Tips to improve your memory

- Fri, 12 Oct 2007

Do you find your memory letting you down? Things like stress and ageing can seriously impact upon our ability to remember like we used to. But according to leading neuropsychologist Nicola Gates, there are strategies you can employ to enhance your memory. Nicola is pioneer clinician in the field of brain ageing and protecting the brain against age-related memory loss. At Headstrong Cognitive Fitness she has coached many people, including senior corporate executives, to manage their memory issues. Here, she outlines ten successful strategies for managing your memory in every day life.

1. Record information such as appointments and instructions so you can refer to it later - use a diary, mobile phone, Blackberry.
2. Repeat important information in your mind.
3. In conversation, summarise the salient points back and get any errors or misinformation corrected. For example, you could say, "If I heard right, you said this and this. Am I correct?"
4. Associate new information with things you have previously learnt.
5. Invent your own mneumonics - little word rhymes that can make it easier to remember.
5. Put information into a rhyme or song.
6. Prompt your memory with cues such as photos or key words.
7. Write down schedules and develop a routine - the more activities that become automatic, the more brain space you have for making other decisions, problem solving, etc.
8. Make logical associations between household items and their storage and then keep things in the same place - you'll save a lot of time not having to search.
9. Visualise information and important details - imagine the information as a photo or make your own visual movie.
10. Organise and categorise information in your brain - put it into chunks or 'files'.

If you are worried that your poor memory may be a little more serious then you can strengthen the brain's memory pathways with brain exercises. Nicola Gates has developed a leading computer software brain training programme. These activities target the neural pathways associated with memory and new learning and have been demonstrated to stimulate brain function and improve the brain's capacity to learn, and protect the brain against normal age related memory loss.  Regularly doing brain exercises can also act as a buffer against illnesses like dementia and Alzheimer's disease. To find out more about Headstrong's brain training program and how it works click here.