I bumped into a friend in a cafe today (she knows who she is). She said to me, “I enjoyed your blog last week,” to which I replied, “Thanks, I can’t remember what I wrote about,” to which she answered, “Mmm, neither can I, but I know I enjoyed it.” Clearly an impactful blog on multiple fronts!
This entertaining conversation led me to write this blog about memory and why some pieces of information stick and others don’t.
What does your brain do to determine what is critical for you to remember and what is not? Why can I remember what Emma wore for mufti day in the 7th form, but I can’t remember what I wrote about in a blog last week?
Firstly, let’s explore why we form memories in the first place.
- To help us survive. Learning how to cross a road, what food to avoid and who to trust helps us survive, so these lessons get firmly etched in our brains.
- To guide future decisions. Hopefully, we learn from our mistakes and so, with old age comes wisdom. For this reason, I will never invest in a franchise business model again! I am sure you will have your own version of mistakes made, not to be repeated.
- Build identity. Memories help us to tell the story about ourselves to ourselves (and to others). This creates our identity, which is not always accurate, but can be related to our outlook on life - that’s a whole other blog!
Memories last when they fit one of the three above and based on how many times you revisit them. Emma looked great on mufti day and she fit in at school. Subconsciously, I was trying to figure out what she wore so I could look similarly cool in the future. For whatever reason, I have revisited that memory many times since, so it has become a memory I will take to my grave.
What affects memory retention?
Memory retention can be hampered by your lifestyle and the activities you engage in at the time of the activity you are trying to remember. If you are multitasking and have lots of things on the go, “being busy,” in other words, then this can mean shallow encoding and poor memory retention. Poor sleep affects memory consolidation, too. Stress and age can affect sleep, which means you don’t lay down the memories like you used to. Which leads to the next point: your brain is a good filter for relevance. Do you really need to remember something unless the activity helps you survive, is essential for future decisions or builds your identity?
Tips to improve memory
In saying all of that, it is damned frustrating when you can’t recall things you want to (or find your glasses). Here are some tips for improving your memory.
- Get healthy by prioritising sleep, a balanced diet (anthocyanins are great for brain health), low stress, social activities and regular exercise, all of which are critical for a healthy brain.
- Engage in the moment and task at hand (get less distracted) and if it’s important, repeat and then retrieve the information to lock it into your memory.
- Engage emotion and meaning. If remembering someone’s name or an event is important to you, connect it to something meaningful - a feeling or a need. For example, instead of trying to remember “eat more beans,” tie it to: “This will help me age strongly and avoid what my father went through.”
So, there you go. If you are still reading at this point, here are the titles of my last two blogs. Did you remember them?
- Why Cold Air Makes Your Lungs Spasm ❄️ And How to Stop It.
- Ancient Allies: 6 Steps to Rewild Your Gut.