How to improve my memory or total recall?

Question

I was curious if anyone knows a way to help improve my memory? I am no longer in school and I just want to be able to remember things more effectively. When I was in school I was in the learning disability classes and I think it hurt my memory more then anything. I always felt I had more intelligence then most kids in the class it’s just that my memory recall was not there. I understood all the material but when it came time for the test I could not recall what I had learned.

Answer 1

If you want to improve your ability to memorize, then learn the memory systems. These include the peg, link, loci, and other methods. A easy-to-read book that explains these and gives lots of examples is "The Memory Book" by Harry Lorayne. If you are a student, his other book, "Super Memory, Super Student" is even better, since it explains how the memory systems can be used to memorize course work like chemistry, math, and so on.

To improve your memory generally, you will probably need to make some lifestyle changes. There has been a lot of research lately about memory. This research shows that exercising daily, improving your sleep, eating brain foods and taking brain vitamins, and meditating can all improve memory. You can also play brain games like sudoku, crossword puzzles, and chess to help keep your mind sharp.

If you have trouble concentrating, start taking fish oil vitamins. A lot of people are deficient in the Omega-3 nutrients found in fish oil. These nutrients are required for brain health but are often missing from today's diets. I take 1 to 2 tablespoons a day of the liquid fish oil (Carlson's brand).

You can do all this for almost no money. The two books I mentioned are only about $10 each. Vitamins and brain foods are cheap, and the other lifestyle changes are free. And you can easily find free brain games on the Internet.

For more information, you might want to check out this website:

Answer 2

You should experiment with a few different methods, as the best ones will depend on how YOUR brain works.

For example, you may be text-oriented, in which case you might make a list of the things you want to remember, and create a sentence out of words starting with the same first letters. For example, if you want to remember the names of the planets (I don't), you could take the first letters of their names, in order of distance from the sun, and construct a sentence where the words start with those same letters. A sentence is easier to remember than a list of names.

You might be visually oriented. In that case, you need to come up with an image for each of the items on the list, and put them together in a single picture. It doesn't matter what image you use, as long as it works for you. To go back to the planets, the only two I remember offhand are Mars and Venus. So if I wanted to learn them all, I'd start with a picture of Venus de Milo (the one with no arms) and a candybar, and add other elements for the rest.

There are some other methods, you have to find what works for you.

Knowing the difference between short and long term memory is important. It is why it is easier to recall the phone number of the house you grew up in than to remember what you had for dinner last Thursday. If you want to move something to long term memory, you have to reinforce the information with such frequency and methods as will do so for you, and people vary on what this requires.

Answer 3

Try a memory technique.

My normal, everyday memory is appalling, but it's passable with a few techniques.

I use the major system now (I used to use the shape and rhyme systems, but that limited me to 20 items), and have used the loci system for odds and ends in the past.

All of these are based around creating more than one neural path to the same piece of information by associating it with sounds, smells, surreal imagery, etc.

Give it a go, it works.

Answer 4

honestly i have the same probelm.

the question is like saying.. how do i get my arm stronger....
the answer would be... work out your arm muscle?

haha if your brain needs to get stronger you need to work it out. if you need help in the memory department why not try playing some games. simple games like memory haha and things like that where you have to remember things durring the game you play. that way it makes it fun to exsersise. also quiz yourself. thats another test of your memory. you know those stupid myspace quizes everyone does? it askes you a million questions about yourself.. i think that actually hleps me alot... it'll say.. what did you do this weekend? and instead of answering the question.. I DONT KNOW.. i think really hard untill i remmeber. maybe you could try doing that?

Answer 5

Learning games like chess,doing crossword puzzles or word searches, and reading things that interest you! It is a fact that people who do not use their memory and keep their skills sharp can develop Alzheimer's disease. Think of your brain as a muscle it's not but it needs a workout!

Answer 6

Ginkgo Biloba

Answer 7

at the time you are on bed for sound sleep just reversely you memories all the activities you passed in the day, passed week and so on .this practice definitely improve your memory to large extent as well as you will feel good.

Answer 8

Key Points: * - Attention is among the most important components of our mental life, cognitive performance and quality of life. * - Reduce your stress to improve concentration and reduce distractions. * - Focus, take breaks, and elaborate in order to remember. Answer: Attention is among the most important components of your mental life. By choosing to attend to something and focus on it, you create a personal interaction with it, which gives it personal meaning, making it easier to remember. Attention enables brain’s ability to “rewire” itself. One of the main reasons it gets harder for you to learn and remember new things as you age is that your brain’s processing speed slows down as you get older. It becomes harder to do more than one thing at the same time, so it’s easier to get confused. Your brain may also become less flexible, so it’s harder to change learning strategies in mid-stream. All these things mean it becomes harder to focus, but there are techniques to increase your learning performance, even if your processing speed has slowed. Focus Alertness, focus, concentration, motivation, and heightened awareness are to a large extent a matter of attitude. Focus takes effort. In fact, many memory complaints have nothing to do with the actual ability of the brain to remember things. They come from a failure to focus properly on the task at hand, many times due to emotional and stress-related distractions. If you want to learn or remember something, concentrate on just that one thing. The harder the task, the more important it is to tune out distractions. Make more of an effort not to let yourself get distracted until you’ve finished what you have to do. Separate When you learn something new, take breaks so that the facts won’t interfere with one another as you study them. Elaborate Your brain remembers things by their meaning. If you spend a little extra effort up front to create meaning, you’ll need less effort later to recall it. Elaboration involves creating a rich context for the experience by adding together visual, auditory, and other information about the fact. By weaving a web of information around that fact, you create multiple access points to that piece of information

Answer 9

Upgrade your memory by eating things like TUNA

Tuna is considered to be brain food. IM not going into explanations why its called that but Im sure you have a brain to work that one out.

Also play those Brain Training games Nintendo DS have released. erm.............also.....................YEP.

Answer 10

Concentrate hard