Six Mental Exercises for Better Memory

Do you still remember the dialogues of your favorite movies you watched in your childhood and youth, but now as you get older, the dialogues heard in the movies you watched with great interest are far away, you also have trouble remembering the name of the movie. Is. And do you hold any of your medicines or food supplements and stare at them for a long time wondering if I’ve taken the tablet or have yet to take it?

Or let’s say that last night while sitting down to eat with your family, on which chapter of the book you were trying to read, you kept it locked, while you are the same as once in your childhood. After reading the lesson, the next day in the class, Farfar used to recite it orally to the teacher and received applause almost every day.

Know that you are not alone in this disease of forgetfulness, there are people around us whose memory becomes harder as the months and years go by, but the good thing is that working on improving your memory is a little more difficult. no.

George Washington University Hospital and School of Medicine and Health Professor Richard Ristic is 81 years old and his memory is enviable even at this age.

Professor Richard, author of 20 books on the mind and its workings, shares some simple ways to improve memory.

According to Professor Richard, “To improve memory we need to exercise our brains every day in the same way we exercise our bodies to stay fit. We have to do daily mental exercise to make our memory matchless so that you can remember things like me even at 81 years old. Important points have been shared.

Reading fiction and interesting novels

Non-fiction and non-fiction books are a great source of information, but when it comes to sharpening your memory, novels are much more helpful. According to Professor Richard, “Now take the example of my last book, which is full of knowledge, but if you want to work on your mental practice, then you need the contents of this book, which is full of knowledge and research. Among them is to choose and read the material of your interest so that the mind can practice absorbing it. .

Interesting novels and fiction are very useful from the point of view of memory. You will find different characters in an interesting novel than in a complex but scholarly book. You might meet a character you like in the second chapter and then not show up again until the tenth chapter. But because the story remains curious, the connections between its characters and plot details are more effective in improving memory than purely scholarly texts.”

Remember things from pictures

According to Professor Richard, this is a basic principle of remembering things in which they are remembered in the form of diagrams or pictures rather than words.

According to him, “For example, if someone’s last name is Greenstone, then we should remember the green stone ‘Emerald’ in our favorite jewelry and repeat the name so it will be easy and interesting to remember and when you Even if you try to remember this name, you will immediately remember the emerald in your necklace or ring and you will never forget it. It will help you remember any problem.

Another such technique for remembering things or places is to create a mental map of places we are familiar with, such as a place near your favorite liquor store.

According to Professor Richard, “If you ever have to remember to buy milk and bread, create a mental map with these items and in that map create dramatic images between the shop and your home that will be hard to forget.” Explaining this, he said: “I imagine the path from home to the library.

Then I see with the imaginary eye that instead of smoke from the chimney of my house, milk is flowing and spreading on the street, and I bring the image of a library to my mind and see that the shelves are filled with pieces of double bread instead of books. I am That way I remember these conceptual maps and I don’t forget to bring milk and bread.”

Be engaged in mental games

Whenever there is an event or a gathering of friends, one of the favorite leisure games is to find the answer in 20 questions. Professor Richard himself likes this game, which he calls an excellent exercise for mental exercise and memory.

According to Professor Richard, “The game consists of one player or a group having to think of a person, thing or place while the rest guess what the object is by asking 20 questions. The technique of the game is that both the questioner and the answerer must remember what is being asked so as not to get false clues. Second, the questions are not repeated and the correct answer can be reached by the end of the game.

According to him, “If you are a sports fan, try to remember all the players of your favorite team. “Once you have them in mind, repeat their names in alphabetical order and try to list the players in that order.”

Smart use of technology

There’s nothing wrong with making a list of things to buy at the supermarket, nor is it a bad idea to save a picture on your phone of something we’ve never bought. Although the use of cell phones and other similar devices impairs our memory, we can use technology to our advantage. According to Professor Richard, “When we go to the supermarket, first try to remember what we want to buy.

When shopping for items that come to mind is complete, look over the list to see if there is anything you are forgetting. When shopping for something new, try to remember what the item you’re buying was like. Once you’ve taken care of the item you want, look at the picture and be reassured that you got what you thought it was.

This practice means that you don’t change your memorization tool to avoid forgetting anything, but use your brain first and then check again later how far you were correct. In this way, gradually your mind will become sharper.

Take a short nap to relax

Some people take a nap (short nap) during work to refresh themselves. Some experts disagree on this practice, but according to Dr. Richard, short naps can help improve memory. Professor Richard is a hypnotist himself, and says that taking a nap helps to absorb information, ‘encode’ the memory it holds so that information can be accessed more easily later.

To confirm this, they selected two groups of students. One group was allowed to take a nap after some learning, while the other was given the next task. And then the results showed that the group that took a nap learned much better. According to Professor Richard, it is recommended to sleep for 20 to 40 minutes in the middle of the day. This short period of sleep can disrupt your night’s sleep, so set an alarm in the morning, or ask someone to wake you up.

Choose the best food

Our daily diet can also be responsible for maintaining or deteriorating mental and physical health. According to Professor Richard, “Ultra-processed foods (canned foods) contain extra fat, salt, but the process of preserving them reduces the nutrients in them and makes them unhealthy.

These foods are not good for memory as they gradually reduce blood circulation to the part of the brain related to memory and also cause high blood pressure and diabetes, all of which are causes of dementia. (Courtesy of BBC Urdu)