Our memory can be fickle at times. If you want to remember something, it’s not as easy as saving what you want to the hard drive of your mind.

Luckily, there are many ways you can learn faster. Improving your memory is a great step towards better brain health, and this article will teach you some ways to do so. Let’s begin by talking about the titular technique…

Chunk It!

Chunking is a perfect technique if you need to remember a large amount of information.

Have you ever wondered why a phone number or social security number is divided into different parts? For example, a phone number may be written as 111-222-3333. This is because our short-term memories can only hold four items at a time. However, if you have multiple chunks, you can remember more.

This is why it’s easy to remember a phone number, as it’s divided into three parts.

However, chunking is not just numbers. You can also take similar concepts and divide them into small chunks. For example, if you’re making a grocery list, chunk similar items, such as four dairy items.

Sleep After Learning

The idea of pulling all-nighters to learn something actually isn’t that helpful. Instead, why not sleep or nap when you learn something new?

Sleep helps to refresh our brains, and if you aren’t getting enough, you may be more prone to remember something. Think about the next time you bull an all-nighter because you procrastinated.

Napping after learning something is also helping.

Practice Healthy Living in General

Besides getting a good night’s rest, you may be shocked to find that if you eat right and exercise, it can also have a positive effect on your memory, too.

Exercise can help to clear your mind and help you focus on the present. Some foods, such as omega-3 fatty fish, are excellent for strong brain health.

You may think that living a healthier life won’t help you remember things better, but you may be sorely mistaken. Try it and see how well it works for you.

Turn Everything Into a Song

Why are ad jingles so memorable? Because they use music to get in your head. The same applies to memory.

When you are studying or wanting to remember something, why not turn it into a song? Even if you’re not the best singer in the world, don’t be afraid to use those pipes.

Besides singing, you can rhyme, too. Not every song has to rhyme, but rhyming can help your mind to remember.

Acronyms

Remember how your teacher used to teach you a phrase to remember the planets? Why not do so with other parts of your life?

For example, the order of operations you learned when you were a kid? PEMDAS, or Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally?

Think of acronyms that spell out phrases that you can use to help you remember.

Associate Words With Pictures

Do you have trouble remembering names or concepts?

Why not try to associate a name with a picture in your mind?

Let’s say you meet a new person, and his name is Cameron. Cameron sounds like “camera” so you may picture a camera in your mind. You may even picture a camera on a table.

It sounds a little silly, but your mind loves associating imagery with words. You can take all the senses you feel when you meet a person and associate these sensations with said person.

Some of these images you may conjure up may seem a little childish, but they do work wonders.

Try Writing Instead of Using a Computer

Let’s be clear: some people have disabilities that make it hard to write by hand, or they just have handwriting that is sloppy. For these people, taking notes digitally is fine.

However, if you can write by hand, then try to do that more often. You may end up remembering facts a little better.

Another reason is that people who write notes by hand may end up writing only the essential parts and not everything as a whole.

Try Teaching Other People

If you want to remember a fact, one thing you can do is to teach other people about it.

Known as the protege effect, you tend to remember facts much easier if you are able to teach it to other people. This is why a professor is so good at remembering everything.

If you don’t know anyone who will listen, you can also imagine yourself being a professor to your class. Doing this may help you to remember everything better, so give it a try and see if it works well for you.

Spaced Repetition

How many times you study a fact per week should be spaced out depending on how you well you remember it.

For example, if you’re studying every day, see if you can remember everything. Practice, and if you can, increase it from every day to every three days. When the three days pass, practice again. Change it to a week if you succeed, and so on.

Seeking Help

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to remember anything.

There may be more issues at hand. You could have stress, depression, anxiety, or you may have not found the memory technique that works best for you.

In this case, don’t sweat it. There’s no shame in talking to a therapist about your issues. A therapist knows how the mind works and can help you to remember everything much easier.

If you’re ready to get the help you need, check out BetterHelp. They are an online therapy firm that can connect you with a therapist who can help you.

You may learn your own way to remember facts and statistics, and do so through the help of a therapist. Remember, other people helping is just one nice way of being able to remember factoids.

Memory is complicated, but learning these techniques can make memory much easier.

SHARE THIS POST