Excessive workload, unresolved psychological problems, lack of concentration – all this affects the deterioration of memory, blocking the natural ability of a person to keep up with everything planned on time. To protect yourself from ridiculous situations and overdue work, you should take care of improving your memory.
What affects memory loss and deterioration
Overwork is a chronic disease of the 21st century. In the pursuit of profit, and sometimes just out of habit, unable to refuse the boss, people sit at their jobs overtime, take tasks home. The body and, mainly, the brain does not receive proper rest, which leads to the accumulation of fatigue, overstrain. As a result, the nervous system simply cannot cope with the load, and failures begin to occur. The first thing this affects is just memory and reaction. At first imperceptibly to yourself, and then obviously, you begin to forget the phones that you remember well, some everyday tasks, more often you find yourself on the carpet with the boss, because you forgot something. Over time, if nothing is done, chronic fatigue develops into a stable depression, which leads to even greater memory impairment, which is now associated with the accumulation of irritability and even aggressiveness!
Similarly affects a person and lack of sleep. If you do not periodically restore the lost hours of sleep and do not allow yourself to fully sleep in peace and quiet, in a comfortable position, then in a week or two, you will clearly feel the results on your ability to coordinate at work. Entire chains of actions will start to fly out of a seemingly familiar scenario, simply because you have begun to forget what you wanted to do, even if it was a minute ago. The situation becomes more serious when chronic lack of sleep develops into pathological memory erasure, and you, being at the limit, can no longer work, constantly get out of schedule, get confused in elementary actions. This state does not help your health, either physical or mental!
Another very important point that significantly affects the deterioration of memory is the lack of vitamins, that is, malnutrition or poor diet in general. Vitamin D is especially important for maintaining memory, which is directly involved in the process of fixing information on specific areas of the brain. Long fasting as such can also cause memory impairment. With pathological changes associated, for example, with anorexia, a person may prematurely encounter senile dementia.
Hormonal surges or a lack of production of certain hormones impair memory. In addition to serious changes in the functioning of the thyroid gland or ovaries, this can be affected by a strong release of adrenaline or serotonin, which is often accompanied by a feeling of intense love.
Stand in the way of a good memory and experienced diseases of the endocrine, nervous and cardiovascular systems. Illnesses directly related to brain activity or the respiratory process often become the causes of the development of partial or complete memory loss! In turn, viral infections are capable of provoking such deviations, including some forms of influenza, as well as toxins that have entered the bloodstream through the bites of sick animals or insects.
Lifestyle and memory improvement
Before moving on to heavy artillery, it is worth learning a few simple rules regarding everyday lifestyle that will help maintain and improve the memorization process, if there are no pathological reasons for its deterioration.
1. In addition to tea, lemonade, coffee, you should drink at least one liter of pure non-carbonated water! It is worth noting that moderate amounts of caffeine and thiamine contribute to memory, but with regular use in large volumes, on the contrary, they worsen the manifestation of electrical impulses in the brain and can provoke memory gaps.
2. Even if you have a lot of work, try to go to bed on time or take mini-sleep breaks during the day, and make good use of your weekends. For those who work at night or are heavily overloaded during the week, it is very important to spend free time on recovery of the body – additional daytime sleep without lights with computers turned off and TV in a well-ventilated room
3. Do not load the stomach! Overeating is one of the causes of memory impairment, especially if you do not regularly meet the size of a reasonable portion. Add more fiber to your diet, which will help cleanse the blood in a timely manner, and divide meals into small volumes 5-6 times during the day.
4. Be active! Sedentary work develops the passivity of nerve impulses that occur in the brain. As a result, the information that you receive during the day is less digestible, and you can easily forget what you were supposed to remember.
5. Go beyond the four walls! Expand your space, introduce regular trips to interesting exhibitions, museums, simple walks around the city or park into your lifestyle. Just enjoy the walk and study everything around – it’s a great natural memory training.
Simple tricks to improve memory
There are some very simple tricks that will help you improve your memory and receptivity to information that is important to you.
1. Regular journaling and day planning. The habit of writing down everything that happens to you is not only child’s play, but a very serious method for developing and preserving memory. Firstly, it allows you to check the information that you should have learned at the right time. Secondly, it unloads the brain from unnecessary details and trifles, which you will later simply throw away along with a written notebook. Thirdly, while you are writing, the brain remembers because you are focused on the process itself. The more responsibly you approach documenting plans and events happening to you, the stronger your memory becomes, especially in everyday affairs.
2. Learn poetry! Perhaps you have a favorite author or even a writer – you can learn small quatrains every day or whole songs and ballads every week. Why not learn the prose passage too! All of this helps you develop your own memorization abilities. In addition, it significantly increases your intellectual level, helps to think in artistic images, make the perception of the world more subtle. It is even more interesting to do this task together with a good friend.
3. Work with associations. If you notice that it has become very difficult to memorize, and there is more and more information that needs to be absorbed, then try to make a certain association for each important task that you will definitely remember. For example, you definitely need to buy medicine, but you will definitely forget such an item as a simple trip to the pharmacy. However, you know that next to the pharmacy there is a small fountain that you always admire – this is a memory is in long-term memory. The association can be carried out as follows: I want to admire the fountain again today (you will certainly do this, because this is one of your favorite places!) – there is a pharmacy next to the fountain – it seems you had to go to the pharmacy – why? – you need to buy medicine. By the same principle, you can build associations on any issue.
Medicine for memory recovery
If the deterioration of memory processes is already chronic, and a person not only forgets some important plans, but regularly gets out of the daily rhythm of life due to the loss of important information from his consciousness, we are talking about the need to visit a doctor. Several specialists can become assistants in this situation at once – a therapist, a neurologist, a neurosurgeon, a psychologist, a psychotherapist, an immunologist. In total, there are several main types of treatment:
correction of the patient’s lifestyle, his eating habits, work with bad habits, etc. (in the event that it is still possible to correct the situation without drugs);
drug maintenance therapy, plus replenishment of the lack of nutrients and vitamin substances that provoke memory impairment;
surgical intervention (applicable for serious deviations);
correction of the patient’s condition by a psychotherapist, if memory impairment is caused by nervous disorders;
hypnosis and other work with a psychologist, if the psycho-emotional state of the patient is unstable, or if he recently had to endure severe stress, which could cause a problem.

В догонку
1. Пишите письма. Исследование, проведенное в 2008 году в Университете Киото, показало: если перед тем, как приступить к зубрежке, в течение 15-20 минут вспоминать и записывать свои грустные мысли и мельчайшие неприятности, произошедшие за последнее время, эффективность учебы резко возрастет. Дело в том, что все негативное мы априори запоминаем очень хорошо. И всю информацию, которая поступит сразу после эпистолярных излияний, мозг по инерции воспримет как «плохую», а значит, надежно зафиксирует. Не самый веселый метод, но реально работает.

2. Берегите природу. Оказывается, традиция отечественных студентов готовиться к экзаменам на даче очень мудра. Три года назад психологи из Мичиганского университета выяснили: созерцание природы повышает когнитивную функцию на целых 20%. Кстати, необязательно выезжать на эту самую природу, можно просто разглядывать фотографии в течение 5-10 минут.

3. Кричите громче. Слова запоминаются на 10% лучше, если их выкрикивать. Необязательно, конечно, орать на весь дом «кошка!», «гулять!». Достаточно по несколько раз громко и внятно произнести каждое слово.

4. Будьте экспрессивнее. Еще один совет для изучающих трудные языки: изображайте жестами все слова и фразы, которые вы учите. Буквально: если учите спряжение глагола «прыгать» — попрыгайте. А если нужно выучить диалог или сложную фразу, разыграйте сценку. Вот увидите, все запомнится поразительно быстро.

5. Слушайте себя. Выучив некую информацию, наговорите ее на диктофон. А когда будете засыпать, тихонько включите эту запись — нужно именно спать под нее. Это потрясающе действенный способ для того, чтобы закреплять уже знакомые, но плохо запоминаемые вещи.

6. Не сидите на месте. Учите стихи, учебники и доклады, наворачивая круги по комнате. Дело в том, что ходьба активизирует работу мозга, и ваша способность к запоминанию значительно увеличивается.

7. Смените обстановку. Если за один вечер нужно подготовиться к двум экзаменам (или совещаниям), делайте это в разных комнатах. Информация, которую мы запоминаем при различных обстоятельствах, не перемешивается в голове.

8. Выкидывайте слова. Суперспособ для того, чтобы выучить большой объем слитного текста, например, слова песни или доклад. Перепишите этот текст, оставив от каждого слова только первую букву, и учите его, пытаясь вспоминать эти слова. Естественно, поначалу придется заглядывать в оригинал, но в итоге вам будет достаточно глянуть на усеченный вариант и текст моментально всплывет в памяти. Такую шпаргалку очень удобно брать с собой.

9. Спите больше. Чем дольше вы будете спать после того, как что-то выучили, тем лучше будете помнить эту информацию наутро. А бессонные ночи, наоборот, значительно ухудшают память. Лучше поспать пару часов перед экзаменом, чем пытаться выучить еще «пару билетиков».

10. Займитесь спортом! На эту тему проводилось очень много исследований, и все подтвердили: аэробные упражнения улучшают мозговое кровообращение и память. Займитесь Fit-bo или потанцуйте перед тем, как сесть за книги: сможете выучить наизусть хоть «Евгения Онегина». Ну, или хотя бы первую строфу.