced with

something better. If we use it in time, we can log it into our long-term memories, where it can stay

with us forever.

The brain’s inconceivable ability to reshape itself holds true when it comes to learning and

memory. You can harness the natural power of neuroplasticity to increase your cognitive abilities,

enhance your ability to learn new information, and improve your memory - at any age.

Recalling a memory is easier if it’s been strengthened over time, and each time we do so, we

run through that same arrangement of brain activity again, making it a little stronger.

If you don't challenge your brain with new, surprising information, it eventually begins to
deteriorate. What research into brain plasticity shows us is that by providing your brain with

appropriate stimulus, you can offset this degeneration.

With that, let's go ahead and get started with improving your memory.
TYPES OF MEMORY

As mentioned earlier, the determination of what information makes its way through the different

stages depends on what you pay attention to and process at the time. Information that you pay attention

to and process will move to the next stage of memory.

Studies on the sole basis of learning and memory have revealed several distinctive phases of

memory that can be distinguished by their time course.

In order for a memory to go into long term memory storage, it has to pass through three distinct

stages: Sensory/Immediate Memory, Short-Term Memory, and Long-Term Memory. These stages

were first proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin . This model of human memory, called

Atkinson-Shiffrin, is based on the assumption that we process memories in the same way that a

computer processes information.

SENSORY MEMORY/IMMEDIATE MEMORY

The first is sensory or immediate memory, which is brief, only lasting 1-2 seconds. Anything

that is not attended to is ignored. We use this to look up and dial a phone number, but once we have

completed this task we do not need to remember the number for any longer than this.

In order for anything to enter out memory, it must first be picked up by our senses (taste, touch,

sight, hearing and smell). This first stage of memory is called sensory memory. Sensory memory (the

hardest of the three types of memory to grasp) is defined as a slit second holding tank for all sensory

information. There is just a very minute amount of information picked up by our senses that we pay

attention to and goes on to the next stage of memory, being short term memory.

Researcher George Sterling established the existence of sensory memory, and that it only lasts

a split second. He flashed a grid of nine letters, three rows and three columns, to participants for 1/20

of a second. The participants in the study were asked to remember either the top, middle or bottom

row immediately after the grid was flashed. The participants could remember any of the three rows

perfectly. This experiment showed that the entire grid must be held in the sensory memory for a split

second. This type of sensory memory is called iconic memory, a split second perfect photograph of a

scene. If not asked what the letters in the grid were immediately after the flash card was shown, the

participants could not recall any of the letters.

SHORT TERM MEMORY/ WORKING MEMORY

Short term memory when we meet someone for the first time and try to remember their name

while we are talking to them, and lasts about 20 seconds. This memory is needed to be able to

perform tasks.

For most of us, remembering digits relies on short-term memory, or working memory—the

ability to hold information in our minds for a brief time and work with it. Short-term memory is a

temporary storage system that processes incoming sensory memory. Short-term memory takes

information from sensory or immediate memory and sometimes connects that memory to something

already in long-term memory if enough attention was taken in the first place.

Also known as working memory, short-term memory is all the things you are thinking of at the

current moment. Short-term memory is also temporary. If you do nothing with them, they usually fade

in 10 to 30 seconds.

Working memory, which is a little like your brain's notepad, is where new information is

temporarily held. When you learn someone's name or hear an address of a place you're going to, you

hang on to those details in working memory until you’ve completed that task. If they're no longer

useful you let go of them completely. If they are useful, you compel them to long-term memory where

they can be strengthened and recalled later.

Information here is either forgotten, or it is fixed into long-term memory through the process of

rehearsal.
LONG TERM MEMORY

If information makes it past short term-memory it may enter long-term memory. Long-term

memory is the permanent storage of information—its capacity is basically unlimited. Memory storage

that can hold information for days, months, and years. Although we may not remember at least some

information after we acquire it, other information will stay with us forever.

Long term memory is also used to recall tasks or experiences we have had before and to use

them again. In order to recognise and associate familiar things with their use and associate places and

people to events which we have experienced before. It can also be used to work out what an

appropriate response would be in a given situation such as not crossing a busy road.
WHAT CAUSES MEMORY LOSS
AGE
Your brain's hippocampus, or the memory centre, is especially able to grow new cells and it's

now known that your hippocampus regenerates throughout your lifetime -even into old age - provided

you give it the tools.

Age related memory loss can represent a loss of self. It also affects the practical side of life,

like getting around or remembering how to contact a loved one. It's not surprising, then, that concerns

about declining thinking and memory skills rank among the top fears people have as they age.

The memory issues can be particularly detrimental in older people who are depressed – and is

sometimes mistaken for dementia. The good news is that when the depression is treated, the memory

should return back to normal.

Fortunately, research is finding new ways to sharpen memory now and keep it strong as we get

older.
STRESS
Stress is one of the brain’s worst enemies. Over time, chronic stress destroys brain cells and

damages the hippocampus, the region of the brain involved in the formation of new memories and the

retrieval of old ones.

Studies have also linked stress to memory loss.

Emotional difficulties can take just as heavy of a toll on the brain as physical problems. In fact,

mental sluggishness, difficulty concentrating, and forgetfulness are common symptoms of depression.
TIPS AND TRICKS TO IMPROVE MEMORY
BRAIN WORK
These "tools" are primarily lifestyle-based, and are easy to implement. You don't need an

expensive prescription medication or any medical procedure at all to boost your memory, and your

brain.

Some “brain work” can be more effective than others, and this will depend on the individual,

but the activities with the most impact are those that require you to work beyond what is easy and

comfortable. Learning a new language, volunteering, and other activities that strain your brain are

better bets than watching endless hours of documentaries.

AVOID DISTRACTIONS
Memories are very fragile in the short-term, and distractions can make you quickly forget

something as simple as a phone number. The key to avoid losing memories before you can even form

them is to be able to focus on the thing to be remembered for a while without thinking about other

tasks, so when you’re trying to remember something, avoid distractions for a few minutes. Give

yourself time to form a memory.

Remembering unnecessary information (such as tasks you need to do, or things you need to buy)

is hard work. What's more, because these consume short-term memory, they can diminish your ability

to concentrate on other information. They can also leave you stressed, as you struggle to remember all

of the things you have to do.

Multitasking may seem like it allows you to get things done faster, but research shows that it

actually causes the brain to slow down. You need about eight seconds of focus to commit something

to memory. When you multitask, you tend to push information aside faster than eight seconds, so

you're more likely to not remember it. When you really want to remember a specific information,

spend at least eight seconds focusing on that information alone.

CAFFEINE
One recent study, found that taking a caffeine pill after a learning task improved memory recall

up to 24 hours later. Participants memorized a set of images and were later tested by viewing the

same images, similar images, and completely different images. There is no proof though that is

effective after the 24 hour period.

LAUGH MORE
You’ve heard that laughter is the best medicine, and that holds true for the brain and the

memory, as well as the body. Unlike emotional responses, which are limited to specific areas of the

brain, laughter engages multiple regions across the whole brain.

LOOK AT THE FOODS YOU EAT
50 to 60 percent of the brain’s overall weight is fat, which is used to protect its billions of

nerve cells. The better protected a cell is, the faster it can send messages and the quicker you will be

thinking. Skimping on fats can be devastating to the adult brain. Eating foods that contain a healthy

mix of fats is integral for long-term memory. Some excellent food choices include fish and dark leafy

green vegetables. Think about healthy foods and fats, deep-fried foods obviously contain fat, but their

lack of nutritional value is not going to help your brain or your body. Increasing your animal-based

omega-3 fat intake and reducing consumption of damaged omega-6 fats (think processed vegetable

oils) in order to balance your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, is also important.

Scientific research is getting closer to understanding how berries might affect our brains. In

particular, blueberries are known for being high in flavanoids, which appear to strengthen existing

connections in the brain. That could explain why they’re beneficial for long-term memory.

Increase your vitamin D intake. Studies suggest that low vitamin D may be associated with

decreased cognitive performance and depression. The nerve growth in your brain increases when

vitamin D receptors in your brain are activated. Some of the metabolic pathways for vitamin D are

located in areas of the brain responsible for forming new memories. While too much sunlight can

cause skin damage, a moderate amount can provide all the vitamin D needed by the average adult.

Vitamin D3 supplements are other alternative methods of getting enough vitamin D.

Eat breakfast and make sure it includes an egg. According to Larry McCleary, M.D., author of

The Brain Trust Program, an egg is the ideal breakfast. Eggs contain B vitamins, which help nerve

cells to burn glucose, antioxidants that protect neurons against damage, and omega-3 fatty acids that
keep nerve cells firing at optimal speed. Other foods to add to your breakfast include fruits, veggies

and lean proteins. Having a healthy breakfast in the morning has been shown to improve performance

throughout the day.

There are a lot of herbal supplements on the market that claim to improve memory, but none

have yet been shown to be effective in clinical tests. A healthy diet, however, contributes to a healthy

brain, and foods containing antioxidants -- broccoli, blueberries, spinach, and berries, for example --

and Omega-3 fatty acids appear to promote healthy brain function. Each of these foods contains

antioxidants that may protect your brain and encourage the production of new brain cells.

Grazing, or eating 5 or 6 small meals throughout the day instead of 3 large meals, also seems to

improve mental functioning by limiting dips in blood sugar.

Put simply, your stomach health can impact your brain function, psyche, and behavior, as they

are interconnected and interdependent in a number of different ways. In addition to avoiding sugar,

one of the best ways to support gut health is to consume beneficial bacteria. You can use a probiotic

supplement for this.

REPEAT
One of the tried and tested rules of learning and memory is repeat, repeat, repeat. The brain

also responds to novelty, so repeating something in a different way or at a different time will make

the most of the novelty effect and allow you to build stronger memories.
CHUNKING
Chunking is a way of grouping things together to help you memorize them. Random lists of

things (for example, your grocery list) can be especially difficult to remember. To make it easier, try

classifying the individual things from the list. For example, list all of the fruits together, the dairy

products together, and the bread products together. Otherwise, you can chunk your list by the starting

letter of each item; you need to pick up eggs, bread, bacon, coffee, and cheese from the grocery store,

remember one E, two B's, and two C's. As long as you remember the correct numbers, you should be

able to remember the items in each letter group.

Chunking is what we do when we list a phone number with dashes. Which looks easier to

memorize, 9729734620, or 972-973-4620? You probably won't remember 67351812191818671864,

but try putting a space after every third or fourth numeral.

EXERCISE
Exercising doesn’t just exercise the body, it also helps to exercise your brain. Furthermore,

without regular exercise plaque starts to build up in your arteries and your blood vessels begin to

lose the ability to effectively pump blood. Plaque build-up reduces the amount of oxygen and nutrients

that your blood carries to your brain. When the nutrients don’t make it there, the brain’s ability to

function is compromised. Brisk walking , swimming and dancing are all excellent activities.

Studies in both rat and human brains have shown that regular exercise can improve memory

recall. Fitness in older adults has even been proven to slow the decline of memory without the aid of

continued regular exercise. Studies have also shown that regular exercise can improve spatial

memory.
SLEEP
Get a good night’s sleep and take naps. Getting a consistent 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night

will increase your memory. During sleep, the brain firms up memories of recently acquired

information and getting enough sleep will help you get through the full spectrum of nocturnal cycles

that are essential to optimal brain and body functioning during the waking hours.

In adults, a mid-day nap was found to dramatically boost and restore brainpower. Napping, it

seems, pushes memories to the neocortex, the brain’s more permanent storage, preventing them from

being overwritten. Taking a nap during the day, particularly after learning something new, can also

help you to preserve those memories as well as recharge your brain and keep it sharper longer.

Research from Harvard indicates that people are 33 percent more likely to conclude

connections among distantly related ideas after sleeping, but not many actually realized that their

performance had improved. Sleep is also known to enhance your memories and help you "practice"

and improve your performance of challenging skills.

Sleeping improves your neuroplasticity - your brain's ability to grow - which enhances the

brain's ability to control behaviour and memory. The amount of sleep we get affects the brain's ability

to recall recently learned information.

Sleep can also prevent that ‘brain fog’ that many of us experience, and leads to a lack of

motivation.

Set a bed time each day, and try not to stimulate yourself too much the hour beforehand. This

can perhaps be your time to catch up on your favourite TV show, social media, or that book that has
been sitting on your bedside table for three months.
SOCIAL HEALTH
Research shows that having meaningful friendships and a strong support system are vital not

only to emotional health, but also to brain health. In one recent study from the Harvard School of

Public Health, researchers found that people with the most active social lives had the slowest rate of

memory decline.

There are many ways to start taking advantage of the brain and memory-boosting benefits of

socializing. Volunteer, join a club, make it a point to see friends more often, or reach out over the

phone. And if a human isn’t handy, don’t overlook the value of a pet—especially the highly-social

dog.
MEDITATION
Meditation relieves anxiety, pain, and depression by reducing the amount of the stress hormone

cortisol in your bloodstream.

De-stress yourself by taking up yoga, meditation, or deep breathing. When you’re stressed, the

brain activates an enzyme that impairs short-term memory.

Meditating a few minutes a day for a week or two can improve mood and stress levels.

The scientific evidence for the mental health benefits of meditation continues to pile up.

Studies show that meditation helps improve many different types of conditions, including depression,

anxiety, chronic pain, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Meditation also can improve focus,

concentration, creativity, memory, and learning and reasoning skills.

MINDFULNESS / SELF AWARENESS
So if you have a big meeting coming up where forgetting a new client’s name could potentially

cost you the deal, Dr. Small suggests shortly beforehand you sit quietly in a chair and close your eyes.

Take a deep breath, let it out, and continue to breathe deeply and slowly. While doing this, focus your

attention on nothing but groups of your muscles. Start with your forehead and then relax those

muscles. Go on to your shoulder muscles, then your stomach, legs, feet, toes. This progressive

relaxation will bring on a relaxed meditative state within minutes.

Students who took a mindfulness class improved reading comprehension test scores and

working memory capacity, as well as experienced fewer distracting thoughts.

CHANGE YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Use your environment. Change the normal location of things to remember to do something. If

you need to remember to take your multivitamins every morning, then put the kettle in the cupboard,

and only put it back in its normal place after you've taken your vitamins. Seeing the kettle out of place

will remind you that something is off and that there's something you need to remember. This is similar

to the old practise of tying a ribbon around your finger. The trick is to focus on what you want to

remember as you alter the object being used. If you are not focused on the piece of information, you

may not be able to associate it with the change later on.

MNEMONICS

Mnemonics are simple memory-improving tools that help you connect everyday, easy-to-

remember items and ideas to information you want to remember. Later, by recalling these everyday

items, you can also recall what you wanted to remember.

If your ability to remember something and create something both rely on your ability to

associate information with meaning, then the two use the same part of your brain. What is the best

way to remember someone’s name? We are often told to use mnemonics to memorize larger pieces of

information, such as a verse, a formula, a list, or a name.

CHEW GUM

One reason that chewing gum might affect our memory recall is that it increases activity in the

hippocampus, an important area of the brain for memory. Another theory focuses on the increase of

oxygen from chewing gum, which can help with focus and attention. This could mean we’re creating

sturdier connections in the brain as we learn new things while chewing gum. One study found that

participants who chewed gum during learning and memory tests had higher heart rate levels than

control groups, which can also lead to more oxygen flowing to the brain. It’s still unclear why this

happens, though.
TALK TO YOURSELF
Describing an event to yourself massively improves your chances of accurately remembering it

a week or so later, on average, you will be able to remember twice as many details.
LUCA METHOD
According to Luca Lampariello who speaks over 10 languages, context is king when it comes

to building memory. Our brains don’t remember isolated facts, instead we remember the stories – or

the context - behind the facts. When you look at random pieces of information, it makes no sense in

your brain, but when you assign a story to it, your brain is more likely to remember that information.
VISUALISATION
One of the most effective ways to remember information is to associate it with a visual image.

This can be taken to a high level, where you can recount a huge number of pieces of information just

by building up a comprehensive visual image in your brain.

Studies say humans remember pictures and images more than they do text. Creativity is all

about coming up with these visualization techniques to be the foundation of your memory mnemonics.

When you’re learning a new language, try to come up with visualizations for the new foreign word

you’re learning.

In order to remember things, many people need to visualize the information they are studying.

Pay attention to photographs, charts and other graphics that might appear in your studies, or if you’re

not studying a book, try to pull up a mental image of what it is you are trying to remember. Draw your

own charts or figures, or utilize colours and highlighters to group related thoughts.
LOCI METHOD
This method has been used since Ancient Greek times. This technique requires you to associate

things in terms of place or location to help you remember the full set of information. To use this

method, simply imagine placing the items you want to remember along a course you're very familiar

with, or in specific locations in a familiar room or building. If you needed to memorize the acronyms

HOMES, FANBOYS, and FOIL, you can picture a miniature home, on your front porch, a loud group

of fan boys cheering on your stairs, and some foil wrapped around your bed. When you organize a list

of information by saying, "in the first place," "in the second place," and so on, you are using a basic

version of the method of loci.

LEARN A LANGUAGE

A recent Swedish study found that adults who learned a new language showed improved

memory for people’s names, among other things. Any activity that is practiced diligently, such as

knitting or playing the piano, will likely have the same effect.
SQUEEZE A STRESS BALL
Some studies suggest that squeezing a stress ball or making a fist with your hand can help you

remember a piece of information later. Before memorizing the information, squeeze the stress ball in

your dominant hand. For a right-handed person, this would be your right hand. When you need to

remember the information, squeeze the stress ball in your opposite hand for at least 45 seconds. This

simple action might be enough to help you remember!

WRITE IT DOWN

It doesn’t matter if you never actually read back what you wrote: Studies have shown that just

the act of writing something out allows you to recall it in a way that touching a keyboard does not.
LISTEN TO MUSIC

Research shows that certain types of music are very helpful in recalling memories. Information

that is learned while listening to a particular song or collection can often be recalled by thinking of

the song or “playing” it mentally. Songs and music can serve as cues for pulling up particular

memories.
TEACH SOMEONE ELSE
Reading material out loud has been shown to significantly improve memory of the material.

Expanding further upon this idea is the fact that psychologists and educators have found that by having

students teach new concepts to others, it helps to enhance understanding and recall. Teach new

concepts and information to a friend or study partner, and you’ll find you remember the information a

lot better.
DO CROSSWORD PUZZLES
Studies have shown that doing either of these activities on a daily basis not only keep your

brain active, but also help to delay memory loss, especially in those who develop dementia. So pick

up the daily newspaper and work on that crossword puzzle, read a book, or enjoy a game of solitaire.
MIND MAPS
Mind maps are an effective way to link ideas and concepts in your brain, and then "see" the

connections. Mind mapping is a note-taking technique that records information in a way that shows

you how various pieces of information fit together. There's a lot of truth in the saying "A picture

speaks a thousand words", and mind maps create an easily-remembered "picture" of the information

you're trying to remember.

The mind map itself is a useful end product. However, the process of creating the map is just

as helpful for your memory. Fitting all the pieces together, and looking for the connections, forces you

to really understand what you're studying – and it keeps you from trying to simply memorize.
CONCLUSION
Whether it's remembering the name of someone you met last month, or recalling the sales figure

from last quarter, you must rely on your memory. Learn and practice the above techniques to keep

your mind healthy.

Convince yourself that you do have a good memory and that it will improve. Celebrate even

little achievements to keep yourself motivated.