Imagine you are with a group of people. People who you’ve known for a long time. People with whom you’ve shared a part of your life with. They could be your former schoolmates or even your siblings. Then they start reminiscing about days gone by.
They go down memory lane but you soon realize that you are the only one who has no idea what they are talking about. As much as they keep trying to fill you in on the details, you cannot for the life of you, recall what they are going on about. So you ask for clarification. Then they look at you funny. “Kwani you don’t remember?” they all ask you.
I am that person, I just realized, who is always asked “Kwani you don’t remember?”. My memory fails me most times, it gets embarrassing sometimes. It’s not enough that I don’t recall things that happened over 10 years ago, I also have a big problem remembering faces. And names. Let’s just say I am hopeless.
But there is hope for me. And for people with bad memories like mine. I was recently offered tips on how to improve my memory. Allow me to share them with you:
Get enough sleep:
The ideal hours of sleep for an adult is 7 to 9 hours. Do not just catch sleep to get by, get enough rest so that you are able to function at your best. It is said that important memory- enhancing activity happens during the deepest stages of sleep. So the more sleep one gets, the better their brain and memory functionality.
Eat right:
Foods rich in animal-based omega-3 fat are perfect for the brain. You want to add foods like fish to your diet. Do not forget the vegetables…never forget the vegetables.
Play brain games:
To keep your brain active, you need to feed it new surprising information that will challenge it enough to stimulate it. It is advised that you spend at least 20minutes a day to playing brain games and in those 20 minutes, try not to play the same game for more than 7 minutes. You should now start searching for brain games to play online to help enhance your memory.
Other activities that will help enhance your memory are:
•Filling out crosswords
•Reading a list of words and trying to memorize them backwards.
•Greeting people by their names.
Stop multitasking:
I should have known about this seeing as I have become the queen of multitasking. Hopefully, I can train myself to henceforth do one task at a time. Multitasking does not just make you slow and error-prone. It also makes you forgetful!
Exercise:
Physical exercise stimulates the multiplication of brain nerve cells. It has been proven that people who exercise are able to expand the memory center of their brains. Do you want to enhance your memory? Join me at the treadmill.
I have started putting these tips into practice with the hope that it will help to improve my otherwise poor memory.
If you have the same problem, join me and let us see if our memories are retrievable.