Try these simple techniques to improve your memory

It's happened to all of us; within a couple of seconds of being introduced to someone new at a party you completely forget their name. And who hasn't set out purposefully to another room in order to get something of importance only to completely forget what it is as soon as you arrive in the room. Don't worry. You're among friends! Memory is a complex thing to understand, but luckily, it's easy to improve. An increased memory has many benefits, from helping out in the workplace to assisting students with studying and exams.

Here and away ... or here to stay!

We all have two different types of memory – short-term and long-term. As soon as a new piece of information is introduced into our memory, it is stored in the short-term area of our brain. This information doesn't last long. In fact, after just one hour you will only retain one third of the initial content, and after a day you'll have lost over 90%. The trick is to quickly move this information into your long-term memory banks where it will stay forever.

Make sense of it all

Simply put, the more senses you involve in the memory process, the faster and more accurately you'll remember long-term. For example, you can solidify a piece of information by saying it out loud, or by writing it down and reading it, thereby calling your senses of hearing and sight into play.

Three times a charm

This "trick" works particularly well for learning names in social situations. When introduced to someone new, try to use the new name three times in your conversation within a few minutes. Say things such as, "It's very nice to meet you, Aimee" and "Where do you live, Aimee?"

Group and chunk

With short-term memory having such limited capability, you can try grouping information together to form larger bites, or chunks of information. For example, instead of remembering a phone number as a series of seven single digits, i.e. 5-5-5-7-8-2-0, think of them as groupings of larger numbers 55-57-82-0. Now you only have to remember 4 numbers instead of seven. Remember to eat!Certain foods have been linked to increase memory function. Recently, study findings suggest that you may be able to lessen the frequency of "senior moments' simply by eating more fish. And the more fish you eat, the bigger the effect, according to research conducted in Norway1.

While memory is a tricky thing, it can be improved in both quality and quantity with just a few simple techniques and diet modifications. Try the above suggestions yourself and be sure to share them with your children because you are never too young, or too old, to improve your memory.

Specific References:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21921009/

General References:
http://www.mtsu.edu/~studskl/mem.html
http://www.thehappyguy.com/articles/improve-memory.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/memory/improve/chunking.shtml
http://www.studyhall.com/MEM/memory.html