Memories Are Made Of This - techniques for exercising memory - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Nov, 1999

For anyone who has ever walked into a room and forgotten why, spent 15 minutes searching for the car keys, or thought, "My memory used to be so much better," help may be on the way. Delys Sargeant, an advisor on aging and health, and Anne Unkenstein, a clinical neurologist specializing in memory loss, authors of Remembering Well: How Memory Works and What to Do When It Doesn't, offer 10 tips for a better memory:

1. Learn about the expected memory changes --like an increase in how long it takes to recall some things--that accompany normal aging.

2. Get healthy. Address medical concerns such as chronic pain, depression, illness, and menopause that can adversely affect memory.

3. Stay fit by eating well, making time for daily exercise, and reducing alcohol intake.

4. Participate in activities that help you feel positive about your abilities. Take a class; read a book; meet new people; plant a garden.

5. Focus on the task at hand. This will help minimize distractions that can lead to faulty recall.

6. Add meaning to the information you are trying to remember by creating associations, visualizations, rhymes, or acrostics.

7. Reduce the amount of information you need to store by utilizing grouping, mnemonics, or acronyms. Mnemonic methods involve applying association to connect often disparate ideas such as imagining each item from a short grocery list placed in each room of the house, then using recall of one idea, say the front hall, to stimulate recall of another, like buy milk.

8. Designate a special location in your house or office for frequently misplaced items such as car keys, wallet, and glasses.

9. Write things down. It is simple and can help keep track of phone numbers, special dates, appointments, shopping lists, things to do, and other important information.

10. Learn from others. Discuss memory changes and strategies for remembering better with friends, colleagues, and loved ones.