Imagine having all of your memories vanish one by one, until you are essentially much like a over-sized newborn baby. Alzheimer’s disease is a disease that affects a persons memory, and can be devastating to the diagnosed loved-one’s family. This article will give you and your family some tips for coping with the emotional stress involved with this disease.
One of the best ways to store new information in memory is to relate it to something else that you are already familiar with. Creating a logical link between the new information and something else that you already know will increase your chances of being able to successfully recall that information later. The link you create functions as a trigger to recall the new information.
If this is the case, you should take about a 5-15 minute break each hour during your work or study session to give your mind some time to rest and relax. This will get your brain in the right state to more readily absorb new information.
Becoming a teacher to retain knowledge as a student is a fantastic way to improve upon your memory. For example: Giving your friends a pop quiz and/or attempting to teach them new material will help you to learn it better yourself. Try this tactic when you need to study and you’ll be surprised at how much you remember.
In order to remember where you put things, it is a good idea to organize your possessions. By having similar items put together, you do not have to worry about scrambling around, looking for things. Also, you can try labeling boxes or storage containers, writing down what is in each box. This is sensible, whether you have a good memory or not.
Exercise your body – exercise your brain. By exercising regularly, you increase the amount of oxygen that gets to your brain, and reduce the risk of illnesses that can contribute to memory loss, such as heart disease and diabetes. Exercise can also increase the effects of certain chemicals that help the brain to function at its best.
When trying to commit a long list of information to memory, it is usually better to arrange the information in chunks or smaller units and categories to help make the information easier to remember. As an example, it is easier to remember a telephone number as three units of three, three, and four numbers rather than a long string of ten numbers. The same tactics work when remembering social security numbers and computer passwords.
If there is a time when you have been given information that you do not remember, think of it your way to learn it. Putting it into your own words takes understanding, and information that is understood is remembered more easily.
Utilize all of your senses. You may have already heard that smell is a powerful sense in relation to your memory. This is true. When trying to recall something, don’t just look for a picture of it in your mind. Try to remember how it smelled or felt or even tasted.
Draw a picture! If you are having trouble remembering something – try doodling! Drawing relaxes your mind, opens it up. It doesn’t matter if you are a terrible artist. Just scribbling on a piece of scrap paper will do. Your thoughts will feel more organized and memories will come to you much easier.
If you are having a hard time remembering where a certain location is, do not be ashamed to use a map, that is what they are there for. Perhaps looking at a map to jog your memory one time can cause the location to stay in your mind for the next time you need to go there.
Try visual association to help with memory issues. The technique basically entails putting a picture with each phrase you want to memorize, making remembering that phrase easier. Studies have shown that combining words and pictures can be an effective way to remember things. Try it next time you’re studying for an exam.
A great way to improve memory and brain elasticity is to read a large variety of books. Read novels from all eras and places as well as histories, self help books, nonfiction books, and anything else you can find. The different types of information you take in give your brain a workout.
Try not to rely on the internet. The internet is wonderful, and search engines are incredibly useful tools. However, if you are constantly looking things up on the web, your mind is far less likely to actually commit them to memory. Your brain gets out of the habit of remembering things.
Learn how to use mnemonic devices. Mnemonic devices can be the association of a concept with a familiar object or remember acronyms or rhymes. Create your own mnemonic devices: you need to make sure they are meaningful and that you will remember what you associated the information with later on.
Rehearse the information you need to memorize. You should not learn it by heart and recite it, but learn it, digest it and rephrase it. Every time you rehearse the information you need to remember, you are ingraining it into your long term memory. Use your own words to rephrase the information.
Older people who are worried about losing memory can use electronic devices such as the Wii to help with memory. These types of interactive video games have designed games that are actually geared to help improve memory like Nintendo’s Brain Age. Also the stimulation of working with the puzzles involved in video games is a great brain stimulator.
It is impossible to remember something if you have not first learned it. Focus your attention on the item and really make an effort to learn it, and then review the information over and over again. Once you have done this a few times you should be able to remember the information without any problem, this tip works wonders for a lot of people.
As discussed in the beginning of this article, Alzheimer’s disease is a debilitating disease that affects your memory. Watching your mother or father’s memory, deteriorate in-front of your eyes, can be one of the most painful experiences that life has to offer. Apply the advice from this article to help you and your family cope with this devastating disease.
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