#35 Don't forget your Memory
Memory plays such a fundamental role in our lives so I have been thinking about how our ability to remember things affect us:
Memory is how we remember the things that allow us to function like where to find things, how to drive, how to use our household appliances
Memory helps us with our learning to develop ourselves and do our jobs
Memories of the past, good and bad can shape our present and make us who we are
Memory helps us to form relationships as we share experiences and recall how they made us feel. Think about how warm and fuzzy it makes us feel when someone remembers something that we said or did
Not being able to remember things can be very frustrating. Forgetfulness can arise from stress, depression, lack of sleep or thyroid problems. Other causes include side effects from certain medicines, a poor diet or dehydration. Taking care of these underlying causes may help resolve your memory problems.
2020 - a year to forget?
In 2020 we have all been deprived of our usual experiences so perhaps we haven’t been able to create as many happy memories as we normally would. So we rely more on the happy memories of when we were free to hug and go dancing and gallivanting and spending time with as many people as we like doing a variety of things.
Memories are very tied to the feelings that they evoke. I bet the following feelings all stir up particular memories that you associate with a time that you felt them; Excited, Loved, Proud, Sad, Happy, Angry.
It is interesting how sometimes the things we would rather forget are the ones that are the most vivid memories. Researchers have shown that bad memories really are more vivid than good ones, possibly due to the interaction between the emotions and the memories. This is particularly so when the emotions and memories are negative.
However hard we try to block them out, they are the ones that are the most persistent in coming back. They can cause phobias, inability to move on from traumatic experiences and our inability to forgive others.
There is a fascinating reason for this – in order for us to store a memory, proteins stimulate our brain cells to grow and form new connections. The more we dwell on a memory, the stronger these connections become but each time we recall it, it can change a little each time and become even more vivid. This is why often bad memories are blown out of proportion. Why do we always remember that time when we really embarrassed ourselves but can’t recall details about a time that we felt really happy?
How can we improve our memory?
So how do we keep our memory sharp? Well, we have to exercise our brains and keep them healthy. Being physically active and eating healthily can also help to keep our brains working (so many aspects of our well-being can be helped with keeping our bodies healthy!) But we also need to keep our brains active. This could be learning something new, reading, doing puzzles just as long as you are not letting your brain become a couch potato.
We all know someone who annoyingly seems to remember much more than we can. They know the year songs came out and the names of everyone in their class at school and correct you if you get a trivial fact wrong when telling a story. This may well be because they pay more attention to what is going on around them or because they have been born with a natural ability to remember. There is actually a condition called Hyperthymesia that leads people to be able to remember an abnormally large number of their life experiences in vivid detail. Quite frankly, I am personally very pleased that I can’t remember everything in my past.
The trick to remembering things is to find a way to remember that suits you such as:
Repetition - the more you repeat and rehearse facts, the more engrained they will be in your memory. For example, we probably all know the script of our favourite film that we have watched so many times word for word. So the more we revise for exams, listen to song lyrics, repeat a phone number, the more we remember.
Mnemonic - this is a system that makes it easier to remember lists such as a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations:
Richard Of York Gave Battle in Vain (colours of the rainbow) Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet
My very excited mother just served us nine pies. (Order of the planets in our solar system) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
Visual association - this is one of my favourite ways to remember as I am quite a visual person. If there are technical terms that I need to remember, I imagine them as something more mundane or that rhymes or is an amusing image. It’s funny that I can still remember the images that helped me pass exams but can’t for the life of me remember what they represented (Captain Kirk standing in a field with Two Unlimited is a particular favourite!)
Let’s not forget the importance of our memory and try not to take it for granted.
